Nepali-American wins Globally Acclaimed Young-Economist Award

Parag Pathak, a young Nepali-American economist has been awarded the John Bates Clark Medal 2018 for his work in market design and education policy. The John Bates Clark Medal is one of the most prestigious annual award given by the American Economic Association (AEA).
According to the AEA, the medal is awarded to that American economist under the age of forty who is judged to have made the most significant contribution to economic thought and knowledge.

What they are Saying:

According to the award statement by AEA, among his other accomplishments, Pathak’s work has led to “significant improvement in the assignment of students to public schools,” while he has also conducted “convincing analyses of different policies designed to improve secondary education. Using innovative and sophisticated empirical and theoretical techniques, he has provided policy advice that has already positively influenced the lives of over 1 million public school students.”

Why it Matters:

• According to the data compiled by Bloomberg, the recipients of the medal have almost a one-in-three chance of eventually winning the Nobel Prize in economics. Being awarded this medal boosts Pathak’s chances of winning the Nobel Prize in economics.
• Former winners of John Bates Clark Medal, who have also won the Nobel prize in economics include Milton Friedman and Paul Krugman.

The Backstory:

• Pathak was born in New York; his parents had immigrated to the US from Nepal in the 1970s.
• He attended a public high school in New York and received his BA in applied mathematics from Harvard University in 2002 and an MS in the subject the same year.
• In 2007 he received his Ph.D. in economics from Harvard.
• After joining the MIT faculty as an assistant professor 2008, he became a full professor in 2014.