US-Based Nobel Laureates Duflo, Banerjee Move To Switzerland Amid Funding Row

US-based Nobel laureates Esther Duflo and Abhijit Banerjee will soon be joining the University of Zurich, in Switzerland, where they plan to establish a new centre for development economics, the university announced on Friday.

The University of Zurich (UZH) announced that the married couple, both currently employed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), will join its economics faculty starting July next year.

The pair won the 2019 Nobel Economics Prize alongside Michael Kremer for their “experimental approach to alleviating global poverty”. The statement, however, made no mention of why they had decided to leave.

However, their move to Switzerland comes amid warnings from experts that US President Donald Trump’s cuts to research funding

and attacks on universities’ academic freedoms could lead to a brain drain, with some countries trying to attract US scientists.

Duflo, who holds both US and French citizenship, co-signed an editorial in Le Monde in March condemning what she described as “unprecedented attacks” on American science.

The university said that Duflo and Indian-born Banerjee will each have an endowed professorship at UZH funded by the Lemann Foundation.

They will also establish and co-lead the new Lemann Centre for Development, Education and Public Policy, with an aim to foster policy-relevant research and connect researchers and education policymakers around the world, it added.

“We are delighted that two of the world’s most influential economists are joining UZH,” university president Michael Schaepman said.

Duflo said the new Lemann Centre would enable the couple, who will retain part-time positions at MIT, to “build on and expand our work, which bridges academic research, student mentorship and real-world policy impact”.

This year’s Nobel Prize in Economics will be announced on Monday.

(With inputs from AFP)