Charles Read is a British

economic historian Economic history is the study of history using methodological tools from economics or with a special attention to economic phenomena. Research is conducted using a combination of historical methods, statistical methods and the application of ...

who teaches at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

. He has written two books and also writes and edits for the Economist magazine.

Early life and education

Read was born in London and is of English, Welsh, Armenian and Ethiopian ancestry. He completed his BA, MPhil and PhD degrees at

Christ's College, Cambridge Christ's College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college includes the Master, the Fellows of the College, and about 450 undergraduate and 250 graduate students. The c ...

with a focus on economic history, with his doctoral research garnering four academic prizes.

Career

Read was a fellow of

Corpus Christi College, Cambridge Corpus Christi College (full name: "The College of Corpus Christi and the Blessed Virgin Mary", often shortened to "Corpus") is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. From the late 14th c ...

, where he taught economics and history and served as director of a bridging course (an introduction to university life aimed at widening participation). He also served as junior proctor of the university for the 2023/24 academic year. In 2024, Read transferred to Oxford University where he is currently a senior tutor and tutorial fellow at

Regent's Park College, Oxford Regent's Park College (known colloquially within the university as Regent's) is a permanent private hall of the University of Oxford, situated in central Oxford, just off St Giles', Oxford, St Giles', England, United Kingdom. Founded in 1810 ...

. He is also an elected Fellow of the

Royal Historical Society The Royal Historical Society (RHS), founded in 1868, is a learned society of the United Kingdom which advances scholarly studies of history. Origins The society was founded and received its royal charter in 1868. Until 1872 it was known as the H ...

. Read has written and edited for ''

The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British newspaper published weekly in printed magazine format and daily on Electronic publishing, digital platforms. It publishes stories on topics that include economics, business, geopolitics, technology and culture. M ...

''.

Liz Truss government and September mini-budget

Read appeared in national media in February 2023 in relation to the United Kingdom's September 2022 "mini" budget, after a tweet of his was shared 1,400 times. In his tweet, Read challenged the Prime Minister Liz Truss's claim that she had not been formally warned about the effects of her government's budget by pointing to his own letter the previous September to the

Chancellor of the Exchequer The chancellor of the exchequer, often abbreviated to chancellor, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom, and the head of HM Treasury, His Majesty's Treasury. As one of the four Great Offices of State, t ...

Kwasi Kwarteng Akwasi Addo Alfred Kwarteng (born 26 May 1975) is a British politician who served as the Chancellor of the Exchequer from September to October 2022 under Liz Truss and the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy from 202 ...

, as well as a lecture he had given to the Treasury, warning about the problems the UK faced in 1847 and the parallels with the then current situation. Read claimed to foresee the resulting collapse because his book on the

Great Irish Famine The Great Famine, also known as the Great Hunger ( ), the Famine and the Irish Potato Famine, was a period of mass starvation and disease in Ireland lasting from 1845 to 1852 that constituted a historical social crisis and had a major impact o ...

describes a similar situation to that recreated by Truss's government.

Works

Read has published two books: * ''The Great Famine in Ireland and Britain's Financial Crisis'' (2022), which challenges the idea that the severity of the

Irish famine The Great Famine, also known as the Great Hunger ( ), the Famine and the Irish Potato Famine, was a period of mass starvation and disease in Ireland lasting from 1845 to 1852 that constituted a historical social crisis and had a major impact ...

was the result of British colonialism and laissez-faire ideas. * ''Calming the Storms: the Carry Trade, the Banking School and British Financial Crises since 1825'' (2023) discusses British financial crises over the past two hundred years, focusing on

carry trade The carry of an asset is the return obtained from holding it (if positive), or the cost of holding it (if negative) (see also Cost of carry). For instance, commodities are usually negative carry assets, as they incur storage costs or may suffer f ...

and

monetary policy Monetary policy is the policy adopted by the monetary authority of a nation to affect monetary and other financial conditions to accomplish broader objectives like high employment and price stability (normally interpreted as a low and stable rat ...

. A review of the book in the weekly ''Cambridge Independent'' newspaper stated that Read aims to stake a claim to be 'Cambridge's avatar economist for the 21st century'.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Read, Charles British economic historians Academics of the University of Cambridge Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Fellows of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge The Economist people Historians of the University of Oxford Fellows of Regent's Park College, Oxford Alumni of Christ's College, Cambridge Members of the University of Cambridge faculty of history