Kunal Sen is Director of United Nations University - World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER) and Professor of Development Economics in the Global Development Institute, University of Manchester, UK. His main research areas are the analysis of poverty and labor markets, international trade and finance. His current research examines the informal sector in developing economies, intergenerational mobility, and gender and entrepreneurship. Professor Sen’s recent books are Out of the Shadows? The Informal Sector in Post-Reform India, Delhi: Oxford University Press, Trade Policy, Inequality and Performance in Indian Manufacturing, London: Routledge 2008, International Competitiveness, Investment and Finance: A Case-study of India (with A.G. Kumar and R. Vaidya), London: Routledge 2003, and Saving, Investment and Growth in India (with P. Athukorala), Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2002. He has also published over 60 articles in journals including Labour Economics, Journal of Comparative Economics, Public Choice, Review of Income and Wealth, Journal of Development Economics, Journal of Development Studies, and World Development. He has been awarded the Sanjaya Lall Prize in 2006 and Dudley Seers Prize in 2003 for his publications.

He joined IZA as a Research Fellow in February 2012.