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Nobel Laureate Banerjee leaves MIT to lead University of Zurich economics center
The university will partner with the Lemann Foundation to launch a $32.53 million center led by Nobel laureates Banerjee and Duflo.
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Anushka Pathak - Sat, 11, Oct 2025
- 11:25 EDT
- 40
Nobel laureates Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo / Courtesy: University of Zurich (UZH)
Indian-American economist and Nobel laureate Abhijit Banerjee will join the University of Zurich (UZH) in July 2026 to co-lead a new center dedicated to development economics, education, and public policy alongside fellow economist Esther Duflo.
Banerjee, currently the Ford Foundation international professor of economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), will assume an endowed professorship at UZH supported by a $32.53 million (CHF 26 million) donation from the Lemann Foundation.
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The funding will create the Lemann Center for development, education, and public policy within UZH’s Department of Economics, focusing on poverty alleviation, health, and education through evidence-based policy research.
“I am especially enthusiastic about contributing to making the Faculty of Business, Economics and Informatics at UZH an even more attractive place,” Banerjee said. “We have no doubt that the University of Zurich will be an excellent environment for us to pursue our research and policy work in the years to come.”
Duflo, also an MIT professor and co-recipient of the 2019 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences alongside Banerjee and Michael Kremer, will join in a parallel professorship. She noted that the new center would “build on and expand our work, which bridges academic research, student mentorship, and real-world policy impact.”
Both economists co-founded the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) at MIT, a global research network that pioneered randomized controlled trials to assess anti-poverty strategies.
At UZH, they plan to expand J-PAL’s ADEPT program, offering specialized education in program evaluation, new master’s-level courses, and scholarships for Brazilian students.
UZH president Michael Schaepman called their appointment a “quantum leap” for the university. “Esther Duflo and Abhijit Banerjee combine scientific theory with social impact in their research, which is also a key concern for UZH,” he said.
With the new center, UZH aims to position itself as a global hub for applied development research and policy innovation. Banerjee and Duflo will retain part-time affiliations with MIT, ensuring continuity in their international projects while expanding Zurich’s role in addressing global development challenges.
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