Indian development economist Jayati Ghosh is among 20 prominent personalities appointed by the United Nations to a high-level advisory board that will provide recommendations for the UN Secretary-General to respond to the current and future socio-economic challenges in the post-Covid-19 world.

Ghosh, 65, is a professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She has taught economics at Jawaharlal Nehru University for nearly 35 years and has authored several books.

The UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) announced that the 20 “prominent personalities, globally renowned for their intellectual leadership in economic and social fields, will form the second United Nations High-level Advisory Board (HLAB) on Economic and Social Affairs.” Over the next two years, the board will strengthen the United Nations thought leadership on sustainable development and reinforce its impact on policies at every level – from global to local, it said.

Comprising a diverse group of experts from around the world, the board will closely collaborate with UNDESA to provide guidance and focused recommendations for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to respond to current and future socio-economic challenges in the post-Covid-19 world and to advance the Decade of Action for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The first United Nations High-level Advisory Board was established in June 2018 as a key element of the efforts to support the UN Member States in implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Over the course of the last two years, the interventions and insights of the board greatly expanded the understanding of UNDESA of some of the most burning economic and social issues shaping the world and inspired the United Nations to break new ground in policy research, the UN agency said in a statement.

Born in 1955, Ghosh got her MA and M Phil in economics from Jawaharlal Nehru University and joined Cambridge University for her PhD.

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