Tim Besley

School Professor of Economics and Political Science and W Arthur Lewis Professor of Development Economics, and Teaching at SPP

Expertise: public economics, development economics, political economics

Telephone:

+44 (0)20 7955 6702

Email:

t.besley@lse.ac.uk

Room:

SAL 3.37

Assistant:

Irina Zaraisky

Email:

i.zaraisky@lse.ac.uk

Connect:

Website

Links:

Economics of Environment and Energy
Development
Political Science and Political Economy
Psychology and Economics
Beveridge 2.0
Hayek Programme in Economics and Liberal Political Economy
Cohesive Capitalism
Department of Economics

Biography

Professor Sir Tim Besley is School Professor of Economics and Political Science and W. Arthur Lewis Professor of Development Economics in the Department of Economics at LSE. He is director of the Cohesive Capitalism programme at STICERD. He is also a member of the National Infrastructure Commission. He is a Fellow of the Econometric Society and British Academy and a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Economic Association and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is a past president of the Royal Economics Society. His main research interests are in political economy and development.

Tim Besley's current research interests are:

Public Economics
Development Economics
Political Economics

Latest

Upcoming: Political Economy Research Seminar

TBC

17 March 2026

Tim Besley (LSE)

TBC... Read more...

Cohesive Capitalism Event

Five Principles for a New Economic Consensus

03 December 2024

Tim Besley (LSE), Andres Velasco (LSE School of Public Policy)

External reports

Labour Economics: Thinking through Labour's economic agenda

22 April 2024

Timothy Besley, Aveek Bhattacharya, Jagjit Chadha, Paul Cheshire, Neil Lee, Alan Manning, Andrew McNeil, Margarida Bandeira Morais, Henry G. Overman, David Soskice, Anna Valero, Giles Wilkes and Alison Wolf

With the Labour Party having vowed to achieve the fastest growth in the G7, the Social Market Foundation has brought together leading economic experts to provide independent analysis of the party's proposed approach - an... Read more...

Blog

Why political trust and voluntary compliance have been key to government pandemic responsiveness in Europe

13 January 2023

Timothy Besley and Chris Dann

The effectiveness of policy responses to Covid-19 has varied substantially across Europe. Drawing on new research, Timothy Besley and Christopher Dann illustrate how political trust and voluntary compliance have underpin... Read more...

Blog

State effectiveness and the climate crisis

12 May 2022

Timothy Besley

Combatting the climate crisis is not just an issue of finding money for the right kinds of investment but also ensuring that it is spent effectively, says economist Tim Besley.... Read more...

Blog

Motivated science and green innovation (podcast)

01 April 2022

Timothy Besley

Scientists create innovation. Is this because they are paid to do it, or because they care about the outcome? Tim Besley tells Tim Phillips how motivated science drives down the cost of innovation and may accelerate the ... Read more...

Blog

How might an independent Scotland build fiscal capacity?

28 January 2022

Timothy Besley and Chris Dann

Tim Besley and Chris Dann explain how developing a sense of common purpose is critical for nation-building - and would be a key issue for an independent Scotland.... Read more...

A discussion about the role of social values and the political economy of climate change

25 November 2021

Tim Besley (LSE)

Blog

Bureaucracy and development

08 November 2021

Timothy Besley, Robin Burgess, Jonathan Old, Adnan Qadir Khan and Guo Xu

How does bureaucracy matter for development? Over the last years, an enormous interest in this question has created a large body of research, mostly focused around evidence from field experiments and micro-level administ... Read more...

Blog

A sense of mutual obligation means that even the rich should see the point of paying their taxes

01 October 2021

Timothy Besley

Creating a strong sense of reciprocity between the state and its citizens makes it more likely they will pay taxes willingly, says Timothy Besley (LSE). As we emerge from a pandemic that emphasised the importance of mutu... Read more...

Journal article

Formulating Industrial Policy

01 November 2019

Timothy Besley and Richard Davies

Alongside the challenge of maintaining economic competitiveness in the face of great uncertainty, Brexit brings an opportunity for the government to set out a new industrial strategy. The case for doing so rests on the n... Read more...

STICERD Public Events and Lectures

Foundations of State Effectiveness

13 March 2019

Tim Besley (LSE)

Hosted by the Amartya Sen lecture series, STICERD and the International Inequalities Institute. An effective state promotes freedom and the well-being of its citizens. This lecture will discuss the importance of norms,... Read more...

Related Events

Sir William Arthur Lewis Chair in Development Economics Inaugural Lecture: Political Economy and Development: a Progress Report

10 February 2016

Tim Besley (LSE)

*Department of Economics Inaugural Lecture*: Professor Besley gives his inaugural lecture as Sir William Arthur Lewis Chair in Development Economics. A major change in mainstream thinking in economics over the past 25 ye... Read more...

CEP Public Events

New Economy Manchester Event

14 May 2013

Tim Besley (LSE)

Professor Tim Besley will present the findings of the LSE Growth Commission Report at New Economy Manchester on 14th May 2013 . New Economy Manchester is one of the six Association of Manchester Authorities (AGMA) commis... Read more...