[1] In 1963, he completed his Ph.D. in the Department of Economics at the University of Chicago with a dissertation written under the supervision of Zvi Griliches.

[citation needed] Maddala published over 110 scholarly papers and wrote 12 books covering most of the emerging areas of econometrics.

[citation needed] In econometrics methodology, Maddala's key areas of research and exposition included distributed lags, generalized least squares, panel data, simultaneous equations, errors in variables, income distribution, switching regressions, disequilibrium models, qualitative and limited dependent variable models, self-selection models, outliers and bootstrap methods, unit roots and cointegration methods, and Bayesian econometrics.

In empirical economics, Maddala contributed to the areas of consumption, production and cost functions, money demand, regulation, pseudo-data, returns to college education, housing market discrimination, survey data on expectations, and risk premia in future markets.

It provides awards "to graduate students for excellence in quantitative research using econometrics, both theoretical and applied" and sponsors distinguished speakers.