User:Kaniket

Overview
I am an Assistant Professor in Economics at the University of Cambridge since 2007. Within Cambridge, I am a member of Murray Edwards College and Trinity College. My research interest lies in the area of Development Economics and Applied Microeconomic Theory. I occasionally contribute to areas of my expertise on Wikipedia. I completed my PhD in Economics from LSE in 2007. Oriana Bandiera and Maitreesh Ghatak were my PhD advisors. I worked as an Assistant Professor in the Economics Department at University of Edinburgh from 2004 to 2007 before joining University of Cambridge.

Ongoing COI Issue
A COI issue was raised because I created and contributed to a page on Maitreesh Ghatak on June 2009. The following information may be useful in clarifying the COI issue raised on relevant  talk page.


 * 1) It may be useful to clarify the source of my COI. Maitreesh Ghatak was on my PhD thesis committee in 2007 and is one of my four referees/letter writers. I have a professional relationship with him and have very high regard for his intellectual contributions to the field of Development Economics. Nevertheless, I have been a Assistant Professor in Economics at University of Cambridge for almost 4 years now. I am independent in my views and not beholden to him in any way.
 * 2) The context in which the Maitreesh Ghatak page was created may be important in demonstrating my unwitting mistake. On 10 June 2009, while updating the Alumni (Academics) list on the Delhi School of Economics page, I found that certain Alumni (Academics) that met the Professor Test did not have a Wikipedia entry. I created 4 pages including the page of Maitreesh Ghatak, with whom I have a clear conflict of interest, on 12 June 2009. The page was created in good faith and as a new editor I was naive and ignorant of the WP:COI rules of Wikipedia. I creased my involvement with the page entirely after 25 June 2009 once I realised that I had my COI with the subject disqualified me from contributing to the page.
 * 3) My contributions to the Maitreesh Ghatak page was limited to adding the most basic publicly verifiable biographical information and the publication list. After my initial contribution, I have made no effort to edit and almost nothing of the initial contributions remains on the page now. From the perspective of Wikipedia users, I presume that what matters is whether the page should exist or not, i.e., does Maitreesh Ghatak meet the notability criterion? Tenured Professor at LSE, Managing Editor of Review of Economic Studies (The best ranked European Journal in Economics) at the age of 34, current Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Development Economics (The premier journal in the area of Development Economics), Board Member of Bureau for Research and Economic Analysis of Development, Lead Economist, International Growth Centre, India: Bihar Programme. I think it would be difficult to argue that the page should not exist.
 * 4) Further, User:maitreesh edited the page on 17 June 2009 adding some information that does seem controversial. I am in no position to ascertain whether User:maitreesh is connected to the subject of the page or not. User:maitreesh's contribution and seems very marginal and insignificant. Most of  User:maitreesh's contribution seems to have been edited away.
 * 5) An  SPI on 17 February 2011 found no sockpuppetry.