Meghnad Jagdishchandra Desai, Baron Desai (born 10 July 1940) is an

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

n-born

naturalised Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-national of a country acquires the nationality of that country after birth. The definition of naturalization by the International Organization for Migration of the ...

British economist and former Labour politician. He stood unsuccessfully for the position of

Lord Speaker The Lord Speaker is the presiding officer, chairman and highest authority of the House of Lords in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The office is analogous to the Speaker of the House of Commons: the Lord Speaker is elected by the membe ...

in the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

in 2011. He has been awarded the

Padma Bhushan The Padma Bhushan (IAST: ''Padma Bhūṣaṇa'', lit. 'Lotus Decoration') is the third-highest civilian award in the Republic of India, preceded by the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan and followed by the Padma Shri. Instituted on 2 Januar ...

, the third highest civilian award in the

Republic of India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area; the most populous country since 2023; and, since its independence in 1947, the world's most populous democracy. Bounded by ...

, in 2008. He is a Professor

Emeritus ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". In some c ...

of the

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...

Early life

Born in

Vadodara Vadodara (), also known as Baroda, is a city situated on the banks of the Vishwamitri River in the Indian state of Gujarat. It serves as the administrative headquarters of the Vadodara district. The city is named for its abundance of banyan ...

Gujarat, India Gujarat () is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...

, Desai grew up with two brothers and one sister. He is said to have gone to secondary school at age seven and matriculated at 14. He secured a bachelor's degree in economics from

Ramnarain Ruia College Ramnarain Ruia Autonomous College is a college affiliated to the University of Mumbai, in Matunga, Mumbai, India. It was established in June 1937. The University of Mumbai granted autonomous status to the college in 2017. It comprises the Ram ...

, affiliated to the

University of Mumbai University of Mumbai is a public state university in Mumbai. It is one of the largest university systems in the world with over 549,000 students on its campuses and affiliated colleges. , the university had 711 affiliated colleges. It was est ...

, and then pursued a master's degree in economics from the Department of Economics (now called the Mumbai School of Economics and Public Policy) of University of Mumbai, after which he won a scholarship to

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

in August 1960. He completed his PhD in economics at Pennsylvania in 1963.

Political career

Desai has been active in the British Labour Party, becoming chairman between 1986 and 1992, and was made Honorary Lifetime President of

Islington South and Finsbury Islington South and Finsbury is a constituency created in 1974 and represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2005 by Emily Thornberry of the Labour Party. Thornberry served as Shadow Foreign Secretary from 2016 until 2020 a ...

Constituency Labour Party A constituency Labour Party (CLP) is an organisation of members of the British Labour Party who live in a particular parliamentary constituency. In England and Wales, CLP boundaries coincide with those for UK parliamentary constituencies. In Sc ...

in London. He was created a

life peer In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. Life peers are appointed by the monarch on the advice of the prime minister. With the exception of the D ...

as Baron Desai, ''of

St Clement Danes St Clement Danes is an Anglican church in the City of Westminster, London. It is now situated near the 19th-century Royal Courts of Justice on the Strand in Aldwych. Although the first church on the site was reputedly founded in the 9th cent ...

in the

City of Westminster The City of Westminster is a London borough with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in Greater London, England. It is the site of the United Kingdom's Houses of Parliament and much of the British government. It contains a large par ...

'', on 5 June 1991. He was a member of

Labour Friends of Israel Labour Friends of Israel (LFI) is a group in the Parliament of the United Kingdom that advocates a strong bilateral relationship between the United Kingdom and Israel, and seeks to strengthen ties between the British Labour Party (UK), Labour ...

. Desai quit his Labour Party membership of 49 years over antisemitism concerns in November 2020, following the readmission of former party Leader

Jeremy Corbyn Jeremy Bernard Corbyn (; born 26 May 1949) is a British politician who has been Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Islington North (UK Parliament constituency), Islington North since 1983. Now an Independent ...

as a member.Labour peer resigns membership of 49 years over antisemitism
/ref>

Academic career

Early in his career, Desai worked as an Associate Specialist in the Department of Agricultural Economics,

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

, California. He became a lecturer at the

in 1965 and professor of economics in 1983. At the LSE, he taught

econometrics Econometrics is an application of statistical methods to economic data in order to give empirical content to economic relationships. M. Hashem Pesaran (1987). "Econometrics", '' The New Palgrave: A Dictionary of Economics'', v. 2, p. 8 p. 8 ...

macroeconomics Macroeconomics is a branch of economics that deals with the performance, structure, behavior, and decision-making of an economy as a whole. This includes regional, national, and global economies. Macroeconomists study topics such as output (econ ...

Marxian economics Marxian economics, or the Marxian school of economics, is a heterodox school of political economic thought. Its foundations can be traced back to Karl Marx's critique of political economy. However, unlike critics of political economy, Marxian ...

and

development economics Development economics is a branch of economics that deals with economic aspects of the development process in low- and middle- income countries. Its focus is not only on methods of promoting economic development, economic growth and structural c ...

over the years. In the 1970s, he taught an idiosyncratic version of economic principles to freshers at the LSE (starting with

Piero Sraffa Piero Sraffa Fellow of the British Academy, FBA (5 August 1898 – 3 September 1983) was an influential Italian Political economy, political economist who served as lecturer of economics at the University of Cambridge. His book ''Production of Co ...

). From 1990 to 1995, he headed LSE’s Development Studies Institute and lead LSE Global Governance from 1992 to 2003, the year of his retirement. Desai wrote his first book ''Marxian Economic Theory'' in 1973 followed by ''Applied Econometrics'' in 1976 and ''Marxian Economics'', a revised edition of his 1973 book in 1979. He wrote ''Testing Monetarism'', a critique of

monetarism Monetarism is a school of thought in monetary economics that emphasizes the role of policy-makers in controlling the amount of money in circulation. It gained prominence in the 1970s, but was mostly abandoned as a direct guidance to monetar ...

, in 1981. Desai has written extensively publishing over 200 articles in academic journals and had a regular column in the British radical weekly ''

Tribune Tribune () was the title of various elected officials in ancient Rome. The two most important were the Tribune of the Plebs, tribunes of the plebs and the military tribunes. For most of Roman history, a college of ten tribunes of the plebs ac ...

'' during 1985–1994, in the Indian business daily ''Business Standard'' (1995–2001) and in ''Indian Express'' and ''Financial Express''. From 1984 to 1991, he was co-editor of the ''Journal of Applied

Econometrics Econometrics is an application of statistical methods to economic data in order to give empirical content to economic relationships. M. Hashem Pesaran (1987). "Econometrics", '' The New Palgrave: A Dictionary of Economics'', v. 2, p. 8 p. 8 ...

''. A selection of his academic papers was published in two volumes as ''The Selected Essays of Meghnad Desai'' in 1995. In 2002, Desai's book '' Marx's Revenge: The Resurgence of Capitalism and the Death of Statist Socialism'' stated that

globalisation Globalization is the process of increasing interdependence and integration among the economies, markets, societies, and cultures of different countries worldwide. This is made possible by the reduction of barriers to international trade, th ...

would tend toward the revival of socialism. Desai analyses some of Marx's lesser known writings and argues that his theories enhance our understanding of modern capitalism and globalization. His work was well received, with

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

stating 'If only socialists had studied Marx properly, they would have known all along that capitalism would triumph. Meghnad Desai gets behind the slogans in Marx's Revenge'. Desai also published a biography of Indian film star

Dilip Kumar Dilip Kumar (born Muhammad Yusuf Khan; 11 December 1922 – 7 July 2021) was an Indian actor and film producer, who worked in Hindi cinema. Credited with pioneering method acting in cinema, he dominated Hindi cinema from the 1950s throughout t ...

entitled ''Nehru's Hero: Dilip Kumar in the life of India'' (Roli, 2004). He has described the book as his "greatest achievement". Examining Kumar's films – some of which Desai has seen more than 15 times – he discovers parallels between the socio-political arena in India and its reflection on screen. He discusses issues as varied as censorship, the iconic values of Indian

machismo Machismo (; ; ; ) is the sense of being " manly" and self-reliant, a concept associated with "a strong sense of masculine pride: an exaggerated masculinity". Machismo is a term originating in the early 1940s and 1950s and its use more wi ...

cultural identity Cultural identity is a part of a person's identity (social science), identity, or their self-conception and self-perception, and is related to nationality, ethnicity, religion, social class, generation, Locality (settlement), locality, gender, o ...

and

secularism Secularism is the principle of seeking to conduct human affairs based on naturalistic considerations, uninvolved with religion. It is most commonly thought of as the separation of religion from civil affairs and the state and may be broadened ...

, and analyses how the films portrayed a changing India at that time. He is (2023) chairman of the

Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum The Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum (OMFIF) is an independent think tank organization concerned with central banking, economic policy, and public investment. OMFIF was co-founded in 2010 by David Marsh, who has subsequently s ...

(

OMFIF The Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum (OMFIF) is an independent think tank organization concerned with central banking, economic policy, and public investment. OMFIF was co-founded in 2010 by David Marsh, who has subsequently s ...

) Advisory Board, an independent membership-driven research network. It focuses on global policy and investment themes for off the record public and private sector engagement and analysis. He was also chairman of the Trustee's Board for Training for Life, Chairman of the Management Board of City Roads and on the Board of ''

'' magazine. Since retirement he has published ''Rethinking Islamism: Ideology of the New Terror'' (2006), ''The Route to All Evil: The Political Economy of

Ezra Pound Ezra Weston Loomis Pound (30 October 1885 – 1 November 1972) was an List of poets from the United States, American poet and critic, a major figure in the early modernist poetry movement, and a Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Ita ...

'' (2007), a novel ''Dead on Time'', (2009) and ''The Rediscovery of India'' (2009). Lord Desai serves as the founder chairman of the Meghnad Desai Academy of Economics in Mumbai (MDAE). MDAE offers a one-year post-graduate diploma in economics, offered jointly with Department of Economics (Autonomous), University of Mumbai. MDAE focuses on applied learning and case studies rather than on rote learning. Students participate in workshops and seminars with top economics and finance professionals from around the world.

Saif Al-Gaddafi thesis

In 2007, Desai was asked by the University of London to serve with Tony McGrew of the

University of Southampton The University of Southampton (abbreviated as ''Soton'' in post-nominal letters) is a public university, public research university in Southampton, England. Southampton is a founding member of the Russell Group of research-intensive universit ...

as one of the two examiners of the PhD thesis of

Saif al-Islam Gaddafi Saif al-Islam Muammar al-Gaddafi (; born 25 June 1972) is a Libyan political figure. He is the second son of the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and his second wife Safia Farkash. He was a part of his father's inner circle, performing publ ...

, the son of the then leader of Libya. They did not immediately accept the thesis, as it was found to be weak. The candidate was subjected to an oral examination for two and a half hours and Gaddafi was asked to revise and re-submit it. The revised version was subsequently accepted. As Desai had already retired from the LSE he had no involvement with the donation from Saif Gaddafi's charity to the LSE. Learning from the press of these links between LSE and Libya, Desai demanded that the money be returned to the people of Libya. He expressed disappointment at a speech Saif Gaddafi subsequently made on Libyan state television declaring the Gaddafi family's willingness to "fight to the last bullet", observing that "he was not behaving as if he had had an LSE education."

Personal life

In 1970, Desai married his LSE colleague Gail Wilson, his first wife. She was the daughter of

George Ambler Wilson George Ambler Wilson, CBE, MICE (1906–1977) was a British civil engineer.. Wilson was born in Wellington, Shropshire in 1906.. He was the chief engineer of the Port of London Authority from 1953 to 1967. In 1958 he was elected a member of ...

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

. They had three children. During the course of writing ''Nehru's Hero'', Desai met Kishwar Ahluwalia (now Kishwar Desai), his second wife who worked as an editor for this book. On 20 July 2004 the couple married. Desai and 47-year-old Ahluwalia were both divorced and married at a registrar's office in London. Desai is an

atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

and is an Honorary Associate of the

National Secular Society The National Secular Society (NSS) is a British campaigning organisation that promotes secularism and the separation of church and state. It holds that no one should gain advantage or disadvantage because of their religion or lack of it. The Soc ...

. He is also a member of and an advisor to the 1928 Institute. His first cousin is Dhawal Mehta who taught management at the University of Minnesota and was later the director of the B K School of Business Management, Ahmedabad.

Works

* 1975, The Phillips Curve: A Revisionist Interpretation. ''

Economica ''Economica'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal of generalist economics published on behalf of the London School of Economics by Wiley-Blackwell. Established in 1921, it is currently edited by Nava Ashraf, Oriana Bandiera, Tim Besley, Franc ...

'', Vol. 42, 165, 1-19. * 1979, ''Marxian Economics ''. Rowman & Littlefield. * 1994, Equilibrium, Expectations and Knowledge, in J. Birner & R. van Zijp, ''Hayek, Co-ordination and Evolution; His Legacy in Philosophy, Politics, Economics, and the History of Ideas''. Routledge. * 1991, Human development: Concepts and measurement. ''European Economic Review'' 35, 2–3, 350-357. * 2001, ''Methodology, Microeconomics and Keynes: Essays in Honour of Victoria Chick, Volume 2''. Eds. Philip Arestis, Meghnad Desai, Sheila Dow. Routledge. * 2002, ''Marx’s Revenge: The Resurgence of Capitalism and the Death of Statist Socialism''. Verso Books. * 2006, ''The Route of All Evil: The Political Economy of Ezra Pound''. Faber & Faber. * 2011, ''The Rediscovery of India''. Penguin. * 2014, ''Testing Monetarism''. Bloomsbury Academic. * 2015, ''Hubris: Why Economists Failed to Predict the Crisis and How to Avoid the Next One''. Yale University Press. * 2017, ''Politic Shock''. Rupa Publications. * 2018, ''The Bombay Plan: Blueprint for Economic Resurgence''. Eds, Sanjaya Baru and Meghnad Desai. Rupa Publications. * 2022, ''The Poverty of Political Economy: How Economics Abandoned the Poor''. HarperCollins India. ''Literary criticism and novels'' * 2004, (biography) ''Nehru's Hero: Dilip Kumar in the Life of India''. Lotus Collection. * 2009, (novel) ''Dead on Time'', HarperCollins. * 2013, ''Pakeezah: An Ode to a Bygone World''. HarperCollins India * 2014, ''Who Wrote the Bhagavadgita? A secular enquiry into a sacred text. '' Element Text. * 2020, (novel) ''ANAMIKA: A Tale of Desire in a Time of War''. Rupa Publications. * 2022, ''MAYABHARATA: The Untold Story Behind the Death of Lord Krishna. Rupa Publications. ''Autobiography'' * 2020, ''Meghnad Desai, Rebellious Lord''. Westland.

References

External links

Interview with PBS

MDAE

LSE Biography

Article in Mint
''The Times of India'': "The 'I' of Meghnad Desai"
(autobiographic article)
''Indian Express'' columns

Lord Woolf's Inquiry into the LSE and Libya
March 2011
Make a submission.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Desai, Meghnad Desai, Baron 1940 births Living people Academics of the London School of Economics British atheists British critics of religions 21st-century British economists Indian atheists 20th-century Indian economists Indian emigrants to England Indian peers Indian institute directors Scientists from Gujarat People from Vadodara Labour Friends of Israel University of California, Berkeley faculty University of Mumbai alumni University of Pennsylvania alumni Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in public affairs Honorary Fellows of the London School of Economics British people of Gujarati descent Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom Labour Party (UK) life peers Crossbench life peers Recipients of Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Life peers created by Elizabeth II