Eswar Prasad is the Tolani Senior Professor of Trade Policy in the Department of Applied Economics and Management at Cornell University. He was previously Chief of the Financial Studies Division in the IMF’s Research Department and, before that, was the head of the IMF's China division.

Eswar Prasad received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. His research has spanned a number of areas including labor economics, business cycles, and open economy macroeconomics. His extensive publication record includes articles in numerous collective volumes as well as top academic journals such as The American Economic Review, The Economic Journal, Review of Economics and Statistics, Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Journal of Monetary Economics, Journal of International Economics, Journal of Development Economics etc. He has edited numerous books and monographs on China, Hong Kong and India. His current research interests include the macroeconomics of globalization, the relationship between growth and volatility, and the Chinese and Indian economies.

Many of his research papers and quotes from his speeches have been cited extensively in wire service stories as well as prominent media outlets including the Economist, Financial Times, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, International Herald Tribune and numerous other international and regional newspapers. He has contributed op-ed articles to the Financial Times, International Herald Tribune, Wall Street Journal Asia and various other newspapers. He has testified before the Senate Finance Committee and the House of Representatives Committee on Financial Services (both on China), and his research has been cited in the U.S. Congressional Record.

Eswar Prasad has served as the co-editor of the journal IMF Staff Papers, was on the editorial board of Finance & Development and was the founding editor of the quarterly IMF Research Bulletin. He has been a Research Fellow of IZA (Institute for the Study of Labor, Bonn) since 2002.