Ravi Kanbur

About

Ravi Kanbur researches and teaches in development economics, public economics, and economic theory. He is well known for his role in policy analysis and engagement in international development. Kanbur has served on the senior staff of the World Bank, including as Chief Economist for Africa. He has published in leading economics journals such as the Journal of Political Economy, American Economic Review, Review of Economic Studies, Journal of Economic Theory, and Economic Journal. Kanbur has held prominent positions including Co-Chair of the Food System Economics Commission, Chair of the Board of United Nations University-World Institute for Development Economics Research, member of the OECD High Level Expert Group on the Measurement of Economic Performance, President of the Human Development and Capability Association, President of the Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, member of the High Level Advisory Council of the Climate Justice Dialogue, Co-Chair of the Scientific Council of the International Panel on Social Progress, and member of the Core Group of the Commission on Global Poverty.

Research topics

• Sociology
• Economics
• Mathematics
• Political Science
• Environmental resource management
• Demography
• Economic growth
• Ecology
• Economic system
• Environmental planning

Selected publications

• The great Chinese inequality turnaround

  Journal of Comparative Economics · 2020 · 77 citations

  1st authorCorresponding
  DOI

• Food system development pathways for healthy, nature-positive and inclusive food systems

  Nature Food · 2021 · 76 citations

  DOI

• Measuring Unfair Inequality: Reconciling Equality of Opportunity and Freedom from Poverty

  The Review of Economic Studies · 2022 · 44 citations

  Abstract Empirical evidence on distributional preferences shows that people do not judge inequality as problematic per se but that they take into account the fairness or unfairness of the outcome. This article conceptualizes a view of unfair inequality and introduces a new measure of inequality based on two widely held fairness principles: equality of opportunity and freedom from poverty. It develops a method for decomposing inequality and its trends into an unfair and a fair component. We provi…

  DOI

• Is the era of declining global income inequality over?

  Structural Change and Economic Dynamics · 2024-01-19 · 13 citations

  articleOpen access1st author

  This paper examines the trajectory of global income inequality since 1981. Commonly used (relative) definitions indicate a decline in global inequality since the late 1980s. Looking ahead, it has been intuited that the influence of China's economic development—and that of other rapidly growing, populous nations—on the between-country component will, at some juncture, diminish and start to add to global inequality should economic growth persist. Our paper formalizes the turning point of global in…

  PublisherDOI

• A food system transformation pathway reconciles 1.5 °C global warming with improved health, environment and social inclusion

  Nature Food · 2025-12-19 · 4 citations

  articleOpen access

  The improvement of the global food system requires a thorough understanding of how specific measures may contribute to the system's transformation. Here we apply a global food and land system modelling framework to quantify the impact of 23 food system measures on 15 outcome indicators related to public health, the environment, social inclusion and the economy, up to 2050. While all individual measures come with trade-offs, their combination can reduce trade-offs and enhance co-benefits. We esti…

  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Joachim De Weerdt

  KU Leuven

  116 shared

• Nancy H. Chau

  113 shared

• Luc Christiaensen

  104 shared

• Haroon Bhorat

  65 shared

• Jo Beall

  London School of Economics and Political Science

  63 shared

• Dennis Rodgers

  58 shared

• Bert Ingelaere

  University of Antwerp

  51 shared

• Kaushik Basu

  Cornell University

  44 shared

Awards & honors

• Chair of the Board of United Nations University-World Instit…
• Co-Chair of the Food System Economics Commission
• Co-Chair of the Scientific Council of the International Pane…
• Member of the OECD High Level Expert Group on the Measuremen…
• President of the Human Development and Capability Associatio…

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