Nobel laureates Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo will leave US for Switzerland following MIT snub to Trump's deal
The University of Zurich announced that Nobel laureates Esther Duflo and Abhijit Banerjee will be joining its economics faculty next July to establish a centre for development economics, leaving their positions at MIT.
US-based Nobel laureates Esther Duflo and Abhijit Banerjee will soon be joining the University of Zurich, in Switzerland, where they plan to establish a new centre for development economics, the university announced on Friday.
The University of Zurich (UZH) stated that the married couple, currently at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), will join its economics faculty starting July next year.
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The announcement did not specify the reasons behind their decision to leave MIT. Duflo and Banerjee, along with Michael Kremer, were awarded the 2019 Nobel Prize in Economics for their “experimental approach to alleviating global poverty.”
But they will be moving to Switzerland at a time when experts are warning US President Donald Trump's cuts to research funding and attacks on universities' academic freedoms could lead to a brain drain, with some countries trying to attract US scientists.
Duflo, a dual US-French national, herself co-signed an editorial in Le Monde newspaper back in March denouncing "unprecedented attacks" on US science.
“She and Indian-born Banerjee will each have an endowed professorship at UZH funded by the Lemann Foundation,” the university said.
They will also establish and co-lead the new Lemann Center for Development, Education and Public Policy, with an aim to foster policy-relevant research and connect researchers and education policymakers around the world, it added.
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"We are delighted that two of the world's most influential economists are joining UZH," university president Michael Schaepman said.
Duflo said the new Lemann Center would enable the couple, who will retain part-time positions at MIT, to "build on and expand our work, which bridges academic research, student mentorship and real-world policy impact".
This year's Nobel Prize in Economics will be announced on Monday.
(With inputs from AFP)