A mentee of Philip Kotler, he has (co-)authored books on competitiveness and taught marketing at Thai universities.

Somkid was born in Bangkok's Chinatown and grew up in a large, but modest Thai Chinese (Teochew) family, one of 10 children.

[6][7] One of his older brothers, Som Jatusripitak later became president of Siam City Bank and Commerce Minister in Chavalit Yongchaiyudh's government.

[citation needed] Somkid went to Triam Udom Suksa School and graduated with a bachelor's degree from the Faculty of Economics, Thammasat University in 1972.

Somkid's chief policy innovations included the universal healthcare program, 1 million THB development funds for each of Thailand's 70,000 villages, a 3-year loan freeze for farmers, fast-track privatization of state enterprises, and a national asset management corporation (AMC) to buy up the $20 billion in bad debt carried by Thai banks.

In March 2006, during the height of the anti-Thaksin protests, Somkid underwent balloon angioplasty surgery to relieve a blood clot in an artery near his heart.

[17] After Thaksin Shinawatra's announcement that he would not accept the Premiership from Parliament after the April 2006 elections, Somkid was widely seen as a potential replacement.

At the time, Somkid was in Paris, attending the Thai-France Cultural Exhibition with Princess Sirindhorn and Foreign Minister Kantathi Supamongkhon.

[21][22] He continued to lead a low profile, until in February 2007, he was appointed head of a government committee charged with "preaching" King Bhumibol's self-sufficient economy policy.

The appointment provoked great controversy, as critics claimed that the populist economics czar had no role promoting self-sufficiency.

[27] In 2012, Somkid founded the Thailand Future Study Institute, a think tank which is sponsored by major Thai business corporations and seeks to provide research and consulting to public bodies and private sector.

[27] After the 22 May 2014 coup d'état, the junta—which calls itself National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO)—appointed Somkid member of its "advisory board" in charge of foreign economic relations, especially with Asian countries China and Japan.

[30] Following his departure from the junta cabinet in 2020, Jatusripitak joined the recently formed Sang Anganot Thai (Building Thailand's Future) party founded by former fellow ministers Sontirat Sontijirawong and Uttama Savanayana, and agreed to be its prime ministerial nominee should the party win no less than 25 seats in the upcoming general election.