Rakesh Mohan joins Yale faculty

Yale University president Richard C Levin announced on Thursday the appointment of Rakesh Mohan as professor in the Practice of International Economics and Finance in the Yale School of Management, and as senior fellow in the Jackson Institute for Global Affairs at the university.

Until recently, Mohan was the deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of India.

Mohan, an eminent economist, joins a high profile faculty that includes erstwhile British Prime Minister Tony Blair, former Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo, ambassador John Negroponte, former US deputy secretary of state, and Nobel laureate Rajendra Pachauri, chairman, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and many other notable world leaders.

Levin said that 'Rakesh Mohan has been among India's most distinguished economists and admirably served the Reserve Bank of India and the central banking community during a period of unprecedented growth and challenges.'

"I am pleased that professor Mohan will bring his experience and knowledge to his teaching at Yale in training of the next generation of economists and international leaders," he said.

Mohan, whose teaching stint will kick off on July 10, 2010, said, "I am honoured to return to Yale -- this time on its faculty -- because it was at Yale 40 years ago as an undergraduate that I began my studies in economics."

He spoke of how he has 'long admired the caliber and the talent of Yale's students and faculty, and I am very much looking forward to again being part of this extraordinary scholarly community.'

Mohan received his BA in economics from Yale and his MA and PhD, also in economics, from Princeton University. He holds a BS in electrical engineering from Imperial College of Science and Technology, University of London.

He has been a member of the Yale President's Council on International Activities since 2005.

Mohan is currently the non-executive vice chairman of the Indian Institute of Human Settlements, and global adviser to the McKinsey Global Institute, McKinsey and Company.

Last month, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh appointed him as chairman of the multi-ministry National Transport Development Policy Committee to recommend transportation policy for India.

Mohan has researched extensively and is an expert in the areas of economic reforms and liberalisation, industrial economics, urban economics, infrastructure studies, economic regulation, monetary policy and the financial sector.

He is the author of three books on urban economics and urban development and co-author of one and editor of another on Indian economic policy reforms, and of innumerable articles.

Mohan served as deputy governor of the RBI between September 2002 and October 2004, and again from June 2005 to July 2009.

In the interim period, he served as secretary of the department of economic affairs in the ministry of finance.

As RBI deputy governor, he had sole charge of monetary policy, financial markets, economic research and statistics.

In earlier avatars, Mohan has been director-general of the National Council of Applied Economic Research, director and chief executive of the Indian Council for Research and International Economic Relations, and vice chairman, Infrastructure Development Finance Company.

He also held the position of adviser to the finance minister and chief economic adviser between January 2001 and May 2002.

The mission of the Yale School of Management is to educate leaders for business and society. It was founded in 1974, and is the youngest of the University's professional schools.

The Jackson Institute for Global Affairs, established in April 2009, administers Yale's international relations master's program and international studies undergraduate major.

Image: Rakesh Mohan. | Photograph: Paresh Gandhi