It is incredibly sad to learn that Professor U Shankar is no longer with us. He has been a great inspiration to many of us involved in teaching and research in economics in India, particularly in environmental economics, econometrics, and public policy. He provided invaluable support throughout his career. Professor Shankar’s academic achievements are truly impressive. He studied Economics at the Madras University and Annamalai University in Tamil Nadu, one of the states in India, in the 1950s. He completed his Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in econometrics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the United States of America (USA), in 1967.
Professor Shankar taught at the University of Wisconsin, USA, during the 1970s and became a full professor there in 1976. He later returned to India, where he played a key role in establishing the Department of Econometrics at the University of Madras in 1978. He became the President of the Indian Econometric Society in 1993. Prof. Sankar was one of the founders of the Madras School of Economics and became its director. He served as the National Program Coordinator for the World Bank-funded Environmental Capacity Building Program in India during the late 1990s. He was one of the main resource persons for this programme, which trained many young economists and administrators across India in Environmental Economics at that time. The programme brought a revolutionary change in the teaching and research methods in Environmental Economics in India, benefiting a generation of economists who specialised in this field. He also played a highly active role in a similar and significant programme in the broader context of South Asian countries – the South Asian Network for Development and Environmental Economics (SANDEE). In recognition of his valuable contributions to teaching and research in Environmental Economics, he was made a Fellow of SANDEE in 2009. Additionally, he was a National Fellow of the Indian Council of Social Science Research during the period 2003-2004.
In his illustrious career spanning several decades, Prof. Shankar published numerous articles in both national and international peer-reviewed journals. During the 1970s, he co-authored several papers in leading international journals, including The Review of Economic Studies (1969), International Economic Review (1970), The Review of Economics and Statistics (1973), Journal of Economic Theory (1977), among others. He also authored several books such as ‘Controlling Pollution: Incentives and Regulations,’ (with S Mehta and S Mundle, Sage Publications, Delhi, 1997), ‘Environmental Economics: Reader in Economics’ (Oxford University Press, Delhi, 2000), ‘Trade and Environment: A Study of India’s Leather Exports’ (Oxford University Press, 2006), and ‘The Economics of India’s Space Programme: An Exploratory Analysis’ (Oxford University Press, 2007).
In addition to his extensive scholarly contributions, Prof. Shankar was actively associated with various professional bodies, academic boards, and policy committees in India. His teaching at several universities and other academic institutions has benefited numerous students, many of whom now hold key positions in academia.
