She joined Cambridge University for her MPhil and PhD after winning the Inlaks Scholarship.

[2] Her 1984 doctoral thesis at Cambridge University was entitled The Non capitalist Land Rent: Theories and the Case of North India under the supervision of Dr. Terence J. Byres, Geoffrey C. Harcourt and Suzanne Paine.

In addition to her teaching, Ghosh has authored and/or edited 21 books and more than 220 scholarly articles.

Recent books include The making of a catastrophe: Covid-19 and the Indian economy, Aleph Books 2022; When governments fail: Covid-19 and the economy, Tulika Books and Columbia University Press 2021 (co-edited); Women workers in the informal economy, Routledge 2021 (edited); Never Done and Poorly Paid: Women’s Work in Globalising India, Women Unlimited, New Delhi 2009; co-edited Elgar Handbook of Alternative Theories of Economic Development, 2014; co-edited After Crisis, Tulika 2009; co-authored Demonetisation Decoded, Routledge 2017.

In March 2022, she was appointed to the UN Secretary General's High-Level Advisory Board on Effective Multilateralism, mandated to provide a vision for international cooperation to deal with current and future challenges.