Professor Ben Fine

Professor Fine is an emeritus professor at Department of Economics of SOAS. 

Professor Fine joined SOAS from Birkbeck in 1992 and retired in 2018. He has supervised over fifty PhD students to completion and continues to supervise PhD students. He has (co)authored or (co)edited over thirty books and published over three hundred articles covering a wide range of economic theory, economic and social policy, development economics, political economy, and the history of economic thought, with a strong intellectual commitment to interdisciplinarity. Different books were awarded the Gunnar Myrdal and Deutscher Prizes in 2009.

Professor Fine was a founding member of the Social Science Research Committee of the UK's Food Standards Agency for ten years, during which he chaired the Working Group on Reform of Slaughterhouse Controls. He served as an expert witness at the Sizewell B Nuclear Power Inquiry and was one of four international expert advisors on President Mandela's 1995/96 South African Labour Market Commission. In the past, he held the position of Research Editor at the Industry and Employment Branch of the Greater London Council and provided advisory services to progressive organizations such as UNDP, UNRISD, UNDESA, UNCTAD, OXFAM, as well as trade unions and civil society entities. He also served as an economic advisor to the UK's NUM in its successful claim to the Employment Tribunal for equal pay for female surface workers. Additionally, he was the founding Chair of the International Initiative for Promoting Political Economy (iippe.org) until 2023.

Currently, Professor Fine is in the process of preparing a series of books titled "Critical Reconstructions of Political Economy." These books aim to reproduce his main contributions in specific areas of study, accompanied by commentary on ongoing developments and their impact. The first three volumes, focused on economics imperialism, are scheduled for publication in 2023/2024. They include titles such as "Economics Imperialism and Interdisciplinarity: Before the Watershed," "Economics Imperialism and Interdisciplinarity: The Watershed and After," and "Cliometrics as Economics Imperialism: Across the Watershed." Future volumes of the series will cover diverse topics such as development economics/studies, mainstream economics, heterodox economics, Marxist political economy, neoliberalism, South Africa, and policy in principle and practice.

South Africa, Heterodox Economics, History of Economic Thought, Financialisation, Social Policy, Consumption, Social Capital.