Karthik Muralidharan is the Tata Chancellor’s professor of economics at the University of California San Diego (UCSD). His research spans public finance and development Economics, and his publications include Accelerating India’s Development: A State-Led Roadmap for Effective Governance (2024) and articles in leading academic journals. He has actively engaged in policy advising and capacity building in India, and in public communication of research insights. He is the co-founder and scientific director of the Centre for Effective Governance of Indian States (CEGIS), a non-profit that works to improve state capacity, governance, and service delivery. He holds a bachelor’s degree and a PhD in economics from Harvard and an MPhil from Cambridge.