Jagdish Natwarlal Bhagwati was born in 1934 in Mumbai.He came off a Gujrati family. His elder brother Justice P.N Bhagwati is a former Chief Justice of India and his niece Pallavi Shroff was the chairman of one of the largest law firms in India . Jagdish Natwarlal Bhagwati graduated in commerce from Bombay University.After that Jagdish Natwarlal Bhagwati went to cambridge and received B.A in Economics from Cambridge University (St. John`s), England in 1956.He did his Ph.D. in Economics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1967. Bhagwati came back to India in 1961 and served as Professor of Economics at the Indian Statistical Institute, and then as Professor of International Trade at the Delhi School of Economics. He returned to the MIT in 1968 and started teaching there. After Twelve years he left the MIT and joined the Columbia University as the Ford International Professor of Economics.
Jagdish Bhagwati is an eminent professor of economics and is considered as one of the leading international trade economists of modern times. Jagdish N. Bhagwati is presently a Professor at the Columbia University and Senior Fellow in International Economics at the Council on Foreign Relations. Earlier, Prof Jagdish Bhagwati was Economic Policy Adviser to Arthur Dunkel, the Director General of GATT (1991-93). He has served as a Special Adviser to the UN on Globalization, and External Adviser to the WTO in 2001. He was in the Expert Group appointed by the Director General of the WTO on the Future of the WTO and the Advisory Committee to Secretary General Kofi Annan on the NEPAD process in Africa, and was also a member of the Eminent Persons Group under the chairmanship of President Fernando Henrique Cardoso on the future of UNCTAD.
Bhagwati presently serves on the Academic Advisory Board of Human Rights Watch (Asia) and on the board of scholars of the Centre for Civil Society. He was also a Senior Fellow of the Council on Foreign Relations. In May, 2004, Bhagwati was one of the experts who took part in the Copenhagen Consensus project.
Professor Bhagwati wrote several articles on various economic issues of the world. He regularly writes for the leading newspaper of the world like- The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Financial Times, The New Republic and The Times Literary Supplement. Professor Bhagwati is regarded as the most inventive modern international trade theorist of the world and a pioneer in the battle for freer trade. To convey his opinion he also wrote or edited many books. His most recent book, In Defense of Globalization in 2004 he got several critical accolades. His other famous books are `Free Trade Today` (2002), `The Wind of the Hundred Days` (2000), `A Stream of Windows` (1998), `India in Transition` (1993), `World Trading System at Risk` (1991), `Protectionism` (1988), and the founder-editor of The Journal of International Economics and Economics & Politics editor etc.
His Five volumes of his scientific writings and two of his public policy essays were published by MIT press. He has also worked with many N.G.O`s in U.S.A and India.
He got several awards for his works. Padma Vibhushan in 2000 by Indian Government, Mahalanobis Memorial Medal (India), Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star.(Japan), The Bernhard Harms Prize (Germany), the Kenan Prize (USA), the John R. Commons Award (USA), the Freedom Prize (Switzerland), and the Frank E. Seidman Distinguished Award in Political Economy (USA),Lifetime Achievement Award( by the Indian Chamber of Commerce in 2004).
