Anirudh Krishna is a professor of public policy and political science at Duke University. His research investigates how poor communities and individuals in developing countries cope with the structural and personal constraints that result in poverty and powerlessness. His most recent book, One Illness Away: Why People Become Poor and How they Escape Poverty (Oxford University Press, 2010), examines poverty dynamics at the household level, tracking movements into and out of poverty of over 35,000 households in 400 communities of India, Kenya, Uganda, Peru and North Carolina, USA.

Krishna has published more than 40 journal articles and book chapters. Other books include Poverty, Participation and Democracy: A Global Perspective (Cambridge University Press, 2008); Active Social Capital: Tracing the Roots of Development and Democracy (Columbia University Press, 2002); Changing Policy and Practice From Below: Community Experiences in Poverty Reduction (United Nations Press, 2000); Reasons for Success: Learning From Instructive Experiences in Rural Development (Kumarian Press, 1998), and Reasons for Hope: Instructive Experiences in Rural Development (Kumarian Press, 1997).

Before turning to academia, Krishna worked for 14 years in the Indian Administrative Service, where he managed diverse initiatives related to rural and urban development. He earned a Ph.D. in government from Cornell University (2000) and a master's in economics from the Delhi  School of Economics (1980).