Lord MeghnadDesai is a British economist and former member of the BritishLabourParty, having served asthe Chairman of the Islington South and Finsbury Constituency Labour Party between 1986 and 1992. He is Professor Emeritus of the London School of Economics. He has been awarded the Padma Bhushan, the third highest civilian award in the Republic of India, in 2008.

Lord Desai is chairman of the Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum (OMFIF) Advisory Board, an independent membership-driven research network, focusing on global policy and investment themes. He is the current chairman of the Meghnad Desai Academy of Economics, a post-graduation institute in Mumbai, India.

Lord Desai has worked as an Associate Specialist in the Department of Agricultural Economics, University of California, Berkeley, California. He became a lecturer at the London School of Economics (LSE) in 1965 and professor of economics in 1983. At the LSE, he taught econometrics, macroeconomics, Marxian economics and development economics over the years. From 1990 to 1995, he headed LSE’s Development Studies Institute and led LSE Global Governance programme from 1992 to 2003.

Following his first book,“Marxian Economic Theory in 1973”. he has written extensively publishing a number of books and over 200 articles in academic journals and having regular columns in the British radical weekly Tribune: the Indian business daily Business Standard; and Indian Express and Financial Express.