Ammar Siamwalla (; ) is one of

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

's most prominent

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...

Education

Siamwalla attended St. Paul's School, Darjeeling in India, and went on to receive a B.Sc. in

economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

from the

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...

and a PhD in economics from

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

. His teachers at Harvard included

Alexander Gerschenkron Alexander Gerschenkron (; 1 October 1904 – 26 October 1978) was an American economic historian and professor at Harvard University, trained in the German Historical School of economics. Born into a Jewish family in Odessa, then part of the ...

Wassily Leontief Wassily Wassilyevich Leontief (; August 5, 1905 – February 5, 1999) was a Soviet-American economist known for his research on input–output analysis and how changes in one economic sector may affect other sectors. Leontief won the Nobel Memo ...

and

Edward Chamberlin Edward Hastings Chamberlin (May 18, 1899 – July 16, 1967) was an American economist. He was born in La Conner, Washington, and died in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Chamberlin studied first at the University of Iowa (where he was influenced by ...

Career

He began his career as an assistant professor and research staff economist at the Department of Economics,

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

before moving to the Faculty of Economics of

Thammasat University Thammasat University (TU; ; , ) is a public university, public research university in Thailand with campuses in the Tha Phra Chan area of Bangkok, Rangsit, Pattaya and Lampang Province. , Thammasat University has over 39,000 students enrolled in ...

as a Rockefeller scholar at the advice of

Puey Ungpakorn Puey Ungphakorn, Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, MBE (; ; International Phonetic Alphabet, IPA:; ; 9 March 1916 – 28 July 1999), was a Thai economist who served as Governor of the Bank of Thailand and Rector (academi ...

who was then dean of faculty. Like Puey and other scholars, Siamwalla left Thammasat after the 1976 student massacre. He was a visiting professor at the Food Research Institute of

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

as well as a research fellow with the

International Food Policy Research Institute The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) is an international research center focused on agriculture and food systems that provides research-based policy solutions to reduce poverty and end hunger and malnutrition throughout low- ...

in Washington, D.C. He has been active at the Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI) as a program director for agriculture and rural development, and as president of TDRI in 1990-1995. Siamwalla is an expert in Thai rice, Thai agricultural economics, and

development economics Development economics is a branch of economics that deals with economic aspects of the development process in low- and middle- income countries. Its focus is not only on methods of promoting economic development, economic growth and structural c ...

. As one of the first Thai trained in

neoclassical economics Neoclassical economics is an approach to economics in which the production, consumption, and valuation (pricing) of goods and services are observed as driven by the supply and demand model. According to this line of thought, the value of a go ...

, he has contributed considerably in the development of the modern economic discipline in Thailand. Currently, he holds a post as a distinguished scholar of Thailand Development Research Institute. He is still active in the economic debates and periodically gives commentaries to the public.

References

External links

CV on the Thailand Development Research Institute websiteWho's Who Thailand page for Ammar Siamwalla
{{DEFAULTSORT:Siamwalla, Ammar Ammar Siamwalla Alumni of the London School of Economics Harvard University alumni Living people St. Paul's School, Darjeeling alumni Ammar Siamwalla Ammar Siamwalla 1939 births Ammar Siamwalla Ammar Siamwalla Ammar Siamwalla