Dr Jikon Lai

Jikon Lai is Assistant Professor at the Centre for Multilateralism Studies, S Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) at Nanyang Technological University. He received his doctoral degree from the Department of International Relations in the College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University, after completing his M. Phil in International Relations at the University of Oxford and a B.Sc. in Economics (First Class) at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Within the field of international political economy, Jikon’s research interest centres on institutions and institutional contexts that explain outcomes in the financial sector, and the economy more generally. His research output sits at the intersection of the fields of International Political Economy and International Relations, with a focus on East Asia.

Jikon has written and published on both conventional and Islamic finance, forms of economic governance, and regional financial architecture. He is author of Financial Crisis and Institutional Change in East Asia, published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2012. His peer-reviewed research articles have been published in Review of International Political Economy, New Political Economy, Journal of the Asia Pacific Economy and Asia Europe Journal. He also contributes to wider popular debate through various commentary pieces.

• International political economy
• Comparative politics
• Political economy of East Asia
• Politics of global finance
• Politics of Islamic finance
• Economic governance and development

Commentaries

• IMF Changing of the Guard: Sorry Tale of Leadership Transition

  19 July, 2019

• RSIS-WTO Parliamentarian Workshop - The Rising Tide: Trade in Services and Intangibles

  10 June, 2019

Authored Books

• Jikon Lai, Financial Crisis and Institutional Change in East Asia (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012).. United Kingdom: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012

Journal Articles

• Jikon Lai, Lena Rethel and Kerstin Steiner, “Conceptualizing Dynamic Challenges to Global Financial Diffusion: Islamic Finance and the Grafting of Sukuk”, Review of International Political Economy, Vol.24. No.6 (2017). in Review of International Political Economy, 24, 6, 2017, 958-979
• Jikon Lai, “Accountability and the Enforcement of Ethical Values in Finance: Insights from Islamic Finance”, Australian Journal of Public Administration, Vol.73 No.4 (2014) in Australian Journal of Public Administration, 73, 4, 2015, 437-449
• Jikon Lai, “Industrial Policy and Islamic Finance”, New Political Economy, Vol.20 No.2 (2015). in New Political Economy, 20, 2, 2014, 178-198
• Jikon Lai, “Khazanah Nasional: Malaysia’s Treasure Trove“, Journal of the Asia Pacific Economy, Vol.17 No.2 (2012). in Journal of the Asia Pacific Economy, 17, 2, 2012, 236-252
• Jikon Lai and John Ravenhill, “Asia’s Multi-Level Response to the Global Financial Crisis“, Asia Europe Journal, Vol.9 Nos.2-4 (2012). in Asia Europe Journal, 9, 2-4, 2012, 141-157