Tim Besley

For the Australian engineer, businessman and public servant, see Tim Besley (public servant).

Sir
Tim Besley
CBE FBA
Tim Besley in 2022
Born (1960-09-14) 14 September 1960
Kesteven, Lincolnshire, England
Academic background
Alma materUniversity of Oxford
Doctoral advisorW.M. Gorman
InfluencesAmartya Sen
James Mirrlees
James M. Buchanan[1]
Academic work
DisciplinePolitical economics
InstitutionsLondon School of Economics
Princeton University
All Souls College, Oxford
Doctoral studentsRohini Pande
Dave Donaldson
Imran Rasul
Notable ideasCitizen-candidate model, Political Agency Models, Economics of State Capacity
AwardsYrjö Jahnsson Award (2005)
John von Neumann Award (2010)
BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award (2022)
Website

Sir Timothy John Besley, CBE, FBA (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 (LSE).[2]

He is also a commissioner on the National Infrastructure Commission,[3] a Quondam Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford since 2018,[4] and has been the director of the Suntory and Toyota International Centres for Economic and Related Disciplines (STICERD) at the LSE.[5] In 2018, he served as president of the Econometric Society, and from 2006 to 2009 he was an external member of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee. He won the 2005 Yrjö Jahnsson Award[6] and the 2022 BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award.[7][8] He has been an editor of the American Economic Review. As of 2025, he became a co-editor of the Annual Review of Economics[9].

Early life and education

Born in Lincolnshire,[10] Sir Tim Besley attended Aylesbury Grammar School and then studied at Oxford University,[11] where he gained a BA in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (PPE) with First Class Honours from Keble College, 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 in 1984.[12][1]

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. He returned to the UK in 1995, becoming a Professor of Economics in the Department of Economics at LSE (1995-1997).[12][1][4] 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-), and W. Arthur Lewis Professor of Development Economics (2015-).[4] 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 in 2012.[1][5] [13] He was a member of the Steering Group for the International Growth Centre.[14] He served on the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee from September 2006 to August 2009.[15]

Other activities

Besley is a research fellow of the Centre for Economic Policy Research,[16] and a former member of the Institutions, Organizations and Growth Programme of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR).[17] He is a past research fellow of the Institute for Fiscal Studies[18] and was a member of the committee for the Mirrlees Review of the tax system.[19] He is also a co-chair of the LSE Growth Commission[20] and a member of the National Infrastructure Commission.[15]

On the international level, Besley has served as a consultant to the World Bank[8][21] and to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.[22] In June 2021, he was appointed to the World Bank–International Monetary Fund High-Level Advisory Group (HLAG) on Sustainable and Inclusive Recovery and Growth, co-chaired by Mari Pangestu, Ceyla Pazarbasioglu, and Nicholas Stern.[23]

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).
  • "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), 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), American Economic Review, 95(3), 616–636, 2005.
  • "The Origins of State Capacity: Property Rights, Taxation and Politics", (with Torsten Persson) American Economic Review, 99(4), 1218–44, 2009.
  • "The Logic of Political Violence", (with Torsten Persson) 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 Torsten Persson) Quarterly Journal of Economics, 138 (3), 1863-1906, 2023.

Honours and awards

Sir Tim Besley is a Fellow of the British Academy,[24] and a fellow of the Econometric Society (2000).[25] He is a foreign honorary member of the American Economic Association (2007)[26] and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2011).[27] From 1999–2004 he was a co-editor of American Economic Review[28] – the first person to serve in this position not based at a US university.[1] He is the 2010 president of the European Economic Association. From 2014 to 2017, he served as president of the International Economic Association. In 2018, he began serving as president of the Econometric Society. In 2005, he won the Yrjö Jahnsson Award for European economics and was awarded the 2010 John von Neumann Award by the Rajk László College for Advanced Studies at Corvinus University of Budapest.[29] Besley was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2010 Birthday Honours for services to Social Science, and a Knight Bachelor in the 2018 New Year Honours for services to Economics and Public Policy.[30][31] For 2022 he was awarded the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award.[32]

Personal life

Besley married political economist Gillian Paull in 1993; the couple has two sons.[12] He lives in Barnes, Richmond upon Thames in London.[33]

Works

  • Principled agents?: the political economy of good government, Oxford University Press, 2006, ISBN 978-0-19-927150-4
  • Delivering on the promise of pro-poor growth: insights and lessons from country experiences, Editors Timothy Besley, Louise Cord, World Bank Publications, 2007, ISBN 978-0-8213-6515-1

References

  1. ^ a b c d e "32 Faculty Profile: Tim Besley" (PDF). Economics Review. Vol. 2012–2013. 2013. pp. 2–5. Retrieved 14 July 2025.
  2. ^ "Tim Besley". London School of Economics and Political Science. Retrieved 14 July 2025.
  3. ^ "Politicians can't hide behind scientists forever even in a pandemic". One Year On: Lessons Learnt and ‘New Normals’ in a Post-COVID World: G7-G20-B20- COP GLOBAL BRIEFING REPORTS REVIEW. Group of Nations. Retrieved 14 July 2025.
  4. ^ a b c "Professor Sir Timothy Besley | All Souls College". All Souls College, University of Oxford. Retrieved 14 July 2025.
  5. ^ a b "Envisioning an economy that works for all". London School of Economics and Political Science. 10 January 2024. Retrieved 14 July 2025.
  6. ^ "State Fragility, Growth and Development, Tim Besley, London School of Economics". Princeton School of Public and International Affairs. 14 July 2025. Retrieved 14 July 2025.
  7. ^ "Besley, Persson y Tabellini win the Fronteers Award for illuminating the connections between the economic and political worlds". NEWS BBVA. 2 March 2023. Retrieved 14 July 2025.
  8. ^ a b "Timothy Besley, 15th Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Economics, Finance and Management". Premios Fronteras. Retrieved 14 July 2025.
  9. ^ "Annual Review of Economics, Planning Editorial Committee - Volume 17, 2025". Annual Reviews. Retrieved 14 July 2025.
  10. ^ "Index entry". FreeBMD. ONS. Retrieved 30 December 2017.
  11. ^ "Old Aylesburian Sir Tim Besley Phillips '79". Aylesbury Grammar School. 10 January 2018. Retrieved 14 July 2025.
  12. ^ a b c "House of Commons Treasury Committee The Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England: appointment hearings for Professor Tim Belsey and Dr Andrew Sentance Eleventh Report of Session 2005–06 Volume II Oral and written evidence Ordered by The House of Commons to be printed 12 October 2006" (PDF). House of Commons. Retrieved 14 July 2025.
  13. ^ "11 Appointments 2011-12" (PDF). Economics Review 2011-2012. Vol. 2011–2012. 2012. p. 11. Retrieved 14 July 2025.
  14. ^ "International Growth Centre gets £51 million investment | Blavatnik School of Government". Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford. 25 March 2013. Retrieved 14 July 2025.
  15. ^ a b "Tim Besley". CEPR. 5 July 2025. Retrieved 14 July 2025.
  16. ^ "Tim Besley". Fragility council. Retrieved 14 July 2025.
  17. ^ "Timothy Besley". CIFAR.
  18. ^ "Tim Besley". Institute for Fiscal Studies. Retrieved 14 July 2025.
  19. ^ Adam, Stuart; Besley, Tim; Blundell, Richard; Bond, Stephen; Chote, Robert; Gammie, Malcolm; Myles, Gareth; Director, Paul Johnson-Former; Poterba, James M.; Mirrlees, James (14 September 2011). "Mirrlees Review of tax system published". Institute for Fiscal Studies. Retrieved 14 July 2025.
  20. ^ "Our work | LSE Growth Commission | LSE Growth Commission People". Centre for Economic Performance. Retrieved 14 July 2025.
  21. ^ "Browsing by Author, starting with "Besley, Timothy"". Open Knowledge Repository, World Bank. Retrieved 14 July 2025.
  22. ^ "Transition and transition impact: a review of the concept and implications for the EBRD | Request PDF". ResearchGate. Retrieved 14 July 2025.
  23. ^ World Bank, IMF Launch High-Level Advisory Group on Sustainable and Inclusive Recovery and Growth International Monetary Fund, press release of 15 June 2021.
  24. ^ "Professor Sir Tim Besley FBA". The British Academy. Retrieved 14 July 2025.
  25. ^ "2000 Election of Fellows to the Econometric Society". Econometrica. 69 (3): 803–807. May 2001. doi:10.1111/1468-0262.00219.
  26. ^ "Foreign Honorary Members". American Economic Association. Retrieved 14 July 2025.
  27. ^ "Timothy J. Besley". American Academy of Arts and Sciences. 26 April 2025. Retrieved 14 July 2025.
  28. ^ "Editors of the American Economic Review". American Economic Association. Retrieved 14 July 2025.
  29. ^ Sanchari (17 February 2010). "EOPP Blog: Tim Besley receives the John von Neumann Award 2010".
  30. ^ "No. 59446". The London Gazette (Supplement). 12 June 2010. p. 7.
  31. ^ "No. 62150". The London Gazette (Supplement). 30 December 2017. p. N2.
  32. ^ BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award 2022
  33. ^ "Timothy BESLEY personal appointments - Find and update company information - GOV.UK". GOV.UK. Retrieved 14 July 2025.
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