Faculty Profiles
Ranajoy Ray-Chaudhuri Associate Professor, Economics |  |
Education
- Ph.D., Economics, The Ohio State University
- M.A., Economics, The Ohio State University
- M.A., International Trade and Development, Jawaharlal Nehru University
- B.A., Economics, Jadavpur University
Teaching Interests
My primary teaching fields are macroeconomics, money and banking and development economics. I have also taught courses on the BRICs countries, international trade, international finance, political economy, microeconomics, statistics and econometrics.
Apart from my regular classes, I enjoy developing and teaching classes on topics that impact and inform public policymaking. I have taught a cluster course on poverty and discrimination with a colleague from political science where we approached the topic from our different disciplines. I have also taught a first-year seminar on migration, a topic that is both timely and close to my heart.
In addition to Muhlenberg, I have taught at The Ohio State University and St. Mary's College of Maryland. I love combining my teaching with my passion for travel and have also taught at multiple universities in China and in Mexico.
Research, Scholarship or Creative/Artistic Interests
My research focuses on the history of financial regulations, regulatory changes in the financial sector, central bank autonomy and the conduct of monetary policy, and the impact of financial development on economic growth.
After completing two book projects, the first one on the history of financial regulations in the United States with a particular focus on commercial banking and the second on the independence of central banks and how that affects the conduct of monetary policy, I am currently looking at how central banks operate in countries that do not have their own currency. These nations are then unable to conduct conventional monetary policy, but their central banks still have a lot under their charge.
As a case study, I am currently focusing on Kosovo, which unilaterally decided to adopt the euro despite not being a part of the official eurozone. I am looking at what this has meant for the operations of the Central Bank of Kosovo, and also how the constraints on monetary policy have affected their fiscal policy.
My ancillary research interests are quite broad; these include how social, cultural and political institutions evolve and affect economic development, as well as the developmental experiences and challenges of the BRICS nations.
