I was born in a suburb of Colombo, the first child of an Anglo-Welsh mother and a Ceylonese-Muslim father. Thus, I was raised in Ceylon and later grew up in Sri Lanka, as the country was renamed in 1972. However, my time there was brief; I moved to England just before my teenage years. During my twenties and thirties, I rarely returned, but in my forties, I made a comeback.
I have spent the majority of my life, and all of my adult life, in universities. It began with seven years as a student at the London School of Economics, followed by eighteen years teaching in the Department of International Relations there. In 2012, I transitioned to the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore, where I continue to teach. I have authored several books, numerous journal articles, policy papers, and other works. My readers often view me as a specialist focused on international trade policy, discussing topics such as free trade, protectionism, the World Trade Organization, free trade agreements, and various aspects of globalization. A smaller audience recalls my writings on the history of economic ideas, which I prefer to describe as the sometimes incorrect, sometimes correct ideas of deceased white men. For the past decade, I have been recognized by Sri Lankans, particularly in English-speaking circles, as a commentator on economic affairs. From 2015, when the government changed, until 2018, I was also known as a policy adviser to the prime minister and the minister of finance.