Tarun Jain तरुण जैन

RBI Chair Professor of Economics, IIM Ahmedabad

Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India

About

Tarun Jain is an award-winning Professor of Economics at the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, where he currently holds the Reserve Bank of India Chair in Finance & Economics. He is also an Associate Editor at Economic Modelling. He has served as Chair of the Economics Area and of the Centre for Management of Health Services at the Institute. Before joining IIM Ahmedabad, he was on the faculty at the Indian School of Business. He conducts research on understanding causes and consequences of human capital formation (for instance, with health and education), especially in the context of fast-growing developing countries. Gender is a topic of special research interest given that women face persistent barriers in economic advancement. His research has been funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the International Growth Centre and the International Initiative for Impact Evaluation, and published in peer-reviewed journals such the American Economic Review, Review of Economics and Statistics, Journal of Public Economics, and Journal of Economic History. He writes extensively for media outlets such as the Economic Times, Ideas for India and Mint. Professor Jain earned his PhD in Economics from the University of Virginia, and his BA in Mathematics and Economics from Franklin and Marshall College. Before his PhD, he was a management consultant with Charles River Associates in Washington DC and Oliver Wyman in Boston. Professor Jain teaches the core course on Microeconomics as well as electives on Health Economics and EdTech in the MBA program, and a course on Organizational Economics in the PhD program at IIM Ahmedabad. More information is on his professional website: https://tarunjain13.github.io/

Experience

  • Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (7 yrs 2 mos)
    • Professor of Economics
      Feb 2025 - Present · 1 yr 6 mos

    • Reserve Bank of India Chair in Finance & Economics
      Jun 2024 - Present · 2 yrs 2 mos

    • Secondary member, Ravi J. Matthai Centre for Educational Innovation
      Jun 2023 - Present · 3 yrs 2 mos

  • Secretary and Treasurer at International Development Economics Association
    Apr 2026 - Present · 4 mos

  • Associate Editor at Economic Modelling
    Apr 2022 - Present · 4 yrs 4 mos

  • Member, Digital Committee at National Accreditation Board for Hospitals & Healthcare (NABH)
    May 2023 - May 2026 · 3 yrs 1 mo

  • Fulbright-Nehru Academic and Professional Excellence Fellow at University of Wisconsin-Madison
    Oct 2022 - May 2023 · 8 mos