Contributor : Profile

Nirvikar Singh is Distinguished Professor of Economics at the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC), where he co-directs UCSC’s Center for Analytical Finance. He held the Sarbjit Singh Aurora Chair of Sikh and Punjabi Studies from 2010 to 2020, and also previously led its South Asian Studies Initiative. He has been a member of the Advisory Group to the Finance Minister of India on G-20 matters, and currently is a member of the Punjab Chief Minister's expert group on revitalizing the state economy. He previously served as Director of the Santa Cruz Center for International Economics, Co-Director of the Center for Global, International and Regional Studies, Special Advisor to the Chancellor (all at UCSC), and Consultant to the Chief Economic Adviser, Ministry of Finance, Government of India. He organised one of the first major US conferences on Indian economic reform.

He received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, and his B.Sc. and M.Sc. from the London School of Economics, where he was awarded the Allyn Young Prize, Gonner Prize and Ely Devons Prize.

Professor Singh’s current research topics include entrepreneurship, information technology and development, electronic commerce, business strategy, political economy, federalism, economic growth and the Indian economy. He has authored over 100 research papers and co-authored/edited six books: The Other One Percent: Indians in America; Economic Transformation of a Developing Economy:The Experience of Punjab, India; Joint Ventures, International Investment and Technology Transfer; The Political Economy of Federalism in India; Waiting to Connect: India IT Revolution Bypasses the Domestic Industry; and The Oxford Handbook of the Economics of the Pacific Rim. He has also served as an advisor for several startups and knowledge services firms in Silicon Valley and in India.