About the Author: Simanti Bandyopadhyay is currently Associate Professor, Economics and Public Policy Area, School of Management and Entrepreneurship, Shiv Nadar University, India. She has nineteen years of research, consultancy and teaching experience, and currently focuses on applied development economics, mainly related to public finance and public policy. She completed her Ph.D. in Economics on a UGC Fellowship from the Centre for Economic Studies and Planning, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, and has been an International Centre for Tax and Development Postdoctoral Fellow at the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, USA, and Institute of Development Studies, UK. She has undertaken research, teaching and research guidance at various respected universities and research institutions in India and abroad and has also been a recipient of MacArthur Foundation Award. She regularly contributes articles on public policy, economics and operations research, and serves as an external reviewer for a number of international journals, and she has led important development projects and has worked closely with organizations like the World Bank, ADB, UNDP, IFMR, ICRIER, Planning Commission and different ministries and government bodies. She has also been the Chief Researcher for the background study of the Fourth State Finance Commission of the state of Tamil Nadu in India.
Mousumi Dutta is currently a Professor and the Head of the Economics Department, Presidency University. She is a Gold Medalist in M.Sc. (Economics) from Calcutta University and completed her doctoral degree on "Economics of conservation of built heritage: the case of Kolkata" from the same university. She has been the Principal or co-Investigator of several projects, funded by The International Growth Center, Rosa Luxemburg Society, Berlin, ICSSR and UGC. Prof. Dutta has published extensively on the built environment, health and gender issues in journals like Tourism Management, Journal of Cultural Heritage, Social Indicators Research and Journal of International Development. She has presented her work at Stockholm University, Corvinus University, Gutenberg University, Liverpool University, Leeds University, Winchester University and Shanghai University and at international conferences organized by the European Population Association, British Society for Population Studies, IUSSP and Asian Population Association. Prof. Dutta has also published four books, including two on gender and reproductive health, respectively.
