Shantayanan Devarajan

Professor of the Practice of International Development, Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University

Shantayanan Devarajan is Professor of the Practice of International Development at Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service. He spent 28 years at the World Bank, where he was the Senior Director for Development Economics, the Chief Economist of the South Asia, Africa, and Middle East and North Africa regions and of the Human Development Network, and Research Manager for Public Economics. Before joining the World Bank, he was on the faculty of Harvard Kennedy School. The author or co-author of about 150 publications, his research covers public economics, trade policy, natural resources and the environment, political economy, and general-equilibrium modeling of developing countries. Born in Sri Lanka, Shanta received his A.B. in mathematics from Princeton University and his Ph.D. in economics from the University of California, Berkeley.

Mr. Devarajan received his B.A. in mathematics from Princeton University and his PhD in economics from the University of California, Berkeley. He was the Chief Economist of the World Bank’s Middle East and North Africa Region. Since joining the World Bank in 1991, he has been a Principal Economist and Research Manager for Public Economics in the Development Research Group, and the Chief Economist of the Human Development Network, the South Asia Region and Africa Region. He has authored/co-authored over 100 publications and his research covers public economics, trade policy, natural resources and the environment, and general equilibrium modeling of developing countries.