They came from near and far Friday evening to celebrate the 70th birthday of Jagdish Bhagwati, the economist whose free-market prescriptions and public-policy interventions have helped to liberalize significantly the global trade regime and contributed to accelerated growth in developing countries, such as his native India.

“Whether in academia or in the world of policy-making, he has been an inspiring person,” the secretary-general of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, said. “I thank him for saying things that people do not want to hear when he thinks he may be right.”

Mr. Bhagwati, who wore a dark business suit, white shirt, and beige tie, chuckled appreciatively whenever such encomiums were delivered – and they were abundant. But he seemed especially in high spirits when his wife, Padma Desai, a prominent scholar of Russian economics, offered insights about their marriage of five decades.

Her husband, Ms. Desai said, might be a remarkable economist but his culinary skills were, well, not grade-worthy – even though Mr. Bhagwati is known for his gourmet dining, as he is for being a connoisseur of Indian art and antiquities.

When requested by his wife to prepare coffee one morning, Mr. Bhagwati scrambled back to their bedroom from the kitchen and asked: “Darling, how do I know when the water is boiling?”

“Darling, when it looks like champagne,” his wife said.

A roar of laughter rose from the 200 guests, who included well-known diplomats, scholars, press figures, and businessmen. Many of those at the gala dinner, in the rotunda of Columbia University’s Low Library, had been Mr. Bhagwati’s students, and one of them was his teacher, Robert Solow, the Nobel laureate.

“Jagdish uses a method that follows logically by steps you can understand, believe, and lead to results that don’t make you feel like an ass,” Mr. Solow said. He taught Mr. Bhagwati economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where the latter was a professor as well.

Like Mr. Solow, many of the guests represented not only formidable accomplishments in economics but also a wide ideological spectrum.

For example, Martin Feldstein, president of the National Bureau of Economic Research and former chairman of President Reagan’s Council of Economic Advisers, noted that under Mr. Bhagwati’s guidance the Indian government had moved to dismantle long years of socialist policies that stunted economic growth, and had embraced the free market.

“Jagdish is a hero in India,” Mr. Feldstein, who frequently travels to India with Mr. Bhagwati, said. “Jagdish is one of the most revered economists in that country because he pointed out early on what needed to be done – and bit by bit the Indian government is doing it.”

Mr. Feldstein’s view was echoed by Prime Minister Singh, who was Mr. Bhagwati’s roommate at Cambridge University and has been friends with him for more than 50 years.

“He was categorical in his assertion as early as the 1960s that Indian enterprise and creativity was being stifled by excessive control and regulation,” Mr. Singh said in a message that was read out by a veteran British diplomat, Sir James Murray. “Jagdish was clearly ahead of his times. When our political system was finally ready to accept the validity of his critique, we were able to bring about a sea change in our economic environment.”

The salutary impact of Mr. Bhagwati’s free-market prescriptions on the Indian economy – which has been averaging an annual growth rate of more than 6% for almost a decade – was also noted by a Columbia professor, Arvind Panagariya. With great aplomb, Mr. Panagariya, who holds the Jagdish Bhagwati Chair on Indian Political Economy, served as master of ceremonies, even inviting guests to doff their jackets, on account of the lack of air conditioning in the rotunda.

Indeed, Mr. Annan removed the jacket of his tailored Brioni suit, the first time anyone in the audience could recall seeing the Ghanaian in his shirtsleeves. His left arm was in a sling, the result of a recent operation for a torn rotator cuff suffered in a skiing accident.

The subdued lighting bounced off a large arrangement of roses on the round table, bathing the faces of Mr. Annan and his wife, Nane, and the other guests in exotic pink. They dined on fish, followed by poached pears. Mr. Bhagwati had quietly ruled out a birthday cake, although Mr. Annan offered his felicitations from the dais.

The New York Times columnist Paul Krugman had taken off his jacket, too, and rolled up his sleeves as well. A former student of Mr. Bhagwati, Mr. Krugman has long since moved sharply to the left.

“Jagdish taught us that you can do things that enrich rather than contradict existing theory,” he said.

Recalling a story about reincarnation that the Hindu-born Mr. Bhagwati once told him, Mr. Krugman told a joke about “good” economists and “bad” economists in the afterlife.

“Good economists are reborn as physicists and bad economists are reborn as sociologists,” he said. “Given the record of achievements, open mindedness, and sheer human kindness, I’m sure that Jagdish will be rewarded as a physicist.”

The ensuing laughter reflected the general bonhomie of the evening. The patina of humor notwithstanding, the pentimento of the evening was Mr. Bhagwati’s stellar record as an economist. As much as anyone in the room, the president of Harvard University, Lawrence Summers – who was once a colleague of Mr. Bhagwati’s at MIT – captured the professor’s central achievement.

“Our world economic system has a long way to go to being more just, fair, and inclusive – but it is today fairer and juster and more inclusive than it would be without Jagdish Bhagwati’s strenuous efforts,” Mr. Summers, a former Treasury secretary, said. “Jagdish has his pen and his mouth on his side.”

That sentiment was endorsed by the author Theodore Sorensen, who was President Kennedy’s chief speechwriter and is now, along with Mr. Bhagwati, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

“Professor Bhagwati is one of the most thoughtful and impressive development economists that I know of,” Mr. Sorensen said. Then, with a chuckle, he added: “In the words of President Kennedy, ‘I’m not an economist and my other habits are good also.'” Mr. Sorensen was most likely quoting himself.

Like Mr. Sorensen, others spoke about Mr. Bhagwati’s generosity toward students and colleagues, many of whom became lasting friends. One of them, Richard Clarida, a former Bush administration official and now an economics professor at Columbia, said: “Jagdish has been generous with his time, friendship, guidance in my career – all of us have benefited from his example. Few economists have been as successful at maintaining their academic influence and scholarship while providing a bridge and insight into policy-making.”

Mr. Clarida had also been among the participants at a two-day economics conference in Mr. Bhagwati’s honor last weekend. Mr. Bhagwati holds the prestigious University Chair in Economics and Law at Columbia.

When he spoke at the end of the dinner, what struck guests wasn’t so much his tribute to fellow economists and world leaders he’s known over the years. It was the respect for his wife that came through in Mr. Bhagwati’s speech.

“She has been a wonderful intellectual companion for almost over half a century,” he said. “She has managed to combine a hectic career with affection and indulgence toward me.”

And Mr. Bhagwati referred to their daughter, Anuradha, an ex-Marine and a Yale graduate who’s now at Harvard. She was absent Friday because of a human rights assignment in the Middle East.

“She is our joy,” her father said. “And while I miss her tonight, I am delighted that it is in a good cause. After all, that is what counts.”