Navtej Dhillon

Navtej Dhillon founded the Middle East Youth Initiative as a fellow at the Wolfensohn Center for Development at Brookings, a position he held until September 21, 2009. In the fall of 2009, Dhillon begins his new position as senior advisor on international development at the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

Previously Dhillon served as a special advisor and speech writer to James D. Wolfensohn and worked at the World Bank. Dhillon's research focuses on development economics and, in particular, the transitions of young people.

He has written widely on the social exclusion of young people and co-edited Generation in Waiting: The Unfulfilled Promise of Young People in the Middle East (Brookings Press, 2009). He has been featured in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, The Independent, The National (UAE) and additional regional newspapers, and has been interviewed by BBC World Service, Public Broadcasting Service, and Al-Jazeera.

Recent Commentary:

Geithner and the New Middle East Economic Agenda
Navtej Dhillon, July 14, 2009

The Many Crises of Iranian Youth
Navtej Dhillon and Daniel Egel, The Huffington Post, June 25, 2009

Change We Can Believe In? The Muslim World, America, and Obama's Promise
Navtej Dhillon, Laurence Chandy, and Geoffrey Gertz, June 1, 2009

Global Economic Crisis: Prosperity and Politics in Lebanon
Navtej Dhillon and Jad Chaaban, May 4, 2009

Beyond Reconstruction: What Lies Ahead for Young Palestinians?
Navtej Dhillon, March 10, 2009

Global Economic Crisis: A Catalyst for Change in Saudi Arabia?
Navtej Dhillon and Hassan Hakimian, February 25, 2009

The Middle East in a Post-Oil Boom Era?
Navtej Dhillon, January 30, 2009

West Bank and Gaza Economy: Before and After the Crisis
Navtej Dhillon and Edward Sayre, January 14, 2009

In the Media:

ADAA Takes Training to Youth
Business Today (Egypt), May 2009

Barack Hussein Obama and the Muslim World
KCRW National Public Radio, "To the Point," April 6, 2009

A Quiet Revolution Grows in the Muslim World
TIME, March 19, 2009

Wary Muslims Seek More Than Gestures in Obama’s ‘Way Forward’
Bloomberg, March 10, 2009

Middle East Youth Initiative Publications:

Generation in Waiting: The Unfulfilled Promise of Young People in the Middle East
Navtej Dhillon and Tarik Yousef, editors, Brookings Institution Press, October 2009

Missed by the Boom, Hurt by the Bust: Making Markets Work for Young People in the Middle East
Navtej Dhillon, Djavad Salehi-Isfahani, Paul Dyer, Tarik Yousef, Amina Fahmy and Mary Kraetsch, May 2009

Stalled Youth Transitions in the Middle East: A Framework for Policy Reform
Djavad Salehi-Isfahani and Navtej Dhillon, October 2008

"Pursuing a Positive Agenda for the Middle East" in
Top 10 Global Economic Challenges Facing America's 44th President
Navtej Dhillon, Djavad Salehi-Isfahani and Tarik Yousef, October 2008

Inclusion: Meeting the 100 Million Youth Challenge
Navtej Dhillon and Tarik Yousef, December 2007