Dr. Saugato Datta

Global Development | Behavioral Science | Teaching


Dr. Saugato Datta is Co-Founder & Principal at Venn Advisors, a behavioral science collective. He specializes in the nuanced application of behavioral insights to program and policy design in low- and middle-income countries in Asia and Africa, as well as the evaluation of these and other interventions using randomized control trials and other experimental and quasi-experimental methods.  He previously set up and led the international development portfolio at ideas42, a leading applied behavioral science firm, where he supervised over 50 projects applying behavioral insights to global health, social protection, sustainability, governance, labor market programs, and education, including over 20 randomized control trials. His research has been published in leading academic and policy journals, including the Journal of Development Economics, the World Bank Economic Review, and the Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization. He holds a PhD in Economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees in economics from Cambridge and Delhi University.