Honorary Degree Acceptance Speech by Debraj Ray, "Conflicts and Distribution"

Debraj Ray (born in India, 1957, PhD in Economics, Cornell University, 1983) is a Julius Silver Professor of Economics at New York University. He is one of the most distinguished mathematical economists of his vintage and clearly the leading theoretical development economist. He is especially recognized for his contributions to game theory, measuring polarization and inequality and to the theory of conflict. His broad research program on polarization and conflict (jointly with Joan Esteban) has been extremely influential. It deals with everything from the salience of ethnic conflicts and civil war to polarization, fractionalization and development more generally. He also provides a new perspective on game theory in his theoretical contributions to how coalitions form and what gives them power and influence. He has published almost one hundred articles in leading economic journals and has written several books. He is the author the most popular development textbooks, ‘’Development Economics’’. Over many years he has collaborated with researchers at ESOP, University of Oslo.