School News | Only At Stern: Professor Viral Acharya, Renowned Expert on Monetary Policy and Systemic Risk

C.V. Starr Professor of Economics Viral Acharya (PhD ’01) is the Academic Director for Doctoral Programs at NYU Stern and advisor of the Henry Kaufman Initiative on Financial History, where he was founding co-director. Professor Acharya also served as the Deputy Governor of Reserve Bank of India from 2017-2019.

Professor Acharya has been at the forefront of the biggest financial events in recent decades. His thought leadership and research have left a lasting impact on how institutions move forward after crises, with a focus on systemic risk of the financial sector, its regulation, and its genesis in government- and policy-induced distortions.

Joining Stern in 2008, he teaches across programs and has helped lead much of the School’s scholarship on the Great Recession and ensuing regulation. He has authored, co-authored, and edited more than 10 books, including three with other Stern faculty about the ’08 recession and the regulation that followed, such as the landmark Dodd-Frank Act.

As the Covid pandemic began, Professor Acharya and other Stern faculty presented research on how to prepare for the financial impact, including proposals to support indebted small businesses, how best to target the Paycheck Protection Program, and "stress tests" for banks, among others.

In the spring of 2023 after Silicon Valley Bank failed, Professor Acharya and other Stern faculty wrote a book, SVB and Beyond: The Banking Stress of 2023, and hosted panels to analyze the crisis and provide recommendations to strengthen the banking system and to safeguard financial stability going forward.

He has been a Clarivate Analytics Highly Cited Researcher, 2020-22, and his articles have won several best paper prizes at journals and conferences.

Learn more in this video and below:

Select recent media highlights featuring Professor Viral Acharya:

Washington Post | “Bond Market to Washington: We’ll Make You Pay.” | 5/23/2025
Bloomberg | "Trump Tariff Threats May be Good for India, Ex-RBI Deputy Says." | 5/9/2025
Financial Times | “What The U.S. Stands to Lose From a Dented Dollar.” | 4/30/2025
BBC | “Will Trump's Tariff War Spark Big-Bang Reforms in India?” | 3/19/2025
Times of India | “Viral Acharya Warns of Debt Trap for the Poor.” | 1/20/2025
Bloomberg | ”RBI Should Allow More Rupee Volatility, Ex-Central Banker Says.” | 1/6/2025
Reuters | “In the Market: How Harris, Trump Promises Could Feed Market's Addiction to the Fed.” | 10/30/2024
Global Finance | “Nonbanks Have Eaten into Traditional Banks’ Marketplace. Can the Older Banks Retake Lost Ground by Simply Becoming More Agile?” | 7/29/2025
Mint Op-ed | "Viral Acharya: Losses Have Been Cut, and it’s Time to Privatize India’s Public Sector Banks" | 7/17/2024
The Real Deal | "Banks are More Exposed to Commercial Real Estate Than Regulators Realize." | 5/31/2024
Bloomberg | "U.S. Banks Have a Commercial Property Blind Spot Risk, Study Warns." | 5/30/2024
Project Syndicate Op-ed | "The Danger of Forgetting the 2023 Banking Crisis." | 2/8/2024

Professor Acharya’s policy impact:

Professor Acharya is or has been an Academic Advisor to the Federal Reserve Banks of Chicago, Cleveland, Kansas City, New York and Philadelphia, and the Board of Governors, and has provided Academic Expert service to the Bank for International Settlements, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

He has received numerous recognitions and has been named to a number of top financial organizations, including:

Board of Directors of the Financial Intermediation Research Society
the Board of Directors of the American Finance Association
the State Charter Advisory Board of the New York State Department of Financial Services
the International Atlantic Economic Society, where he was vice president/ president-elect
the Climate-related Financial Risk Advisory Committee of the Financial Stability Oversight Council and the U.S. Treasury
Resident Scholar of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York

Selection of Books by Professor Acharya:

Banking Turmoil and Regulatory Reform