Drawing on his friendship of three decades with noted economist Michael Lipton, the principal secretary to the Prime Minister shares his memories of an academic trailblazer:
Michael Lipton, a brilliant scholar, a world-renowned economist, an intellectual giant and a wonderful human being, passed away on April 1, at the age of 86. His wife Merle Lipton was a historian and a political analyst who passed away just three months before him. His landmark publications are on the foundational issues of poverty, nutrition, the theory of the optimising peasant, village studies, evidence of urban bias and land reform.
His immense contribution to economics was recognised when, in 2012, he was awarded the Leontief Prize for Advancing the Frontiers of Economic Thought.
Lipton’s seminal paper in 1968, ‘The Theory of the Optimising Peasant’ brought out new dimensions of the concept of farmers’ risk through the classic expression ‘survival algorithm’.
A multifaceted man
Lipton was a towering intellectual with knowledge and wide-ranging interests not only in economics, but also in literature, history, classical music, nutrition, food and wine and chess. He also had a unique sense of humour.
My three-decade-long association with him started in 1990 when I had to choose a topic for my dissertation as a part of the MA course in Development Economics at the University of Sussex. I wanted to work on farmers’ risk and crop insurance.
A few days later, I was called for a meeting with Lipton, who spent half an hour with me. He asked several questions about my academic and professional background and then agreed to supervise the work.
Researching ground-up
Lipton believed in rigorous economic research consisting of comprehensive empirical investigation based on fieldwork. He had a tremendous drive forground-level evidence. He would push his students and colleagues towards high standards of clarity and logical analysis. He had an open mind to be associated with research questions on which he had a belief different from the researcher.
I would send him a draft chapter. Once he had gone through it, he would give it back to me and then call me for a discussion. His approach was very rigorous and evidence based. He would not allow any sentence not supported by either some data or research finding.
In 1995, I was a visiting fellow at the IDS for about six months to work on a book based on my PhD thesis. Lipton invited me to his house for dinner. I met his mother, who talked about Lipton’s early days, how he went to India and other countries at a very young age to do his fieldwork.
He wrote an excellent foreword for my book, which brought out its key findings with much more clarity than I could express in the book itself. In conclusion, he wrote: “This fascinating, clearly written and thoroughly researched account will induce many – as it hasinduced me – to re-examine their position on State-subsidised crop insurance. It should be included in the armoury of plausible measures to assist micro-enterprises, including family farms – and not only in India. ”
His enthusiasm never waned
In 2008, when he visited India, I invited him for dinner. Since he wanted to visit a village, we selected one in Haryana. We spent one-and-a-half hours with the villagers. Lipton asked them many questions. Then we went to two more villages without any prior information. We went to the fields, where some farmers and farm labourers were working. His questions related to the type of tenancy, farming technology, use of combine harvester and so on. I admired his depth of knowledge of farming practices and tenancy-related matters. I could feel the rigour and in-depth fieldwork of his early years.
In 2009 I got an email from Lipton asking me if I could write a blurb for his forthcoming book, Land Reform in Developing Countries: Property Rights and Property Wrongs , which was possibly his last major work. I readily agreed. In fact, I felt honoured that a person of his calibre and standing wanted to include a blurb from me along with renowned scholars.
The last time I met him was in November 2018 during my visit to London. He invited me for lunch at the Lansdowne Club, where he was staying on his visit to London for a book discussion at the London School of Economics. We had lunch together, and then he took me around to show me the various facilities at the club. The same warmth, hospitality and personal touch, as always.
In my long association with Professor Lipton, I have learnt many foundational aspects of economics, such as a new concept of risk, methodological sophistication, rigours of field-level research, and how to write an academic paper with authenticity and authority. He has left behind a legacy in development research that has changed the way we look at microeconomics.