Peter Salovey President | Yale University
Peter Salovey President | Yale University
Kaivan Munshi, recognized as a global leader in economic development, has been appointed the Frederick W. Beinecke Professor of Economics at Yale University. Munshi joined Yale's Faculty of Arts and Sciences in 2019 and is affiliated with the Economic Growth Center.
Munshi's research over three decades has focused on informal community institutions' role in development. His initial work provided empirical evidence that social norms and networks significantly impact individual decisions in developing economies. He later explored how these networks can either support or restrict mobility, particularly within India's caste system.
Since his arrival at Yale, Munshi has expanded his research to include interactions between ethnic groups. His recent studies examine status dynamics between upper and lower castes in rural India, linking them to women's labor force withdrawal amid economic growth. Additionally, he investigates the connection between pre-modern scarcity adaptation and health issues like diabetes among normal-weight individuals in developing countries.
His work has received support from NSF and NIH grants and has been published in prestigious journals such as the American Economic Review and Journal of Political Economy. In 2016, he was awarded the Infosys Prize for his contributions to understanding communities' roles in economic development.
Munshi holds a Ph.D. from MIT, M.S., and M.C.P. degrees from UC Berkeley, and a B.Tech from IIT.
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