Professor Siddharth Chandra's research interests include behavior and policy relating to addictive substances, the intersection of economics, health, and history in Asia, and applications of portfolio theory to fields outside finance, for which the theory was originally developed. He has received funding from the National Institutes of Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation for his research, which has appeared or will appear in a variety of journals, including "Emerging Infectious Diseases," "Demography," "Population Studies," "Drug and Alcohol Dependence," "Nicotine and Tobacco Research," "Tobacco Control," "Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology," the "Journal of Research in Personality," the "Journal of Regional Science," "Land Economics," the "Journal of Economic History," "Explorations in "Economic History," "World Politics," and "The British Journal of Political Science." At James Madison College, he teaches a senior seminar titled “Drug policy from Asia to America,” in which students learn about different approaches to drug policy in Asia and the USA. He is also director of the Asian Studies Center at Michigan State University.
Professor Chandra received his Ph.D. in economics from Cornell University, his A.M. (Ph.D. pass) in economics from the University of Chicago, and his B.A. (with honors) in economics from Brandeis University. Prior to joining Michigan State University, he was Director of the Asian Studies Center and Associate Professor at the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Pittsburgh.