Dan Gay — international development economist
Dan Gay.
Advisor to governments and international organisations on trade, sustainability and economic development. Former UN adviser; work in countries in Africa, Asia, the Pacific and the Caribbean.
Articles, interviews and commentary
- The Guardian
- BBC
- United Nations
- Reuters
- Wall Street Journal
- Associated Press
- CNBC
- ABC Radio
- The Scotsman
- Asiaweek
- Time
- Prospect
About
Dan Gay is an international development economist helping governments navigate trade, sustainability and economic growth. A former UN adviser, he has worked in more than twenty-five countries across Africa, Asia, the Pacific and the Caribbean.
Clients and collaborators include the United Nations, the World Bank, the OECD, regional development banks and national governments.
He writes for national and international media and publishes a newsletter at dangay.substack.com.
Education
- PhD, Economics
- Masters, Economics
- Masters, Political theory
- Honours degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics
Clients
- United Nations
- World Bank
- OECD
- Asian Development Bank
- Commonwealth Secretariat
- Governments across the Pacific, Africa & Asia
Book
Reflexivity and Development Economics
A study of how detailed fieldwork, case studies and reflection on the social sciences can produce richer — and more modest — understandings of development policy. Case studies of Vanuatu and Singapore.
Recent writing
Essays and commentary on trade, development, politics and the world economy.
-
The future of trade and development cooperation
Following the 14th WTO Ministerial Conference in Yaoundé, what's left of the multilateral trading system, and what still works for the poorest countries.
-
The burning of the old order
A long reported essay moving between Jakarta in 1998 and Washington in 2025 — on the unwinding of the post-Cold-War economic settlement.
-
Slaying the global Minotaur
On Yanis Varoufakis’s framing of the US–China imbalance, and whether the deal that underwrote globalisation is finally breaking down.
-
Stop doing stupid stuff
Unpredictability and instability are worse than tariffs. A look at Lesotho, Haiti, Bangladesh and the small economies caught in the crossfire.
-
Attacking the world’s poor
US tariffs on the least developed countries amount to an assault on already marginalised populations. The numbers, country by country.
-
The end of multilateralism?
No, but it is decaying. Why the current crisis will have lasting consequences for the rules of international economic life.
Papers & reports
Longer policy work grouped by theme.
Least developed countries, graduation and support measures
-
A Critical Reflection on International Support for Least Developed Countries
A re-examination of the international support measures that underpin the LDC category, and what they actually deliver.PDF ↗
Trade diagnostics and productive capacity
-
Developing Productive Capacity in The Gambia
A diagnostic of the structural constraints on Gambian production and the policies that might shift them.PDF ↗
-
Lao PDR Diagnostic Trade Integration Study (Update)
A full update of the country’s trade integration strategy, covering manufacturing, services, agriculture and trade facilitation.PDF ↗
-
Solomon Islands Diagnostic Trade Integration Study
A national trade strategy for one of the Pacific’s most geographically dispersed economies.PDF ↗
-
Vanuatu Diagnostic Trade Integration Study
Country trade analysis covering tourism, agriculture, services and the political economy of reform.PDF ↗
Pacific trade and regional integration
-
Moving Beyond SPARTECA
A review of the South Pacific Regional Trade and Economic Cooperation Agreement and what should follow it.PDF ↗
Academic work and additional reports are listed on ResearchGate ↗.
Articles, media & commentary
Articles, interviews and commentary.
-
2025
Attacking the world’s poor
Forum on Trade, Environment and the SDGs / Centre on Labour, Sustainability and Global Production, 8 April 2025
-
2024
Fishing for consensus: harmful subsidies talks intensify as MC13 nears end
Pacific Islands Forum, 29 February 2024
-
2024
Ahead of World Trade Ministerial, Pacific nations continue call to end harmful fishing subsidies
21 February 2024
-
2023
Russell Brand’s descent into conspiracy politics
The Guardian Letters, 15 March 2023
-
2021
Moving out of mainstream: ISMs for LDCs
Trade Insight, vol. 17, no. 3–4
-
2021
International support for the least developed countries: moving out of the mainstream
Developing Economics, 15 November 2021
-
2021
The challenge of services growth in least developed countries
UN International Support Measures Portal for Least Developed Countries, September 2021
-
2021
The need directly to target sustainable productive capacity in least developed countries
UN International Support Measures Portal for Least Developed Countries, 30 June 2021
-
2021
The road to LDC graduation in Timor Leste
UN International Support Measures Portal for Least Developed Countries, June 2021
-
2021
Productive capacity as resilience in the least developed countries
UN International Support Measures Portal for Least Developed Countries, 22 May 2021
-
2021
Smooth transition for graduating LDCs under the EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism
UN International Support Measures Portal for Least Developed Countries, 4 May 2021
-
2020
Quoted in “LDC Graduation — Milestone or Millstone?”
Vanuatu Business Review, December 2020
-
2020
Least developed country graduation and COVID-19
Trade for Development News webinar, 28 May 2020
-
2020
Six suggestions for improving support to least developed countries
Trade for Development News, 19 May 2020
-
2020
Time to get serious about support for the Pacific’s least developed countries
Pacific Outlook, Griffith University, 11 May 2020
-
2020
Leaving no-one behind: New help for graduating least developed countries (part II)
Trade for Development News, 28 January 2020
-
2020
Leaving no-one behind: New help for graduating least developed countries (part I)
Trade for Development News, 14 January 2020
-
2019
Working Together For Lao PDR’s Sustainable LDC Graduation
Lao News Agency, 8 October 2019
-
2019
For the least developed countries, revitalising multilateralism is life or death
UN Sustainable Development Goals website, with Kevin Gallagher, 29 August 2019
-
2019
Video on UN least developed country category
8 March 2019
-
2018
Interviewed in “Bhutan’s LDC graduation likely to be deferred to 2023”
Bhutan Broadcasting Service, 17 August 2018
-
2018
Daniel Gay: The long and winding road to LDC graduation
27 July 2018
-
2018
Facebook live interview on least developed country graduation
Facebook, 6 March 2018
-
2018
Leaving the LDC category: Booming Bangladesh prepares to graduate
UN DESA Voice, 31 January 2018
-
2018
Interview on Global Connections TV
Global Connections TV, 1 January 2018
-
2017
What LDC graduation will mean for Bangladesh’s drugs industry
UN least developed countries portal, 18 December 2017
-
2017
Booming Bangladesh welcomes LDC graduation
UN least developed countries portal, 30 October 2017
-
2017
Quoted in “UNDESA meets FBCCI chief”
Bangladesh Daily Sun, 11 October 2017
-
2017
PACER Plus: Disappointment and lost opportunity
Vanuatu Business Review, 17 June 2017
-
2017
Quoted in “PACER Plus focus not right for the Pacific”
ABC News radio, 14 June 2017
-
2017
PACER Plus: Disappointment and lost opportunity
Matangi Tonga, 10 June 2017
-
2017
Video on the UN Committee for Development Policy
17 March 2017
-
2017
Building Productive Capacity for LDC Graduation
Kuensel, Bhutan, 18 February 2017
-
2016
UNDESA Workshop Successfully Held at the CNSE
Beijing, 18 November 2016
-
2016
Cover story: The taxman cometh
Vanuatu Business Review, 4 August 2016
-
2016
Interview about the least developed countries
TRT World, 29 May 2016
-
2016
Quoted in “More action needed for countries to graduate from LDC group”
UN Radio, 29 May 2016
-
2016
High-tech dreams in the land of the thunder dragon
UN DESA, New York, 2 May 2016
-
2016
Tackling production in the least developed countries
UN DESA Voice, March 2016
-
2015
The non-economics of desperate Dave
Bella Caledonia, 12 January 2015
-
2014
Comment about Scottish independence
Reuters, 17 September 2014
-
2014
Opinion: Boosting the domestic economy is the key to raising Papua New Guinea growth
Business Advantage PNG, 13 August 2014
-
2014
Interview on trade in the Pacific islands
ABC Radio Australia, 22 July 2014
-
2014
Market access alone won’t boost trade
Islands Business, 18 July 2014
-
2014
Pacific Islands: market access alone won’t boost trade
Lowy Institute for International Policy, 17 July 2014
-
2014
How to blow $2.6 billion in a decade
Lowy Institute for International Policy, 23 May 2014
-
2013
The untold story of the Pacific islands
The Guardian website, 20 November 2013
-
2012
Bypass the Bankers
Renegade Economist, 11 July 2012
-
2012
Daniel Gay: World first for Scotland
The Scotsman, 17 May 2012
-
2012
The Economics Spring
Renegade Economist, 5 April 2012
-
2012
Daniel Gay: Singapore an example for Scotland to follow
The Scotsman, 8 March 2012
-
2012
Daniel Gay: Sterling Scotland’s best option
The Scotsman, 15 February 2012
-
2011
Small island states lovely but expensive
Pacific Islands Business
-
2009
Featured in ‘A crisis of economics’
The Guardian, The Business podcast, 25 November 2009
-
2009
Huntington ignorance
Prospect magazine, 11 February 2009
-
2008
Quoted in “One thing is clear from the history of trade: protectionism makes you rich”
The Guardian, 9 September 2008
-
2008
The impact of the weak dollar
Public Radio International, 9 January 2008
-
2007
Escaping the arc of instability
Pacific Islands Business, May 2007
-
2001
Asia’s stem cell savant
Asiaweek magazine, 24 August 2001
-
2001
Slumping tigers, driven dragon
Asiaweek magazine, 27 July – 3 August 2001
-
2001
Time to pay the piper
Asiaweek magazine, 13 July 2001
-
2001
A virtual front line
Asiaweek magazine, 22 June 2001
-
2001
The neighbourhood’s on fire
Asiaweek magazine, 4 May 2001
-
1999
Letter
Time magazine, 15 March 1999
Source archive: media page.
Contact
Please email Emergent Economics or use one of the links below.
Email enquiries emergenteconomics@gmail.com