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September 25, 2019

Economic Management Under Uncertainty

Leading the Reserve Bank of India during the 2008 Financial Crisis and Lessons for the Next Global Downturn

Global currency

Duvvuri Subbarao, a former governor of the Reserve Bank of India, finance secretary, and World Bank lead economist, discussed emerging economy perspectives on central banking and his experiences leading the Reserve Bank of India during the uncertain times of the 2008 global economic crisis. In a conversation with SFS professor Shantayanan Devarajan, Subbarao considered the policy options for emerging markets responding to a global downturn.

This event was co-sponsored by the Georgetown University India Initiative and Master of Science in Foreign Service program.

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Duvvuri Subbarao teaches and does research as a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the National University of Singapore. He was the twenty-second governor of the Reserve Bank of India (2008-2013) and previously served as the finance secretary to the Government of India and secretary to the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council. He also held a career as an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, worked as a lead economist for the World Bank, and authored the book Who Moved My Interest Rate? He has received a M.Sc. in physics at the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, M.S. in economics from Ohio State University, and Ph.D. in economics from Andhra University. Subbarao also studied public finance as a Humphrey Fellow at MIT. 

Shantayanan Devarajan is professor of the practice of international development with the School of Foreign Service. Previously, he was senior director for Development Economics (DEC) and a former acting chief economist at the World Bank. He also directed "Making Services Work for Poor People," the 2004 World Development Report. Devarajan also previously taught at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. Devarajan received his B.A. in mathematics from Princeton University and his Ph.D. in economics from the University of California, Berkeley.