Dr. Ajay Chhibber is, Distinguished Visiting Scholar, Institute for International Economic Policy (IIEP), George Washington University, Washington D.C. He served on the External Advisory Group for the G 20 Finance Track for the Year 2022-23 during India’s G-20 Presidency. He was the first Director General, Independent Evaluation Office, India (Minister of State) and Distinguished Visiting Professor at the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy 2015-2017.He served earlier as Assistant Secretary General, UN and Assistant Administrator, UNDP from 2008-2013 where he led the Department for Asia and the Pacific. At the World Bank where he served over 24 years in senior positions as Country Director in Turkey and Vietnam, and Division Chief for Indonesia and the Pacific as well as the Director and Lead Author of the seminal 1997 World Development Report on the Role of the State. He has a Ph. D from Stanford University (1983), an MA from the Delhi School of Economics (1976) and was awarded the David Rajaram Prize for best all-rounder at St Stephen’s College, Delhi University where he received BA Hons in Economics (1971-74). He has also done advanced management courses at Harvard University 2001 and at INSEAD, France 2005.He has written six books on Economic Development:
- Reviving Private Investment, North-Holland Publishing Co., with M Dailami and N. Shafik, 1992.
- External Debt, Fiscal Policy and Sustainable Growth: A Case Study of Turkey's Recovery from the Debt Crisis, John Hopkins University Press, with S. van Wijnbergen, R. Anand, and R. Rocha, 1991.
- Restructuring Economies in Distress, Oxford University Press, edited with V. Thomas, M. Dailami, and J. de Melo, 1991.
- Economic Reform in Sub-Saharan Africa, World Bank, with S. Fischer, 1990.
- Reform and Growth, edited with R. Peters and B. Yale, Transactions Press, 2005
- Unshackling India: Hard Truths and Clear Choices for Economic Revival, with Salman Soz, Harper-Collins India, November 2021.
- Declared Best New Book in Economics in the Financial Times 2022 and awarded India Economic Forum Literary Award for 2022.