2 Nobel Prize–Winning Economists Leave U.S. for Zurich

Nobel Prize–winning economists Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo—a married team—will leave their positions at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for the University of Zurich in the next academic year, The Bulwark reported. 

The pair, who won the Nobel in 2019, have not publicly shared why they are leaving MIT at this time, but a source told The Bulwark that they are moving due to the Trump administration’s attacks on academic freedom and university research. Reached for comment, Duflo told The Bulwark, “At this moment we are not commenting, especially given that MIT (where we remain affiliated) is already dealing to reaction to its refusal of the ‘compact.’” MIT on Friday rejected the compact put forth by the Trump administration that offers universities preferential treatment on federal funding in exchange for campus policy changes.

Banerjee and Duflo’s announcement follows the departure of Mark Bray, a Rutgers University historian and expert in antifascism, who has been subject to death threats and doxing after his books were scrutinized by students in the Rutgers chapter of Turning Point USA. Bray, whom the Turning Point students nicknamed “Dr. Antifa,” is now living in Spain with his family.