Roland Rajah

Lowy Institute Lead Economist; Director, Indo-Pacific Development Centre
Roland Rajah
Biography
Publications

Roland Rajah is Director of the Indo-Pacific Development Centre, a dedicated policy research centre within the Lowy Institute. The Centre is committed to producing fresh policy insights and ideas on the most pressing economic development challenges facing the Indo-Pacific region — principally focusing on the emerging and developing economies of Southeast Asia, the Pacific Islands and South Asia. He also serves as the Lowy Institute’s Lead Economist, a position he has held since joining the Institute in 2017.

Roland directs the overall work program of the Indo-Pacific Development Centre across its key thematic pillars of post-Covid growth and development, globalisation and regional integration, climate change and development, technology and digital economy, aid and development finance, and geoeconomics. The Centre also houses the Lowy Institute Pacific Aid Map project, which provides the world’s most comprehensive data tracking of all official aid and other development finance flows to the Pacific Islands.

A development economist by background, Roland has extensive experience working across both emerging Asia and the small island developing states of the Pacific. He has previously worked for the Asian Development Bank, Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID), and the Reserve Bank of Australia. Roland holds a master’s degree in economics from the Australian National University, where he was awarded the Helen Hughes Prize in International and Development Economics. He also serves on the board of the Cambodia Development Resource Institute, one of Southeast Asia’s leading independent policy research think tanks.

An emerging Indo-Pacific infrastructure strategy
An emerging Indo-Pacific infrastructure strategy
The outlines of a potentially promising four-pronged approach to the region’s infrastructure needs can be discerned.
Tit-for-tat-for-tit-for-tat
Tit-for-tat-for-tit-for-tat
In his trade war, Donald Trump’s maximum pressure tactics look likely to prove highly counterproductive.
All’s not fair in US–China trade stoush
All’s not fair in US–China trade stoush
Mixed objectives and a focus on so-called fairness are creating unhelpful confusion.
American trade policy returns to “aggressive unilateralism”
American trade policy returns to “aggressive unilateralism”
The US deployed similar trade tactics in the 1980s to pursue its grievances with a rising Japan.
Trump’s tariff antics as the TPP-11 is signed
Trump’s tariff antics as the TPP-11 is signed
The World Trade Organisation could be in a precarious position in its role of keeping a lid on protectionism.
Trump’s trade war pins Australia between a rock and a hard place
Commentary
Trump’s trade war pins Australia between a rock and a hard place
Originally published in The Australian. Roland Rajah
Donald Trump, trade, and Malcolm Turnbull in the middle
Commentary
Donald Trump, trade, and Malcolm Turnbull in the middle
Originally published in the Australian Financial Review (Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images). Roland Rajah
Does the White Paper underestimate the pace of economic change?
Does the White Paper underestimate the pace of economic change?
We may again fail to grasp how quickly changes in relative economic weight translate into changes in the balance of power.
Xi Jinping's state capitalism is here to stay
Commentary
Xi Jinping's state capitalism is here to stay
Originally published in the Australian Financial Review.Roland Rajah
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