Vani Kant Borooah is Emeritus Professor of Applied Economics at the University of Ulster. He is a past President of the European Public Choice Society and of the Irish Economic Association. He was elected a Member of the Royal Irish Academy in 2006. His work has been mainly in the areas of unemployment, inequality, poverty, and economic development. His most recent publications are Europe in an Age of Austerity (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014); Caste, Discrimination, and Exclusion in Modern India (2015); Education in a Divided Society (Palgrave Macmillan, 2015) and Votes, Parties, and Seats: A Quantitative Analysis of India Parliamentary Elections, 1962-2014 (Palgrave Macmillan, 2016).