Kakkadan Nandanath Raj was born in Thrissur, Kerala on 13 May 1924. After graduating from Madras Christian College (MCC), Chennai, with a BA (Hons.) in Economics in 1944, Raj enrolled for an MSc in Economics at the London School of Economics (LSE). At LSE, he was taught by Joan Robinson and Harold Laski, among others. Upon reading his MSc dissertation, his supervisor, Frank Paish, suggested that he spend a few more months working on it so that he can submit it for the award of a PhD degree1.