Shanker Singham

Shanker A. Singham is chairman of the Growth Commission, an international group of economists focused on policies to accelerate economic growth, and chairman and CEO of the Competere Group, which advises governments and businesses on international trade, competition law, and economic policy. He is also chairman and president of the Competere Foundation for Trade and Competition Policy, which promotes open trade, competitive markets, and secure property rights.

Singham’s work focuses on the relationship between international trade, competition policy, domestic regulation, and economic growth. He has helped develop the concept of anti-competitive market distortions (ACMDs) and an associated economic model for assessing how government policies and regulatory barriers affect competition, productivity, and prosperity.

Singham is co-vice chair of the Trade Facilitation Commission, policy lead of the Trader Support Service Consortium, and a trade and competition academic fellow at the Institute of Economic Affairs. He previously advised the United Kingdom’s secretary of state for international trade and served as a cleared adviser to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and the U.S. Department of Commerce. He has participated in international trade negotiations and policy initiatives involving the World Trade Organization, the European Union, and numerous bilateral and regional trade agreements.

Earlier in his career, Singham directed economic policy and prosperity studies at the Legatum Institute and led its Special Trade Commission. He also headed the international trade and competition practice at the Institute of Economic Affairs, directed the Competitiveness and Enterprise Cities Project at Babson Global, and led international trade practices at Squire Sanders and Steel Hector & Davis. He began his legal career at McKenna & Co. in London.

Singham is the author of “International Trade, Regulation and the Global Economy: The Impact of Anti-Competitive Market Distortions” (2025), “Market Distortions in Privatisation Processes” (2024), and “Trade, Competition and Domestic Regulatory Policy: Trade Liberalisation, Competitive Markets and Property Rights Protection” (2023). He has also written extensively on trade, competition, regulatory reform, and economic development.

Singham earned his master’s in chemistry from Balliol College, University of Oxford, and completed postgraduate legal studies at the College of Law in Guildford, England, and the University of Miami School of Law.