Esther Duflo, new President of the Paris School of Economics

Meeting on January 11, 2024 under the interim chairmanship of Jean-Michel Charpin, the Board of Directors unanimously elected Esther Duflo as President of the Paris School of Economics.
She succeeds Daniel Cohen, President of PSE between July 2021 and August 2023, who left a profound mark on the institution after founding it in 2006 with Thomas Piketty.

Published on

Enlarge image, modal window

Esther Duflo: a presidency to assert PSE’s international influence

Esther Duflo holds the Poverty and Public Policy Chair at the Collège de France, and is Professor of Poverty Alleviation and Development Economics in the Department of Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). She is co-founder and co-director of J-PAL, the Poverty Action Laboratory, whose European branch “J-PAL Europe” is based at PSE.

Esther Duflo graduated in history and economics from the École normale supérieure – PSL (ENS – PSL) and from PSE. She obtained her doctorate in economics from MIT in 1999.

Esther Duflo has received numerous academic awards and honors, including the 2019 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel (jointly with Abhijit Banerjee and Michael Kremer). She is a member of the US National Academy of Sciences and a corresponding member of the British Academy.

This five-year mandate is designed to consolidate PSE’s position as Europe’s leading economics department, and 6th in the world. PSE and its project of excellence in economics open to other disciplines attracts the best international students and researchers to Paris. The School offers a diversified and international range of post-graduate courses, structured around generalist and thematic programs, with outlets all over the world.

“It is with great emotion that I take over the presidency of PSE, a unique institution that has transformed the face of economics in Paris, in a house where I grew up and discovered economics. A great deal has already been achieved to ensure that, from the six founding institutions, a coherent whole has emerged, with remarkable power in teaching, research and public life. Together with the management team, I hope to be able to preserve and bring this ensemble to life, and continue to anchor it in the higher education and research landscape in France and around the world.”

Esther Duflo , President of the Paris School of Economics

PSE’s mission is to extend academic research into the analysis of public policy, thanks in particular to the role of the Institut des politiques publiques (IPP), J-PAL Europe, the World Inequality Lab (WIL) and the EU Tax Observatory. PSE feeds public debate and citizen information through rigorous, quantified studies.

PSE’s development is also supported by a growing partnership program, with 13 research chairs currently hosted by PSE.