Saugato Datta

Saugato Datta is a Managing Director at ideas42, working with partners in government, NGOs and firms focused on low-income populations to design, test and scale applications of behavioral economics to benefit poor people in developing countries. His current work spans immunization, family planning, financial inclusion, agriculture, and the design of transfer programs. He is also helping ideas42 think about its strategy for impact in the developing world. Before joining ideas42, Saugato spent three years writing about economics at The Economist in London. He edited the third edition of Economics: Making Sense of the Modern Economy, an edited selection of Economist articles about economics. Prior to this, he was a researcher at the World Bank in Washington, DC. He has published papers on discrimination in Indian labor and housing markets, the effects of infrastructure development in developing countries, HIV risk and learning, behavioral economics and development, and nudges for water conservation. Saugato has a PhD in economics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and undergraduate and Master’s degrees from Cambridge University and the University of Delhi.