Raghuram Rajan recalls Princeton student pitching for free work. A decade later, this happened

Economists and co-authors Rohit Lamba and Raghuram Rajan. (Image credit: LinkedIn, Twitter)

In 2012, when Rohit Lamba was doing his PhD in Economics at Princeton University in the US, he wrote to then India's chief economic advisor Raghuram Rajan wanting to work for him for free. Now, years after Lamba assisted Rajan as a part-timer, the two economists have co-authored a book on ideas for an improved economic future for India.

Recollecting the incident, the former RBI governor took to LinkedIn and wrote, "I met Dr. Rohit Lamba over a decade ago, when I was India's Chief Economic Advisor, and he wrote to me as a Ph.D. student from Princeton, wanting to work for free in the Finance Ministry just to make a contribution to the nation. Since then, we stayed in touch and really started working together during the pandemic."

Lamba worked part-time as an adviser to the office of the chief economic advisor from November 2012 to June 2013 and from December 2014 to February 2015, as per his bio on LinkedIn.

The duo would- then go on to write op-eds for newspapers before eventually writing a book 'Breaking the Mould' published by Penguin Random House India.

"Rohit is a great theoretical economist, who also has a strong practical sense," Raghuram Rajan said. "He is passionate about India and its development, as hopefully comes out in the pages of the book. He speaks here about the Indian success stories that we write about."

Not everyday you get a shoutout from one of your favorite economists, who is also a mentor and co-author. So I’ll take it :) https://t.co/B6COz8Caadpic.twitter.com/xmH6lRGZtS

— Rohit Lamba (@rohlamba) November 28, 2023

Commenting on the upcoming book, Rajan said, "India is at a critical juncture. the decisions we make now will determine its economic future, either for the good or the bad. Our book outlines India's options -- it can either blindly follow outdated paths that other countries took or it can chart a uniquely Indian way."

Read more: Raghuram Rajan's new book on future of Indian economy set for December release