Senior Policy Researcher, RAND; Professor of Policy Analysis, RAND School of Public Policy
Rachel Lyngaas is a senior policy researcher at RAND and a professor of policy analysis at the RAND School of Public Policy. Her research focuses on the interconnections between economics, finance, and national security policy, with particular expertise in how financial instruments shape macroeconomic outcomes and state behavior, including in natural resource–dependent economies.
Lyngaas brings extensive experience in applied economic analysis across government and international financial institutions. She was the first Chief Sanctions Economist at the U.S. Department of the Treasury, where she built and led the Sanctions Economic Analysis Division within the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), developing frameworks to assess the economic effects of sanctions and advising on the design of financial restrictions. She previously worked as an economist at the International Monetary Fund and in Treasury’s Office of International Affairs. Earlier in her career, she conducted development program evaluations for the World Bank and Millennium Challenge Corporation.
She holds an M.A. in development economics from the Fletcher School at Tufts University and a B.A. in political science from the University of New Mexico.
M.A. in development economics, Tufts University; B.A. in political science, University of New Mexico
English; French
