Hilton Root is a senior fellow at the Milken Institute, where his research focuses on the global economy. Root came to the Institute from the Hoover Institution, where he directed the Initiative on Economic Growth and Democracy. During 1994-1997 he was Chief Adviser on Governance at the Asian Development Bank, where he initiated the restructuring of the Sri Lanka civil service system. He has consulted international development organizations since 1992. His book co-authored with J. Edgardo Campos, The Key to the East Asian Miracle: Making Shared Growth Credible, won the International Political Science Association's Charles H. Levine Award for best book of the year.

Root's Ph.D. in economics and history is from the University of Michigan.