People

“HBS as a school offers every possible resource for a student’s development as a scholar but at the same time the school believes in individuals charting their own path.”

I grew up in a family of academic economists in Kolkata and although I studied engineering as an undergraduate I always retained an interest in the application of scientific methods outside the realms of engineering and the physical sciences. It was during my finance and accounting coursework in my MBA program that I realized that I really enjoyed understanding the economics of financial markets and firms and started thinking about graduate studies. The thought took deeper root when I was working as an equity analyst and started observing the way information was produced and processed in markets. I realized the only way I could satisfactorily pursue my interests was in a graduate program that married rigorous theory with the real world. I was attracted to HBS by the wide breadth of questions pursued by the faculty and the impact this has on the real world.

Research interests

I’m primarily interested in how information is used by capital market participants and how those forces shape the information production processes of firms. I am currently working with Professor Charles Wang on a project which builds on a model of expected returns using firm fundamentals and we test out-of-sample predictions of that model in more than 20 international markets. We are also interested in observing how variation in accounting processes in different countries affects the parameters estimated from the model.

My second area of interest is corporate governance—especially in regards to emerging markets.

HBS Experience

The HBS experience has been rewarding and challenging in equal measure. The first two years are spent deep in coursework as you explore the fantastic courses offered not just at HBS and the Harvard Economics department, but also the economics finance, and accounting departments at MIT. The third year is challenging because it is the time to start actively engaging in research and learning how to test ideas but at the same time thinking deeply about your own research agenda.

HBS as a school offers every possible resource for a student’s development as a scholar but at the same time the school believes in individuals charting their own path. Success here requires a certain degree of ownership and initiative.

Accounting & Management offers a good balance between the two with exciting young faculty who are willing to engage with you on multiple dimensions of a research project and who will push you to build as many skills as you can during your graduate experience, and experienced senior faculty who are excited to help you shape your own research questions. My working relationship with my advisor has been extremely rewarding over the past year. We meet to discuss ideas, empirics, results, the tools to make us more productive, and also life in academia in general. He is interested in my development as a scholar on both dimensions: the ability to think, and the ability to rigorously pursue ideas.

The Cambridge/Boston area is a young, thriving, and interesting community with lots of options for creative, intellectual, and active pursuits. Beyond research, I like to keep up with my athletic pursuits at a local CrossFit facility.

After HBS

I hope to pursue a career in research after I graduate.