Kunal Sen

Kunal Sen
Born
Kunal Kalyan Sen
Academic background
EducationRutgers University (PhD, MA)
Jawaharlal Nehru University (MA)
University of Bombay (BA)
Academic work
DisciplineDevelopment economics
InstitutionsUniversity of Manchester
United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research
Website

Kunal Sen is an economist whose work is in development economics. He is a professor of development economics at the University of Manchester and served as director of the United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER).

Education

Sen received his PhD in economics from Rutgers University in 1989. He previously completed a Master of Arts in economics at Rutgers University in 1987. He earned an MA in economics from Jawaharlal Nehru University in 1984 and a BA in economics and mathematics from the University of Bombay in 1982.

Academic career

Sen worked at the Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research in Mumbai, where he was assistant professor and later associate professor between 1990 and 1995. He subsequently held academic positions at the Australian National University, Massey University in New Zealand, and the University of East Anglia, where he worked from 1999 to 2006.

In 2006, Sen joined the University of Manchester as professor of development economics at the Global Development Institute. He served as research director there from 2011 to 2016.

In January 2019, Sen was appointed director of the United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER), a United Nations research institute based in Helsinki.

Sen has been a Research Fellow at the IZA Institute of Labor Economics since 2006. From 2020 to 2022, he held the Dr. V. R. V. Rao Chair Professorship at the Institute for Social and Economic Change in India.

In 2025, he was elected a Founding Fellow of the Royal Economic Society.

Publications

Sen has authored, co-authored, edited, and co-edited books on development economics, political economy, structural transformation, labour markets, and economic policy.

Authored and co-authored books

Edited and co-edited books

References

  1. ↑ "Kunal Sen". CEPR. 19 July 2025.
  2. 1 2 "Kunal Sen". United Nations University.
  3. ↑ Sen, Kunal K. (1990). "The Sunspot Theorists and Keynes". Journal of Post Keynesian Economics. 12 (4): 564–571. doi:10.1080/01603477.1990.11489820.
  4. ↑ Sen, Kunal; Vaidya, Rajendra R. (1995). "The Determination of Industrial Prices in India: A Post Keynesian Approach". Journal of Post Keynesian Economics. 18 (1): 29–52. doi:10.1080/01603477.1995.11490057.
  5. ↑ "21st HW Arndt Lecture by Professor Kunal Sen". Australian National University. 22 April 2026.
  6. ↑ "Herstories + Histories" (PDF). University of East Anglia.
  7. ↑ "Kunal Sen". University of Manchester.
  8. ↑ "Kunal Sen". IZA - Institute of Labor Economics.
  9. ↑ "V. K. R. V. Rao Chair Professors". ISEC. Archived from the original on 2022-08-03.
  10. ↑ Sinur, Cesilia (1 May 2025). "The Royal Economic Society announces Founding Fellows". Royal Economic Society.
  11. ↑ Majeed, Mehak (August 2025). "Commissioned Book Review: Sam Hickey and Kunal Sen, Pathways to Development: From Politics to Power Pathways to Development: From Politics to Power by HickeySamSenKunal; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2024. 291pp., $40, ISBN: 9780198872566". Political Studies Review. 23 (3). doi:10.1177/14789299241311764.
  12. ↑ Teichman, Judith (22 January 2025). "Pathways to Development: From Politics to Power: By Sam Hickey and Kunal Sen Oxford: Oxford University Press , 2024, 169pp., $40 (hardback), ISBN: 9780198872566 (hardback)". The Journal of Development Studies: 1–2. doi:10.1080/00220388.2025.2452065. ISSN 0022-0388.
  13. ↑ McCartney, Matthew (August 2019). "Book Review: Sabyasachi Kar and Kunal Sen. 2016. The Political Economy of India's Growth Episodes". Journal of South Asian Development. 14 (2): 251–255. doi:10.1177/0973174119858497.
  14. ↑ Das, Deb Kusum (December 2016). "Book Review: Rajesh Raj S. N. and Kunal Sen. 2016. Out of the Shadows? The Informal Sector in Post-reform India". Journal of South Asian Development. 11 (3): 364–366. doi:10.1177/0973174116676694.
  15. ↑ S N, Rajesh Raj (11 September 2009). "A Review of "Trade policy, inequality and performance in Indian manufacturing": by Kunal Sen, London, Routledge, 2008, 192 pp., $160.00 (hardback), ISBN 978-0-415-41335-0". Journal of the Asia Pacific Economy. 14 (4): 420–424. doi:10.1080/13547860903185189. ISSN 1354-7860.
  16. ↑ Struthers, John (January 2005). "International Competitiveness, Investment and Finance: A Case Study of India, by A. Ganesh-Kumar, Kunal Sen and Rajendra R.Vaidya (London: Routledge, 2003, pp. 159, h/bk)". Journal of International Development. 17 (1): 149–150. doi:10.1002/jid.1098. ISSN 0954-1748.
  17. ↑ Khatkhate, Deena (July 2004). "Prema‐Chandra Athukorala and Kunal Sen. Saving, Investment and Growth in India . New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2002". Economic Development and Cultural Change. 52 (4): 896–900. doi:10.1086/381114.
  18. ↑ Banga, Rashmi (2004). "Review of POLICY REGIMES AND INDUSTRIAL COMPETITIVENESS: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF EAST ASIA AND INDIA, Agrawal Pradeep, Gokran Subir, Mishra Veena, Parikh Kirit S., Sen Kunal". World Affairs: The Journal of International Issues. 8 (3): 132–134. ISSN 0971-8052.
  19. ↑ Pandit, M. L. (1996). "Review of Economic Restructuring in East Asia and India: Perspective on Policy Reform". Indian Journal of Industrial Relations. 32 (1): 104–108. ISSN 0019-5286.
  20. ↑ Hainsworth, Geoffrey B. (August 1996). "Economic Restructuring in East Asia and India: Perspectives on Policy Reform. By Pradeep Agrawal, Subir V. Gokarn, Veena Mishra, Kirit S. Parikh, and Kunal Sen. Bombay: Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, and Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 1995. xvi, 236 pp". The Journal of Asian Studies. 55 (3): 697–698. doi:10.2307/2646452. ISSN 1752-0401.
  21. ↑ Merdikawati, Nurina (December 2023). "The Job Ladder: Transforming Informal Work and Livelihoods in Developing Countries, Edited by Gary S.Fields, Tim H.Gindling, KunalSen, MichaelDanquah and SimoneSchotte (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2023), i‐464 pp". Economic Record. 99 (327): 576–577. doi:10.1111/1475-4932.12774. ISSN 0013-0249.
  22. ↑ Deller, Rose (9 January 2018). "Book Review: Deals and Development: The Political Dynamics of Growth Episodes edited by Lant Pritchett, Kunal Sen and Eric Werker". LSE Review of Books. Retrieved 8 May 2026.
  23. ↑ Deller, Rose (5 May 2016). "Long Read Review: The Politics of Inclusive Development: Two Books, One Title by Alice Evans". LSE Review of Books. Retrieved 8 May 2026.
  24. ↑ Sisombat, Lili (2 September 2014). "State–Business Relations and Economic Development in Africa and India , by Kunal Sen". The Journal of Development Studies. 50 (9): 1320–1321. doi:10.1080/00220388.2014.927552.