Economist · Washington, D.C.
Philip A. Luck
Trade, geoeconomics, and economic security.
Director, Economics Program · Scholl Chair in International Business
Center for Strategic and International Studies
Associate Editor, Journal of Geoeconomics
Background: with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken at the Department of State, where I served as Deputy Chief Economist (2022–2025). Photo: U.S. Department of State.
About
I am an economist studying how international trade and migration reshape firms, supply chains, and labor markets. My work moves between academic research and the practice of economic policy.
I direct the Economics Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, where I hold the Scholl Chair in International Business, and I serve as an associate editor at the Journal of Geoeconomics. From 2022 to 2025 I was Deputy Chief Economist at the U.S. Department of State, and Acting Chief Economist from late 2023 into 2024. There I led analysis on sanctions and export-control evasion, supply chain resilience, economic coercion, and the design of migration policy.
Before government I was an assistant professor at the University of Colorado Denver, with earlier appointments at Claremont McKenna College and Drexel University. I hold a Ph.D. in economics from the University of California, Davis, where Robert Feenstra chaired my dissertation, and a B.S. from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. I also consult for the International Monetary Fund and serve as vice chair of the OECD Committee on Industry, Innovation and Entrepreneurship.
Research interests
Selected research
Recent writing
- May 2026 How Trade Reduces the Risk of War · CSIS, with Christopher Meissner
- May 2026 The Impact of Tariffs on the AI Data Center Buildout · CSIS brief
- Apr 2026 NATO's Hidden Dividend and the Avoidable Cost of U.S. Withdrawal · CSIS