Fadi Makki (; born September 1968) is a pioneer in the application of behavioural economics to public policy in the Middle East, where he led a large number of RCTs in policy areas such as healthy life style, compliance and rule of law, sustainability, education and workers' welfare. He was appointed in the

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

of Prime Minister

Nawaf Salam Nawaf Abdallah Salim Salam (; born 15 December 1953) is a Lebanese politician, diplomat, jurist and academic who has been serving as the 53rd prime minister of Lebanon since 8 February 2025. Salam previously sat on the International Court of Ju ...

in February 2025 as Minister of State for Administrative Reform. He founded the first nudge unit in the Middle East, Qatar's Behavioural Insights Unit (QBIU), within the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy, and is founder of Nudge Lebanon and the Consumer-Citizen Lab. He is Senior Fellow at Georgetown Qatar and Senior Public Policy Fellow at the

American University of Beirut The American University of Beirut (AUB; ) is a private, non-sectarian, and independent university chartered in New York with its main campus in Beirut, Lebanon. AUB is governed by a private, autonomous board of trustees and offers programs le ...

’s Issam Fares Institute of Public Policy. He is also adjunct professor at

Hamad Bin Khalifa University Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU; ) is a public university located within Education City in Doha, the capital city of Qatar. The university, a member of Qatar Foundation, was founded in 2010. The university began graduating students in 2014. I ...

and visiting lecturer at AUB where he teaches behavioural economics and policy. He is currently member of the

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a list of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations which coordinates responses to international public health issues and emergencies. It is headquartered in Gen ...

's (WHO) Technical and Advisory Group on Behavioral Insights for Health and has served between 2016 and 2018 as member of the Council for Behavioral Sciences at the World Economic Forum. He was advisor to the

Prime Minister of Lebanon The prime minister of Lebanon, officially the president of the Council of Ministers, is the head of government and the head of the Council of Ministers of Lebanon. The prime minister is appointed by the president of Lebanon, with the consen ...

on economy and trade as well as Director General of the Lebanese Ministry of Economy and Trade from 2002 to the end of 2005. He also worked for Booz & Company, Cisco, as well as the Qatar National Food Security Program. He was the Advisor to the Qatari Ministry of Finance, Economy and Commerce where he advised

Qatar Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares Qatar–Saudi Arabia border, its sole land b ...

on trade policy and the

World Trade Organization The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an intergovernmental organization headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland that regulates and facilitates international trade. Governments use the organization to establish, revise, and enforce the rules that g ...

(WTO), and was part of the committee that organized the 4th WTO ministerial conference which led to the launch of the

Doha round The Doha Development Round or Doha Development Agenda (DDA) is the trade-negotiation round of the World Trade Organization (WTO) which commenced in November 2001 under then director-general Mike Moore. Its objective was to lower trade barriers ...

in November 2001. He was visiting lecturer and fellow at Cambridge University and the Graduate Institute in Geneva. His academic background spans International trade and development, international law, public and business administration, behavioural economics and public policy, with a PhD from

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

in the United Kingdom, masters 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

Hull University The University of Hull is a public research university in Kingston upon Hull, a city in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It was founded in 1927 as University College Hull. The main university campus is located in Hull and is home to the Hu ...

, BAs from the American University of Beirut and the Lebanese University Law School. Fadi studied at the Faculty of Law at the University of Cambridge. His PhD dissertation, which was approved in 1997, is titled 'Financial services in the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS): development towards the rule of law.'

References

Lebanese businesspeople Lebanese politicians Lebanese economists Living people 1968 births American University of Beirut alumni Alumni of the London School of Economics University of Halle alumni Alumni of the University of Cambridge Government ministers of Lebanon {{lebanon-business-bio-stub Lebanese Shia Muslims