Raghuram Rajan
Raghuram Rajan is a globally recognized economist and the Katherine Dusak Miller Distinguished Service Professor of Finance at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. He served as the 23rd Governor of the Reserve Bank of India, where he implemented key reforms to stabilize India’s economy, and was previously the Chief Economist and Director of Research at the International Monetary Fund. Rajan’s research focuses on banking, corporate finance, and economic development, with particular emphasis on the role of finance in driving growth and stability. He earned international acclaim for his prescient warnings about systemic risks leading up to the 2008 global financial crisis. In addition to his academic and policy work, Rajan is a celebrated author: he co-authored Saving Capitalism from the Capitalists with Luigi Zingales, wrote Fault Lines, which won the Financial Times Business Book of the Year Award in 2010, and published The Third Pillar, a finalist for the same award in 2019.
Raghuram Rajan Professional Experience / Academic History
Professional Experience
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Katherine Dusak Miller Distinguished Service Professor of Finance
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Chief Economic Advisor to the Finance Ministry
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Chief Economist
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Joseph L. Gidwitz Professor of Finance
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Fischer Black Visiting Professor
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Visiting Professor of Finance
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Bertil Danielsson Visiting Professor of Banking
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Professor of Finance
Academic History
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Ph.D., Banking
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Master of Business Administration
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B.Tech., Electrical Engineering
CURRENT AFFILIATIONS
Chairman, Group of Thirty
Chairman, Per Jacobsson Foundation
Senior Fellow, The Hoover Institution
Advisory Board, PIMCO
Advisory Board, RLUSD
RECOGNITIONS
2016 Banker Magazine Central Bank Governor of the Year
2013 Deutsche Bank Prize for Financial Economics
2012 Infosys Prize for the Economic Sciences
2003 American Finance Association's Fischer Black Prize
PUBLICATIONS
Raghuram Rajan has published extensively in leading economics and finance journals, contributing influential research on banking, corporate finance, and global markets.
He is also the author of several highly acclaimed books. His most recent work, Breaking the Mold: India’s Untraveled Path to Prosperity (2024, co-authored with Rohit Lamba), explores strategies for unlocking India’s economic potential.
The Third Pillar: How Markets and the State Leave the Community Behind (2019) was a finalist for the Financial Times Business Book of the Year Award.
His earlier book, Fault Lines: How Hidden Fractures Still Threaten the World Economy (2010), won the Financial Times Business Book of the Year Prize for its timely insights following the global financial crisis.
Rajan also co-authored Saving Capitalism from the Capitalists (2003) with Luigi Zingales, a work widely regarded as a seminal contribution to the debate on capitalism and markets.
Beyond his books, he has served on the editorial boards of top journals including the American Economic Review and the Journal of Finance.