E."Som" Somanathan received a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard in 1995 and taught at Emory University and the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor before joining the Indian Statistical Institute, Delhi, where he is Professor in the Planning Unit. His main research interests are in development economics, particularly environmental problems and political economy, and in the evolution of norms and preferences. His recent papers include “Climate Change: Challenges Facing India’s Poor” with Rohini Somanathan, Economic and Political Weekly, 44(31): 51-58, August 1, 2009, and “Decentralization for cost-effective conservation” with R. Prabhakar and B.S. Mehta, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA, 106(11): 4143-4147, March 17, 2009.