Padma Desai

Born and brought up in a traditional Gujarati Anavil Brahmin family in Surat, Gujarat.

She did her B.A. (Economics) in 1951 from the University of Mumbai, followed by an M.A. (Economics) also from the same university in 1953. Thereafter she completed her Ph.D. from Harvard in 1960.[3]

Desai started her career at the Department of Economics, Harvard (1957-1959), after which she was associate professor of economics at Delhi School of Economics at University of Delhi, from 1959 to 1968.[3]

In November 1992, she joined as the Gladys and Roland Harriman Professor of Comparative Economic Systems at Columbia University and went on to become the director of the Center for Transition Economies at the University.[3]

Later remained U.S. Treasury’s advisor to the Russian Finance Ministry in the summer of 1995. She was president of the Association for Comparative Economic Studies in 2001.

She published her memoir, Breaking Out: An Indian Woman's American Journey in 2012.[4]

She is married to Jagdish Bhagwati, also an Indian-American economist and professor of economics and law at Columbia University, the couple have one daughter, Anuradha Kristina, Executive Director of Service Women's Action Network (SWAN), a voluntary organization working servicewomen in the U.S. military.

• Breaking Out: An Indian Woman's American Journey. Viking, 2012. ISBN 9780670085781.
• From Financial Crisis to Global Recovery. Harper Collins, 2012. ISBN 9789350295823.
• Conversations on Russia: Reform from Yeltsin to Putin. Oxford University Press, 2006. ISBN 9780195300611.
• Financial Crisis, Contagion, and Containment: From Asia to Argentina. Princeton University Press, 2003. ISBN 9780691113920.
• Work Without Wages: Russia's Non-Payment Crisis, with Todd Idson. MIT Press, 2001. ISBN 9780262041843.
• Going Global: Transition from Plan to Market in the World Economy, Editor. MIT Press, 1997. ISBN 9780262041614.
• The Soviet Economy: Problems and Prospects. Blackwell, 1990. ISBN 9780631171836
• Perestroika in Perspective: The Design and Dilemmas of Soviet Reform. I B Tauris & Co, 1989. ISBN 9781850431411.
• Bokaro Steel Plant: A Study of Soviet Economic Assistance. North-Holland, 1972. ISBN 9780720430653.

• Celebrating Padma Desai Columbia University

• Padma Desai, homepage at Columbia University
• "The Examined Life". Tehelka Magazine, Vol 9, Issue 25. 23 June 2012.