Vijay Vaitheeswaran

Vijay is the US Business Editor of The Economist. He is also an award-winning book author and an accomplished public speaker. The Financial Times has declared him to be "a writer to whom it is worth paying attention."

He opened his magazine's first Shanghai bureau in 2012 and served as its China Business Editor until mid-2017. His editorial responsibilities ranged from business and finance to technology and innovation. He led the editorial team that launched Economist Global Business Review, a successful app that is the first bilingual product offered by The Economist in its 175-year history.

Vijay joined the editorial staff of The Economist in 1992 as its London-based Latin America correspondent, and opened its first regional bureau in Mexico City in 1994. From 1998 to 2006, he covered the politics, economics, business and technology of energy and the environment. From 2007 to 2011 his portfolio encompassed innovation, global health, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology. He has produced numerous cover stories and won awards for his reporting.

His latest book is Need, Speed and Greed: How the New Rules of Innovation Can Transform Businesses, Propel Nations to Greatness, and Tame the World's Most Wicked Problems. Kirkus Reviews declares it to be "a perfect primer for the post-industrial age" and Amazon named it a Selection of the Month. His previous books have also created a stir, with accolades ranging from lengthy reviews in The New Yorker to shortlisting for the Financial Times Business Book of the Year prize. He wrote The World is Not Flat, a timely and provocative Special Report on the disruptive future for globalisation, multinational firms and supply chains recently published by The Economist.

Vijay is a Life Member at America's Council on Foreign Relations and a Member of the Economic Club of New York. He was on the Adjunct Faculty at New York University from 2005 to 2011. At the invitation of the Dean, he created and taught the first interdisciplinary class on energy & environment offered at the Stern School of Business. He has also served as an advisor on sustainability and innovation to the World Economic Forum/Davos.

His opinion pieces have appeared in leading publications including The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times, The New York Times and Foreign Policy, and he is a seasoned commentator on such broadcast outlets as CNBC, Bloomberg, MSNBC, BBC and NPR. He has addressed groups ranging from the US National Governors' Association and the UN General Assembly to the TED and Aspen Ideas conferences. He also serves as chairman of a provocative series of Innovation Summits organised by The Economist, held annually in Chicago, Hong Kong and London.

U.S. business editor for The Economist and leading specialist on China, business and technology, innovation, and emerging markets