Trinity Fellow Professor Debopam Bhattacharya elected to the Econometric Society

Trinity Fellow Professor Debopam Bhattacharya has been elected a Fellow of the Econometric Society in recognition of his important contributions to micro-econometrics, welfare analysis, intergenerational income mobility, and empirical policy evaluation.

Econometrics is the application of statistical and mathematical models to economic data and the Society is the leading global body for the advancement of this academic discipline with practical application to real-world problems.

Professor Oliver Linton, the Chair of the Economics Faculty at Cambridge said: ‘I am delighted that Professor Debopam Bhattacharya has been elected a Fellow of the Econometric Society — one of the most prestigious honours of our profession.’

Professor Bhattacharya uses data to understand economic decision making and predict the consequences of public policy on ordinary people’s lives.

My primary research interest concerns the development of statistical methods for analysing economic behaviour, which falls squarely within the purview of the society. The problems I study concern the use of micro-level data to understand economic decisions and to predict the impact of policy interventions on individual outcomes and welfare.

Currently he is working on a statistical model of travel and traffic congestions. If every commuter decides to drive, instead of taking public transport, then roads will be clogged. And similarly, if a lot of people use the train, then trains would be impossibly crowded.

In reality, he says, ‘some people drive and others take the train and continue to do so. How is such an equilibrium achieved? I am building statistical models to understand such behaviour and the resulting equilibrium, which is a steady state arising from these interactions.’

‘Interestingly, the process by which applicants to Cambridge choose which College to apply to is a very similar phenomenon. My work attempts to both understand such processes and predict the impact of interventions, such as centralisation or congestion charges.’

Founded in 1930, the Econometric Society publishes leading journals (Econometrica, Quantitative Economics, Theoretical Economics) and organises global scientific meetings. The society has been electing fellows for more than 90 years, and a Fellowship is considered one of the most prestigious recognitions in academic economics.