G. S. Maddala

Who was G. S. Maddala?

Gangadharrao Soundalyarao "G. S." Maddala was an Indian American economist and mathematician, best known for his work in the field of econometrics.

Maddala was born in British India to a family of very modest means. In 1963 he completed his Ph.D. in the Department of Economics as a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Chicago with a thesis written under the supervision of Zvi Griliches. Before that, he had received a B.A. in Mathematics from Andhra University and an M.A. in Statistics from Bombay University. Maddala held the University Eminent Scholar position at Ohio State University upon his death; previous university affiliations included Stanford University, University of Rochester, and the University of Florida.

Maddala published over 110 scholarly papers and wrote 12 books covering most of the emerging areas of econometrics. His 1983 book titled Limited Dependent and Qualitative Variables in Econometrics is now regarded as a classic and seminal text for advanced studies in econometrics.

In Econometric methodology, Maddala’s key areas of research and exposition included distributed lags, generalized least squares, panel data, simultaneous equations, errors in variables, income distribution, switching regressions, disequilibrium models, qualitative and limited dependent variable models, self-selection models, outliers and bootstrap methods, unit roots and cointegration methods, and Bayesian econometrics. In empirical economics, Maddala contributed to the areas of consumption, production and cost functions, money demand, regulation, pseudo-data, returns to college education, housing market discrimination, survey data on expectations, and risk premia in future markets.