Maitreesh Ghatak

Development Programme Director and Professor of Economics

Telephone:

+44 (0)20 7852 3568

Email:

m.ghatak@lse.ac.uk

Room:

SAL 3.08 A

Connect:

Twitter
Website

Links:

Development
Psychology and Economics
Economic Theory
Cohesive Capitalism
Department of Economics

Biography

Maitreesh Ghatak's current research interests are:

Applied Microeconomics
Development Economics
Public Organizations

Maitreesh's latest projects include:

Latest

Cohesive Capitalism Event

Book Discussion: Charaiveti: An Academic's Global Journey, Pranab Bardhan

05 June 2024

Pranab Bardhan (University of California, Berkeley), Maitreesh Ghatak (EOPP, LSE)

Leading Indian economist and public intellectual Pranab Bardhan will discuss his recently published book Charaiveti: An Academic's Global Journey, in which he weaves together reflections on the world with recognizable th... Read more...

Development Discussion Papers

Public service delivery, exclusion and externalities: Theory and experimental evidence from India

15 November 2023

Alex Armand, Britta Augsburg, Antonella Bancalari and Maitreesh Ghatak

This study explores the interaction between the quality of public services, the implementation of user fees, and the resulting potential for exclusion, that can lead to negative externalities. Our theoretical framework t... Read more...

Journal Articles

Why Do People Stay Poor?

01 May 2022

Clare Balboni, Oriana Bandiera, Robin Burgess, Maitreesh Ghatak and Anton Heil

There are two broad views as to why people stay poor. One emphasizes differences in fundamentals, such as ability, talent, or motivation. The poverty traps view emphasizes differences in opportunities that stem from acce... Read more...

CentrePiece - The magazine of the Centre for Economic Performance

India: the economic impact of Covid-19

22 February 2022

Swati Dhingra and Maitreesh Ghatak

India has been hit hard by the pandemic, particularly during the second wave of the virus in the spring of 2021. Swati Dhingra and Maitreesh Ghatak reveal how the largest drop in GDP in the country's history may still un... Read more...

Blog

How has Covid-19 affected India's economy?

30 June 2021

Swati Dhingra and Maitreesh Ghatak

India has been hit hard by the pandemic, particularly during the second wave of the virus in the spring of 2021. The sharp drop in GDP is the largest in the country's history, Swati Dhingra and Maitreesh Ghatak point out... Read more...

Development Discussion Papers

Why Do People Stay Poor?

09 March 2020

Clare Balboni, Oriana Bandiera, Robin Burgess, Maitreesh Ghatak and Anton Heil

There are two views as to why people stay poor. The equal opportunity view emphasizes that differences in individual traits like talent or motivation make the poor choose low productivity jobs. The poverty traps view e... Read more...

Development Discussion Papers

Profit with Purpose? A Theory of Social Enterprise with Experimental Evidence

08 November 2013

Timothy Besley and Maitreesh Ghatak

When social benefits cannot be measured, a hybrid organization which selects managers based on motivation can be used to balance profi?ts with a social purpose. This paper develops a model of social enterprise based on s... Read more...

Development Discussion Papers

Group Lending Without Joint Liability

16 July 2013

Thiemo Fetzer, Maitreesh Ghatak and Jonathan de Quidt

This paper contrasts individual liability lending with and without groups to joint liability lending. By doing so, we shed light on an apparent shift away from joint liability lending towards individual liability lending... Read more...

Development Discussion Papers

Motivating Knowledge Agents: Can Incentive Pay Overcome Social Distance?

01 March 2013

Erlend Berg, Maitreesh Ghatak, R Manjula, D Rajasekhar and Sanchari Roy

This paper studies the interaction of incentive pay and social distance in the dissemination of information. We analyse theoretically as well as empirically the effect of incentive pay when agents have pro-social objecti... Read more...

Development Discussion Papers

Market Structure and Borrower Welfare in Microfinance

01 September 2012

Jonathan de Quidt, Thiemo Fetzer and Maitreesh Ghatak

Motivated by recent controversies surrounding the role of commercial lenders in microfinance, we analyze borrower welfare under different market structures,considering a benevolent non-profit lender, a for-profit monopol... Read more...

Development Discussion Papers

Taxation and Regulation of Bonus Pay

01 July 2011

Timothy Besley and Maitreesh Ghatak

We explore the consequence for taxation and regulation of bonus pay when investors are protected by taxpayers from downside risk. The paper develops a model where workers in financial sector firms make decisions about ef... Read more...