Laveesh Bhandari is an economist and also a member of The Citizens Alliance. He completed his PhD in Economics from Boston University, USA in 1996. His dissertation, on success and failure of international alliances, received the Best Thesis in International Economics award by the EXIM Bank of India in 1996. Prior to that, he got his MA in Economics specialising in Finance and Industrial Organisation from the same university. He was also awarded the Hite Fellowship for his work on International finance. Bhandari began his career as a Consultant for Manhattan (now Brookdale) Funds, New York and Boston, USA, where he was working on the valuation methodologies of derivative securities. He joined the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER), New Delhi, as a Senior Economist in 1997. At NCAER he led research teams for various studies in the Industry and Infrastructure division.