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 The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...

(LSE). He is also a commissioner on the

National Infrastructure Commission The National Infrastructure Commission was an executive agency responsible for providing expert advice to the UK Government on infrastructure challenges facing the UK, between 2015 and April 2025, when it was superseded by the National Infra ...

, a Quondam Fellow of

All Souls College, Oxford All Souls College (official name: The College of All Souls of the Faithful Departed, of Oxford) 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 me ...

since 2018, and has been the director of the Suntory and Toyota International Centres for Economic and Related Disciplines (STICERD) at the LSE. He has served as president of the

European Economic Association The European Economic Association (EEA) is a learned society, 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

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 ...

and the

Econometric Society The Econometric Society is an international society of academic economists interested in applying statistical tools in the practice of econometrics. It is an independent organization with no connections to societies of professional mathematicians o ...

. He has been an editor of the ''

American Economic Review The ''American Economic Review'' is a monthly peer-reviewed academic journal first published by the American Economic Association in 1911. The current editor-in-chief is Erzo FP Luttmer, a professor of economics at Dartmouth College. The journal is ...

'' and is a

co-editor Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written language, written, Image editing, visual, Audio engineer, audible, or Film editing, cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing p ...

of the ''

Annual Review of Economics The ''Annual Review of Economics'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal that publishes an annual volume of review articles relevant to economics. It was established in 2009 and is published by Annual Reviews. The co-editors are Philippe Aghion an ...

.'' From 2006 to 2009 he was an external member of the Bank of England's

Monetary Policy Committee The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is a committee of the Bank of England, which meets for three and a half days, eight times a year, to decide the official interest rate in the United Kingdom (the Bank of England Base Rate). It is also respo ...

. Besley has 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 * (1903–1956), Finnish poet * Yrjö Kilpinen (1892–1959), Finnish composer * Yrj ...

and the 2022

BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award The BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Awards () are an international award programme recognizing significant contributions in the areas of scientific research and cultural creation. The categories that make up the Frontiers of Knowledge Awards ...

among others.

Early life and education

Born in

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...

, Sir Tim Besley attended

Aylesbury Grammar School Aylesbury Grammar School is an 11–18 boys grammar school in Aylesbury, in the England, English county of Buckinghamshire, which educates approximately 1300 boys. Founded in 1598 by Sir Henry Lee, Champion of Queen Elizabeth I, Aylesbury Gramm ...

and then studied at

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a 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 second-oldest continuously operating u ...

, where he gained a BA in

Philosophy, Politics, and Economics Philosophy, politics and economics, or politics, philosophy and economics (PPE), is an interdisciplinary undergraduate or postgraduate degree which combines study from three disciplines. The first institution to offer degrees in PPE was the Unive ...

(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: The College of All Souls of the Faithful Departed, of Oxford) 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 me ...

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 The Princeton School of Public and International Affairs (''abbrev.'' SPIA; formerly the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs) is a professional public policy school at Princeton University. The school provides an array of c ...

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

. He returned to the UK in 1995, becoming a Professor of Economics in the Department of Economics at

LSE LSE may refer to: Education * London School of Economics, a public research university within the University of London * Lahore School of Economics, a private university in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan * Lincoln Southeast High School, a public gove ...

(1995-1997). He was a Professor of Economics and Political Science (1997-2007), followed by named professorships: as Kuwait Professor of Economics and Political Science (2007-2011), School Professor of Economics and Political Science (2012-ongoing), and W. Arthur Lewis Professor of Development Economics (2015-ongoing). Besley served as the deputy director (1997-2000) and director (2000-2011) of the Suntory-Toyota International Centres for Economics and Related Disciplines (STICERD), being succeeded by

Oriana Bandiera Oriana Bandiera, FBA (born 26 August 1971) is an Italian development economist and academic, who is currently the Sir Anthony Atkinson Professor of Economics at the London School of Economics. Her research focuses on development, labour, and ...

in 2012. He has been a member of the Steering Group for the

International Growth Centre The International Growth Centre (IGC) is an economic research centre based at the London School of Economics, operated in partnership with University of Oxford's Blavatnik School of Government. The centre was launched in December 2008 and is fun ...

(IGC), a co-chair of the LSE Growth Commission and an academic director of IGC's Commission on State Fragility, Growth and Development. 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. It aims to enhance the quality of policy decisions through providing policy-relevant research, based soundly in economic schola ...

, and a former member of the Institutions, Organizations and Growth Programme of the

Canadian Institute for Advanced Research The Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR) is a Canadian-based global research organization that brings together teams of top researchers from around the world to address important and complex questions. It was founded in 1982 and is su ...

(CIFAR). He is a past research fellow of the

Institute for Fiscal Studies The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) is an independent 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 ...

and was a member of the committee for the Mirrlees Review of the tax system. He was a member of the

(NIC). When the NIC was superseded by the

National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority The National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority (NISTA), established in April 2025, is a public agency advising the UK Government on infrastructure delivery and improvement. It combines the functions of the former National Infr ...

(NISTA) in April 2025, Besley was appointed to the NISTA Council of Expert Advisors. Besley 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 Kingdom of England, English Government's banker and debt manager, and still one ...

from September 2006 to August 2009. 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 Grant (money), grants to the governments of Least developed countries, low- and Developing country, middle-income countries for the purposes of economic development ...

and to the

European Bank for Reconstruction and Development The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, shortened to EBRD ( French: ''Banque européenne pour la reconstruction et le développement'' or ''BERD''), is an international financial institution founded in 1991 in Paris. As a multilat ...

. 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 funded by 191 member countries, with headquarters in Washington, D.C. It is regarded as the global lender of las ...

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

Mari Pangestu Mari Elka Pangestu (: hokkien: Phang Hoei Lan; born 23 October 1956), who is currently serving as the Indonesian President's Special Advisor for International Trade and Multilateral Cooperation, appointed by President Prabowo Subianto on 21 O ...

, Ceyla Pazarbasioglu, and

Nicholas Stern Nicholas Herbert Stern, Baron Stern of Brentford, (born 22 April 1946), 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 Climate Change and ...

Research

Besley's research deals primarily with

development economics Development economics is a branch of economics that deals with economic aspects of the development process in low- and middle- income countries. Its focus is not only on methods of promoting economic development, economic growth and structural c ...

public economics Public economics ''(or economics of the public sector)'' is the study of government policy through the lens of economic efficiency and Equity (economics), equity. Public economics builds on the theory of welfare economics and is ultimately used as ...

and

political economy Political or comparative economy is a branch of political science and economics studying economic systems (e.g. Marketplace, markets and national economies) and their governance by political systems (e.g. law, institutions, and government). Wi ...

, often with a policy focus. He studies economic policy formation in developed and emerging market economies. He has been a major influence in the development of "

New Keynesian New Keynesian economics is a school of macroeconomics that strives to provide microeconomic foundations for Keynesian economics. It developed partly as a response to criticisms of Keynesian macroeconomics by adherents of new classical macroe ...

" macroeconomics and in bringing the study of political economy back into mainstream economics. Besley was the 2010 president of the

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

. In 2018, he was president of the

. From 1999–2004 he was a co-editor of ''

'' – the first person to serve in this position not based at a US university. As of 2025, he became a

of the ''

.'' 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 Anne Catherine Case, Lady Deaton, (born July 27, 1958) is an American economist who is the Alexander Stewart 1886 Professor of Economics and Public Affairs, emeritus, at Princeton University. Early life and career Case graduated with a Bachelo ...

). 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), 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. * "The Political Economics of Green Transitions", (with

) Quarterly Journal of Economics, 138 (3), 1863-1906, 2023.

Honours and awards

Sir Tim Besley is a

Fellow of the British Academy Fellowship of the British Academy (post-nominal letters 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 t ...

, and a fellow of the

(2000). He is a foreign honorary member of the

American Economic Association The American Economic Association (AEA) is a learned society in the field of economics, with approximately 23,000 members. It publishes several peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Review, an ...

(2007) and the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) 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, and other ...

(2011). In 2005, he won the

along with

Jordi Galí Jordi Galí (born January 4, 1961) is a Spanish macroeconomist who is regarded as one of the main figures in New Keynesian macroeconomics today. He is a Senior Researcher at the Centre de Recerca en Economia Internacional (CREI), a Professor at ...

'for their landmark contributions in development economics, public economics, and political economy, and for the development of the "

" macroeconomics.'. He was awarded the 2010

John von Neumann Award The John von Neumann Award (), 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 substantial influence ove ...

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 valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(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 Order of chivalry, orders of chivalry; it is a part of the Orders, decorations, and medals ...

in the

2018 New Year Honours The 2018 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to Orders and decorations of the Commonwealth realms, various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Hono ...

for services to Economics and Public Policy. For 2022 he was awarded the

Personal life

Besley married political economist Gillian Paull in 1993; the couple has two sons. He lives in

Barnes Barnes may refer to: People *Barnes (name), a family name and a given name (includes lists of people with that name) Places United Kingdom * Barnes, London, England ** Barnes railway station **Barnes Bridge railway station ** Barnes High Stree ...

, in the

London Borough of Richmond upon Thames The London Borough of Richmond upon Thames () in south-west Greater London, London, England, forms part of Outer London and is the only London boroughs, London borough on both sides of the River Thames. It was created in 1965 when three smaller ...

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 Annual Reviews (publisher) editors