Sir Timothy John Besley, (born 14 September 1960) is a British academic economist who is the School Professor of Economics and Political Science and Sir W. Arthur Lewis Professor of Development Economics at the

London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 milli ...

(LSE). He is also a commissioner on the

National Infrastructure Commission The National Infrastructure Commission is the executive agency responsible for providing expert advice to the UK Government on infrastructure challenges facing the UK. Inaugurated in 2015, and established as an executive agency of HM Treasur ...

, a Quondam Fellow of

All Souls College, Oxford All Souls College (official name: College of the Souls of All the Faithful Departed) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Unique to All Souls, all of its members automatically become fellows (i.e., full members of ...

, and the director of the Suntory and Toyota International Centres for Economics and Related Disciplines (STICERD) at the LSE. In 2018, he served as president of the

Econometric Society The Econometric Society is an international society of academic economists interested in applying statistical tools to their field. It is an independent organization with no connections to societies of professional mathematicians or statisticians. ...

, and from 2006 to 2009 he was an external member of the Bank of England's

Monetary Policy Committee Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) may refer to: * Monetary Policy Committee (India) The Monetary Policy Committee is responsible for fixing the benchmark interest rate in India. The meetings of the Monetary Policy Committee are held at least fo ...

. He won the 2005

Yrjö Jahnsson Award Yrjö, a masculine Finnish given name that is the equivalent of George, may refer to: * Yrjö von Grönhagen, (1911–2003), Finnish anthropologist * Yrjö Jylhä, (1903–1956), Finnish poet * Yrjö Kilpinen (1892–1959), Finnish co ...

Early life and education

Born in

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-we ...

, Sir Tim Besley attended

Aylesbury Grammar School Aylesbury Grammar School is a grammar school in Aylesbury situated in the English county of Buckinghamshire, which educates approximately 1300 students. Founded in 1598 in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire by Sir Henry Lee, Champion of Queen Elizabet ...

and then studied at

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, where he gained a BA in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (PPE) with First Class Honours from

Keble College Keble College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its main buildings are on Parks Road, opposite the University Museum and the University Parks. The college is bordered to the north by Keble Road, to ...

, winning the George Webb Medley Prize for best exam performance in his cohort for his second and third years. He continued his graduate studies at Oxford, receiving an MPhil in economics with Distinction and the George Webb Medley Prize for the best MPhil performance in his cohort, followed by a DPhil in Economics upon election as an Examination Fellow of

All Souls College All Souls College (official name: College of the Souls of All the Faithful Departed) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Unique to All Souls, all of its members automatically become fellows (i.e., full members of ...

in 1984.

Career

Besley's first position was as an assistant professor in the economics department and Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...

, before returning to the UK in 1995 as professor of economics at

LSE LSE may refer to: Computing * LSE (programming language), a computer programming language * LSE, Latent sector error, a media assessment measure related to the hard disk drive storage technology * Language-Sensitive Editor, a text editor used ...

. He has served as the director of the Suntory-Toyota International Centres for Economics and Related Disciplines (STICERD), and as a member of the Steering Group for the International Growth Centre. He served on the

Bank of England The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694 to act as the English Government's banker, and still one of the bankers for the Government o ...

from September 2006 to August 2009.

Other activities

Besley is a research fellow of the

Centre for Economic Policy Research The Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) is an independent, non‐partisan, pan‐European non‐profit organisation. Its mission is to enhance the quality of policy decisions through providing policy‐relevant research, based soundly in e ...

, and a member of the Economic Growth and Institutions Programme of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR). He is a past research fellow of the

Institute for Fiscal Studies The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) is an economic research institute based in London, United Kingdom, which specialises in UK taxation and public policy. It produces both academic and policy-related findings. The institute's aim is to "ad ...

and was a member of the Mirrlees Review committee. He is also a co-chair of the

LSE Growth Commission LSE may refer to: Computing * LSE (programming language), a computer programming language * LSE, Latent sector error, a media assessment measure related to the hard disk drive storage technology * Language-Sensitive Editor, a text editor used on ...

and a member of the

. On the international level, Besley has served as a consultant to the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Inte ...

and to the

European Bank for Reconstruction and Development The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is an international financial institution founded in 1991. As a multilateral developmental investment bank, the EBRD uses investment as a tool to build market economies. Initially fo ...

. In June 2021, he was appointed to the

–

International Monetary Fund The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution, headquartered in Washington, D.C., consisting of 190 countries. Its stated mission is "working to foster glo ...

High-Level Advisory Group (HLAG) on Sustainable and Inclusive Recovery and Growth, co-chaired by

Mari Pangestu Mari Elka Pangestu (; born 23 October 1956), is an Indonesian economist who has been managing director of Development Policy and Partnerships in the World Bank since 2020. The President of the World Bank, David Malpass, announced her appointmen ...

Ceyla Pazarbasioglu Ceyla Pazarbasioglu ( tr, Ceyla Pazarbaşıoğlu) is a Turkish economist. As of January 2010 she was an assistant director of the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) Monetary and Capital Markets department and was in charge of financial supervisio ...

, and

Nicholas Stern Nicholas Herbert Stern, Baron Stern of Brentford, (born 22 April 1946 in Hammersmith) is a British economist, banker, and academic. He is the IG Patel Professor of Economics and Government and Chair of the Grantham Research Institute on Cli ...

. Besley has been an associate editor for the ''

Quarterly Journal of Economics ''The Quarterly Journal of Economics'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal published by the Oxford University Press for the Harvard University Department of Economics. Its current editors-in-chief are Robert J. Barro, Lawrence F. Katz, Nathan ...

'' and an editor for ''

Economica ''Economica'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal of generalist economics published on behalf of the London School of Economics by Wiley-Blackwell. Established in 1921, it is currently edited by Nava Ashraf, Oriana Bandiera, Tim Besley, France ...

Research

Besley's research is focused on aspects of economic policy formation in developed and emerging market economies. He is one of the leading economists in restoring the study of political economy to prominence in mainstream economics. A selected bibliography includes: "Principled Agents: The Political Economy of Good Government", Oxford University Press, 2006. "Pillars of Prosperity: The Political Economics of Development Clusters", Princeton University Press, 2011 (with

Torsten Persson Torsten Persson (born 18 April 1954) is a Swedish economist who is the Swedish Research Council Distinguished Professor at the Institute for International Economic Studies, Stockholm University and Centennial Professor of Economics at the London ...

). “Incumbent Behavior: Vote Seeking, Tax Setting and Yardstick Competition” (with Anne Case). American Economic Review, 85 (1), 25-45, 1995. “Property Rights and Investment Incentives: Theory and Evidence from Ghana,” Journal of Political Economy, 103(5), 903-937, 1995. “An Economic Model of Representative Democracy” (with

Stephen Coate Stephen Thomas Redvers Coate is a British-American economist and currently Kiplinger Professor of Public Policy at Cornell University. His research focuses on developing economic models to analyze public policy issues. Education Coate graduated ...

), Quarterly Journal of Economics, 112(1), 85-114, 1997. “The Political Economy of Government Responsiveness: Theory and Evidence from India,” (with

Robin Burgess Robin Burgess , is a Professor of Economics, Co-founder and Director of the International Growth Centre, as well as Co-Founder and Director of the Economics of Energy and the Environment (EEE) program at the London School of Economics and Politic ...

), Quarterly Journal of Economics, 117(4), 1415–1452, 2002. “Competition and Incentives with Motivated Agents,” (with

Maitreesh Ghatak Maitreesh Ghatak (born 7 February 1968) is an Indian economist who is the Professor of Economics at the London School of Economics. He is an applied microeconomic theorist with research interests in economic development, public economics, and ...

), American Economic Review, 95(3), 616-636, 2005. “The Origins of State Capacity: Property Rights, Taxation and Politics,” (with

) American Economic Review, 99(4), 1218–44, 2009. “The Logic of Political Violence,” (with

) Quarterly Journal of Economics, 126 (3), 1411–1446, 2011. “State Capacity, Reciprocity and the Social Contract,” Econometrica, 88(4) 1307-1335, 2020.

Honours and awards

Sir Tim Besley is a

Fellow of the British Academy Fellowship of the British Academy (FBA) is an award granted by the British Academy to leading academics for their distinction in the humanities and social sciences. The categories are: # Fellows – scholars resident in the United Kingdom # ...

, a fellow of the

, and a foreign honorary member of the

American Economic Association The American Economic Association (AEA) is a learned society in the field of economics. It publishes several peer-reviewed journals acknowledged in business and academia. There are some 23,000 members. History and Constitution The AEA was esta ...

and the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, a ...

. He was a co-editor of

American Economic Review The ''American Economic Review'' is a monthly peer-reviewed academic journal published by the American Economic Association. First published in 1911, it is considered one of the most prestigious and highly distinguished journals in the field of ec ...

– the first person to serve in this position not based at a US university. He is the 2010 president of the

European Economic Association The European Economic Association (EEA) is a professional academic body which links European economists. It was founded in the mid-1980s. Its first annual congress was in 1986 in Vienna and its first president was Jacques Drèze. The current pres ...

. From 2014 to 2017, he served as president of the

International Economic Association The International Economic Association (IEA) is an NGO established in 1950, at the instigation of the Social Sciences Department of UNESCO. To date, the IEA still shares information and maintains consultative relations with UNESCO. In 1973 the IE ...

. In 2018, he began serving as president of the

. In 2005, he won the

for

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

an economics and was awarded the 2010

John von Neumann Award The John von Neumann Award ( hu, Neumann János-díj), named after John von Neumann, is given annually by the Rajk László College for Advanced Studies in Budapest, to an outstanding scholar in the exact social sciences, whose works have had su ...

by the Rajk László College for Advanced Studies at Corvinus University of Budapest. Besley was appointed a

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

(CBE) in the

2010 Birthday Honours The 2010 Birthday Honours for the Commonwealth realms were announced to celebrate the Queen's Birthday on 7 June 2010 in New Zealand, on 12 June 2010 in the United Kingdom, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Sai ...

for services to Social Science, and a

Knight Bachelor The title of Knight Bachelor is the basic rank granted to a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not inducted as a member of one of the organised orders of chivalry; it is a part of the British honours system. Knights Bachelor are ...

in the

2018 New Year Honours The 2018 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebratio ...

for services to Economics and Public Policy.

Personal life

Besley married political economist Gillian Paull in 1993, and has two sons. He lives in Barnes, Richmond upon Thames in London. He is a fan of

Fulham Football Club Fulham Football Club is an English professional association football, football club based in Fulham, London, which compete in the . They have played home games at Craven Cottage since 1896, other than a two-year period spent at Loftus Road whil ...

Works

''Principled agents?: the political economy of good government''
Oxford University Press, 2006,
''Delivering on the promise of pro-poor growth: insights and lessons from country experiences''
Editors Timothy Besley, Louise Cord, World Bank Publications, 2007,

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Besley, Tim 1961 births Academics of the London School of Economics Alumni of Keble College, Oxford 20th-century British economists 21st-century British economists Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Knights Bachelor Fellows of All Souls College, Oxford Fellows of Keble College, Oxford Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Fellows of the British Academy Fellows of the Econometric Society Presidents of the Econometric Society Living people People educated at Aylesbury Grammar School Alumni of Nuffield College, Oxford Fellows of the European Economic Association