LauriTym702628 at 12:26, 23 November 2025

2025-11-23T12:26:32Z

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{{Short description|Indian economist}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2025}}
{{Use Indian English|date=September 2025}}
{{Infobox academic
| education = {{ubl| [[University of Calcutta]] ([[Master of Arts|M.A.]])|[[Jawaharlal Nehru University]] ([[Master of Philosophy|M.Phil.]])|[[Oxford University]] ([[Doctor of Philosophy|D.Phil.]])}}
| discipline = [[Economics]]
| sub_discipline = [[Development economics]], [[Economic history]]
| workplaces = {{ubl| [[London School of Economics]]|[[University of Warwick]]}}
}}
'''Bishnupriya Gupta''' is an Indian economist, academic and author. She is a professor at the Department of Economics, [[University of Warwick]] in Coventry, England and the research director of Centre for Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE) funded by [[Economic and Social Research Council]] (ESRC). Her areas of interest include [[development economics]] and [[economic history]] with a focus on [[Industrial organization|industrial organisation]] in colonial India, gender bias and sex ratio in twentieth century India, and the [[Great Divergence|great divergence]] between Europe and Asia.<ref>{{Cite web |date=14 April 2025 |title=Bishnupriya Gupta |url=http://cepr.org/about/people/bishnupriya-gupta |access-date=1 September 2025 |website=CEPR |language=en}}</ref>

== Biography ==
Gupta received a [[Master of Arts]] (MA) in economics from [[University of Calcutta]] and a [[Master of Philosophy]] (MPhil) in economic history from [[Jawaharlal Nehru University]] (JNU) in 1979 and 1982 respectively. She was awarded a [[Doctor of Philosophy|Doctorate of Philosophy]] (DPhil) in economic history from [[St Antony's College, Oxford|St Anthony's College]], Oxford University in 1989.

Between 1990 and 1994, Gupta worked at the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER) and the [[Delhi School of Economics]]. She joined the Department of Economics, [[University of St Andrews|University of St. Andrews]] as a teaching and research fellow in 1995. For two years, starting 1999, she served as a lecturer at Department of Economic History, [[London School of Economics]]. From 2001 to 2015, Gupta was an associate professor at Department of Economics, University of Warwick.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Chaudhary |first1=Latika |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IcpmCgAAQBAJ |title=A New Economic History of Colonial India |last2=Gupta |first2=Bishnupriya |last3=Roy |first3=Tirthankar |last4=Swamy |first4=Anand V. |date=20 August 2015 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-67433-7 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=India |first=Ideas For |title=Bishnupriya,Gupta |url=https://www.ideasforindia.in//profile/bishnupriya.html |access-date=1 September 2025 |website=www.ideasforindia.in |language=en |archive-date=1 December 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241201203754/http://ideasforindia.in/profile/bishnupriya.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 2019, Gupta and her co-authors [[Stephen Broadberry]], Jean-Pascal Bassino, Kyoji Fukao, and Masanori Takashima were awarded the Larry Neal Prize for the best article published in [[Explorations in Economic History]] during 2018/19 for their paper "Japan and the Great Divergence, 730-1874". In the paper, the quintet argues that Japan experienced positive trend growth between 730 and 1874, unlike China and India, but remained behind northwest Europe due to its slower growth rate.<ref>{{Cite web |title=CONGRATULATIONS TO STEPHEN BROADBERRY ON RECEIVING THE LARRY NEAL AWARD |url=https://www.economics.ox.ac.uk/article/congratulations-to-stephen-broadberry-on-receiving-the-larry-neal-award |access-date=1 September 2025 |website=www.economics.ox.ac.uk |language=en |archive-date=13 February 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250213122542/https://www.economics.ox.ac.uk/article/congratulations-to-stephen-broadberry-on-receiving-the-larry-neal-award |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Bassino |first1=Jean-Pascal |last2=Broadberry |first2=Stephen |last3=Fukao |first3=Kyoji |last4=Gupta |first4=Bishnupriya |last5=Takashima |first5=Masanori |date=April 2019 |title=Japan and the great divergence, 730–1874 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.eeh.2018.11.005 |journal=Explorations in Economic History |language=en |volume=72 |pages=1–22 |doi=10.1016/j.eeh.2018.11.005 |issn=0014-4983|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Awards - Explorations in Economic History {{!}} ScienceDirect.com by Elsevier |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/explorations-in-economic-history/about/awards |access-date=1 September 2025 |website=www.sciencedirect.com}}</ref>

Gupta was appointed as the co-editor of [[The Journal of Economic History]] in July 2022.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Professor Bishnupriya Gupta appointed as an editor of the Journal of Economic History |url=https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/economics/research/centres/cage/news/30-11-21-professor_bishnupriya_gupta_appointed_as_an_editor_of_the_journal_of_economic_history/ |access-date=1 September 2025 |website=warwick.ac.uk |language=en-GB |archive-date=19 March 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250319234203/https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/economics/research/centres/cage/news/30-11-21-professor_bishnupriya_gupta_appointed_as_an_editor_of_the_journal_of_economic_history/ |url-status=live }}</ref> In 2023, she was elected as a [[Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bishnupriya Gupta elected Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences |url=https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/economics/research/centres/cage/news/07-03-23-bishnupriya_gupta_elected_fellow_of_the_academy_of_social_sciences/ |access-date=1 September 2025 |website=warwick.ac.uk |language=en-GB |archive-date=12 June 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250612121930/https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/economics/research/centres/cage/news/07-03-23-bishnupriya_gupta_elected_fellow_of_the_academy_of_social_sciences/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

In February 2025, [[Cambridge University Press]] published ''An Economic History of India: Growth, Income and Inequalities from the Mughals to the 21st Century'' in which Gupta proposes a new framework, using concepts and theories from economics and economic history, to better understand the economic impacts of [[History of the British Raj|British colonial rule in India]]. She examines the country's transition from precolonial- to post-independence economy, shedding light on the prevailing impacts of historical institutions on economic performance. Kaushik Basu, Professor of Economics at [[Cornell University]], praised Gupta for casting aside the persisting biases commonly observed across colonialism-related research and presenting a "masterly study" of India's economic history. Referring to Gupta as "one of the leading academic experts on India's economic history," Lakshmi Iyer, Professor of Economics and Global Affairs at [[University of Notre Dame]] deemed the book "a must-read for anyone who has ever wondered whether British colonialism led to India's de-industrialization, whether independence made a difference to economic progress, and how much of India's post-colonial economic progress or stagnation can be attributed to its historical circumstances."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gupta |first=Bishnupriya |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/an-economic-history-of-india/AC111EF7D2CD334BE8EAF1606B7E2552 |title=An Economic History of India: Growth, Income and Inequalities from the Mughals to the 21st Century |date=2025 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-108-49162-4 |series=Cambridge Studies in Economic History - Second Series |location=Cambridge |archive-date=26 August 2025 |access-date=1 September 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250826163437/https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/an-economic-history-of-india/AC111EF7D2CD334BE8EAF1606B7E2552 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=New book on India exposes old myths and establishes new facts |url=https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/economics/research/centres/cage/news/05-06-25-new_book_on_india_exposes_old_myths_and_establishes_new_facts/ |access-date=1 September 2025 |website=warwick.ac.uk |language=en-GB |archive-date=3 August 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250803081613/https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/economics/research/centres/cage/news/05-06-25-new_book_on_india_exposes_old_myths_and_establishes_new_facts/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

== Politics ==
Gupta was one of the seventy five Indian academics who opposed [[Narendra Modi]]'s candidacy for Prime Minister in an open letter ahead of the [[2014 Indian general election]]. The intelligentsia warned that his victory would "likely mean greater moral policing, especially of women, increased censorship and vigilantism, and more tensions with India's neighbours."<ref>{{Cite news |date=23 April 2014 |title=Idea of Modi in power fills us with dread, Indian-origin academics say in open letter |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/nri/other-news/idea-of-modi-in-power-fills-us-with-dread-indian-origin-academics-say-in-open-letter/articleshow/34106244.cms |access-date=1 September 2025 |work=The Times of India |issn=0971-8257 |archive-date=9 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231209025259/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/nri/other-news/Idea-of-Modi-in-power-fills-us-with-dread-Indian-origin-academics-say-in-open-letter/articleshow/34106244.cms |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=21 April 2014 |title=Letters: The idea of Modi in power fills us with dread |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/letters/letters-the-idea-of-modi-in-power-fills-us-with-dread-9273298.html |access-date=1 September 2025 |website=The Independent |language=en |archive-date=29 January 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250129083155/https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/letters/letters-the-idea-of-modi-in-power-fills-us-with-dread-9273298.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In 2016, Gupta joined more than four hundred academics and intellectuals globally who released a statement opposing the "illegal" police action against JNU students on the basis of their political beliefs and the arrest of [[Kanhaiya Kumar]], president of the JNU Students Union. The statement affirmed the "autonomy of the university as a non-militarized space for freedom of thought and expression," urging the JNU vice chancellor to safeguard the rights of students, faculty, and the staff.<ref>{{Cite web |title='An Alibi for Incursion of an Authoritarian Regime onto the University Campus' |url=https://thewire.in/politics/scholars-worldwide-back-jnu-students |access-date=1 September 2025 |website=The Wire |language=en}}</ref>

== Selected publications ==

=== Books ===
* Gupta, Bishnupriya (2025). "An Economic History of India: Growth, Income and Inequalities from the Mughals to the 21st Century". Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. {{ISBN|978-1-108-86906-5}}.
* Gupta, Bishnupriya; Chaudhary, Latika; Swamy Anand; Roy, Tirthankar (2015). "A New Economic History of Colonial India". London: Routledge. {{ISBN|978-1-317-67433-7}}.

=== Book chapters ===
* Gupta, Bishnupriya; Roy, Tirthankar (2017). [https://academic.oup.com/book/7358/chapter/152152209 "Chapter 10: From Artisanal Production to Machine Tools: Industrialization in India over the Long Run"]. In O'Rourke, Kevin; Williamson, Jefferey (eds.). ''The Spread of Modern Industry to the Periphery since 1871''. Oxford, United Kingdom: [[Oxford University Press]]. pp. 229–55. [[doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198753643.003.0010]] {{ISBN| 978-0-19-875364-3}}.
* Gupta, Bishnupriya (2021). "Chapter 6: From free Trade to Regulation: The Political Economy of India's Development". In Broadberry, Stephen and Fukao, Kyoji (eds.). ''The Cambridge Economic History of the Modern World''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 151–75. {{ISBN| 978-1-107-15948-8}}.
* Gupta, Bishnupriya (2018). "South Asia in the World Economy: 1600-1950". In Riello, Giorgio and Roy, Tirthankar (eds.). ''Global Economic History''. London: [[Bloomsbury Publishing|Bloomsbury Academic]]. pp. 429–46. {{ISBN|978-1-4725-8842-5|9781472588425|1472588436|9781472588432}}.
* Gupta, Bishnupriya; Roy, Tirthankar; Ma, Debin (2016). "Part 1: States and Development: Early Modern India, China and Great Divergence". In Eloranta, Jari; Golson, Eric; Markewich, Andrei; Wolf, Nikolaus (eds.). ''Economic History of Warfare and State Formation''. Springer. pp. 51–67. {{ISBN|978-981-10-1604-2}}.
* Gupta, Bishnupriya; Broadberry, Stephen (2015). "Chapter 2: Indian economic performance and living standards: 1600-2000". In Chaudhary, Latika, Gupta, Bishnupriya, Roy, Tirthankar and A. Swamy (eds.). ''A New Economic History of Colonial India''. London: Routledge. pp. 15–32. [[doi:10.4324/9781315771083-2]] {{ISBN|978-0-367-23637-3}}.
* Gupta, Bishnupriya (2011). "Part 1: India's Growth in a Long Run Perspective". In Jha, Raghbendra (ed.). ''Handbook of South Asian Economics''. Abingdon, Oxon; New York: Routledge. [[doi:10.4324/9780203827796]] {{ISBN|978-0-203-82779-6}}.
* Gupta, Bishnupriya; Ma, Debin (2010). "Europe in an Asian Mirror: The Great Divergence". In Broadberry, Stephen and O'Rourke, Kevin (eds.). ''The Cambridge Economic History of Modern Europe, Volume 1:1700-1870''. Cambridge: [[Cambridge University Press]]. {{ISBN|978-0-521-70838-8|978-0521708388}}.
* Gupta, Bishnupriya (1993). "Trade Liberalization and Changes in the Protection of Indian Industry". In Gupta, Swaraj (ed.). ''Economic Liberalization in India and its Impact''. New Delhi: [[Macmillan Publishers|Macmillan]]. pp. 166–81.

=== Journal articles ===
* Fenske, James; Gupta, Bishnupriya; Neumann, Cora (2025). "Missing Women in Colonial India". Economic History Review. [[doi:10.1111/ehr.13413]] {{ISSN|0013-0117}}.
* Fenske, James; Gupta, Bishnupriya; Yuan, Song (2022). "Demographic Shocks and Women’s Labor Market Participation: Evidence from the 1918 Influenza Pandemic in India". The Journal of Economic History, 82(3), 875–912. [[doi:10.1017/S0022050722000304]] {{ISSN|0022-0507}}
* Gupta, Bishnupriya; Mookherjee, Dilip; Munshi, Kaivan; Sanclemente, Mario (2022). "Community Origins of Industrial Entrepreneurship in Colonial India." Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 159(C). [[doi:10.1016/j.jdeveco.2022.102973]] {{ISSN|0083-7350}}.
* Gupta, Bishnupriya (2019). "Falling Behind and Catching up: India’s Transition from a Colonial Economy". Economic History Review, 72 (3). pp. 803–827. [[doi:10.1111/ehr.12849]] {{ISSN|0013-0117}}.
* Bassino, Jean-Pascal; Broadberry, Stephen; Fukao, Kyoji; Gupta, Bishnupriya; Takashima, Masanori (2019). "Japan and the great divergence, 730–1874". Explorations in Economic History, 72. pp. 1–22. [[doi:10.1016/j.eeh.2018.11.005]] {{ISSN|0014-4983}}.
* Broadberry, Stephen; Custodis, Johann; Gupta, Bishnupriya (2015). "India and the Great Divergence : An Anglo-Indian Comparison of GDP per capita, 1600–1871". Explorations in Economic History, 55. pp. 58–75. [[doi:10.1016/j.eeh.2014.04.003]] {{ISSN|0014-4983}}.
* Gupta, Bishnupriya (2014). "Discrimination or Social Networks? Industrial Investment in Colonial India". The Journal of Economic History, 74 (1). pp. 141–168. [[doi:10.1017/S0022050714000059]] {{ISSN|0022-0507}}.
* Gupta, Bishnupriya (2014). "Where Have all the Brides Gone? Son Preference and Marriage in India over the Twentieth Century". The Economic History Review, 67 (1). pp. 1–24. [[doi:10.1111/1468-0289.12011]] {{ISSN|0013-0117}}.

== References ==
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Gupta, Bishnupriya}}
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Indian women economists]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian economists]]
[[Category:21st-century Indian economists]]
[[Category:Indian women academics]]
[[Category:Indian development economists]]
[[Category:University of Calcutta alumni]]
[[Category:Jawaharlal Nehru University alumni]]
[[Category:Academics of the University of Warwick]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Academy of Social Sciences]]
[[Category:Place of birth missing (living people)]]
[[Category:Year of birth missing (living people)]]

Bishnupriya Gupta - Revision history

LauriTym702628 at 12:26, 23 November 2025