1925-2015
Professor Manoranjan (Jan) Dutta, one of the first economists of Indian-American heritage, died on February 22, 2015, from complications after a stroke. A professor emeritus at Rutgers University, he pioneered American engagement with Asian-Pacific economies. He chaired the National Advisory Council for South Asian Affairs and served as President of the Board of Trustees of the American Committee on Asian Economic Studies (ACAES). ACAES is an organization he founded in 1982 to build new initiatives in the study of Asia in collaboration with economists in China, Thailand, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia and all over Asia. In 1990, he founded the Journal of Asian Economics. From an initial two issues a year, the Journal expanded to its present six. Read more from daughter Kavery Kaul's tribute.
Professor Manoranjan (Jan) Dutta, one of the first economists of Indian-American heritage, died on February 22, 2015, from complications after a stroke. A professor emeritus at Rutgers University, he pioneered American engagement with Asian-Pacific economies. He chaired the National Advisory Council for South Asian Affairs and served as President of the Board of Trustees of the American Committee on Asian Economic Studies (ACAES). ACAES is an organization he founded in 1982 to build new initiatives in the study of Asia in collaboration with economists in China, Thailand, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia and all over Asia. In 1990, he founded the Journal of Asian Economics. From an initial two issues a year, the Journal expanded to its present six.
The author of many books like The Asian Economy and Asian Money and The United States of Europe: The European Union and the Euro Revolution, he specialized in the economics of globalization. A Fulbright Senior Specialist, he was a frequent guest lecturer in the U.S. and internationally.
Born in India on October 1, 1925, he received his B.A. from Presidency College and his M.A. from the University of Calcutta. In 1958, he arrived as a Fulbright Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School where he became the first student to earn a Ph.D. under Nobel Laureate Lawrence Klein. In 1962, he joined the Rutgers faculty, offering students their first courses in the then-new field of econometrics.
A student leader in India's fight for independence, in the U.S. he battled for the rights of Indian-Americans, uniting the community as a social, cultural and political force in America. In 1967, he founded the Association of Indians in America (AIA), the oldest organization of Asian Indian immigrants in the United States with chapters nationwide. He is survived by his wife Kanak, his daughter Kavery, and his grandchildren Usha and Ashok. His life had a fullness that leaves ours less filled.