Ravi Kanbur

Ravi Kanbur researches and teaches in development economics, public economics, and economic theory at Cornell University. He has served on the senior staff of the World Bank including as Chief Economist for Africa. He has also published in leading economics journals, including Journal of Political Economy, American Economic Review, Review of Economic Studies, Journal of Economic Theory, and Economic Journal. 

He served as Co-Chair of the Food System Economics Commission, Chair of the Board of United Nations University–World Institute for Development Economics Research, member of the OECD High Level Expert Group on the Measurement of Economic Performance, President of the Human Development and Capability Association, President of the Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, member of the High Level Advisory Council of the Climate Justice Dialogue, Co-Chair of the Scientific Council of the International Panel on Social Progress, and member of the Core Group of the Commission on Global Poverty.

Professor Kanbur was a member of the UNU-WIDER Board 2009–2019. As a UNU-WIDER Non-Resident Senior Research Fellow, he is involved in the Inequality and structural transformation – Kuznets at 70 project.