Nabanita Datta Gupta new member of the Danish Economic Councils

Danish Minister for Finance Nicolai Wammen has appointed Professor of Economics Nabanita Datta Gupta from Aarhus BSS as economic advisor in the Danish Economic Councils. She joins an impressive list of former economic advisors from Aarhus BSS: Michael Rosholm, Nina Smith, Peder J. Pedersen, Ebbe Yndgaard, J. Vibe-Pedersen and Søren Gammelgård, and chief economic advisors: Michael Svarer, Torben M. Andersen, Claus Vastrup, Karsten Laursen and Hans E. Zeuthen.

In the chairmanship of the Economic Councils, Nabanita Datta Gupta and Jakob Roland Munch from the University of Copenhagen will replace the two outgoing members; Chief Economic Advisor Michael Svarer and Torben Tranæs from VIVE. The chairmanship now consists of Carl-Johan Dalgaard (chief economic advisor) and Lars Gårn Hansen, who are both from the University of Copenhagen, Jakob Roland Munch and Nabanita Datta Gupta.

“It’s a great honour and an extremely important task. I look forward to following Denmark’s economic development closely. I have studied the economic policy of the welfare state in general, and in my new role, I can contribute with knowledge about the interplay between individuals, institutions and the economy,” says Nabanita Datta Gupta.

Nabanita Datta Gupta is a labour market economist and in her research, she focuses on gender differences on the labour market, family economics, pension systems and withdrawal from the labour market as well as the relationship between health and work.

In 1992, Nabanita Datta Gupta gained a PhD in economics from Cornell University, the US. In the following period, she worked as an assistant professor at the New Jersey Institute of Technology and as a guest lecturer at Cornell University. In 1995, she was appointed associate professor at the former Aarhus School of Business (now Aarhus BSS) and worked as a research professor at the Danish National Centre for Social Research (SFI - now a part of VIVE) from 2004 to 2009. In 2009, she returned to Aarhus BSS as a professor of economics and has worked there ever since.

Apart from teaching and conducting research into economics at Aarhus BSS, Nabanita Datta Gupta is also affiliated with the German IZA - Institute of Labor Economics - and is an affiliated researcher at TrygFonden's Centre for Child Research at Aarhus University. 

From 2007 to 2012, Nabanita Datta Gupta was a council member at the Independent Research Fund Denmark / Society and Business - and from 2014 to 2015, she was a member of the Danish pension commission.

She is married to Bent Jesper Christensen, professor of economics at Aarhus BSS, and they have three children aged 17, 22 and 25.

In a press release from the Ministry of Finance, Minister for Finance Nicolai Wammen states:

“The economic advisors play an important role in the public debate. With their relevant and academically grounded analyses, they provide valuable input to the economic-political debate, and as an independent fiscal watchdog, they play a central role in monitoring public finances.

I would like to congratulate the new president Carl-Johan Dalgaard and the new members Jakob Roland Munch and Nabanita Datta Gupta on being appointed. I would also like to thank the outgoing president Michael Svarer and member Torben Tranæs for their great commitment to the work of the council. They have contributed significantly to ensuring a more informed public debate.”  

FACTS

• The Danish Economic Councils consist of the Economic Council and the Environmental Economic Council. The councils are responsible for “monitoring Denmark’s economy” and “examining the interaction between the environment and the economy”.
• The two councils are governed by a joint chairmanship consisting of four independent economists referred to as “economic advisors” or “economic wise men”. The chairman of the chairmanship is called the Chief Economic Advisor (the chief wise man)
• The chairmanship of the Danish Economic Councils delivers independent analyses of the Danish economy. The analyses constitute an independent contribution to the decision making process in Danish economic politics (source: www.dors.dk)
• Read more about the Danish Economic Councils
• Read more about Nabanita Datta Gupta