Professor Ian Goldin
Professor of Globalisation and Development, Oxford Martin School; Fellow, Balliol College
About
Professor Ian Goldin is Oxford University Professor of Globalisation and Development and the founding Director of the Oxford Martin School, the world’s leading centre for interdisciplinary research into critical global challenges, where he started 45 research programmes including over 400 academics. Professor Goldin leads research groups on Technological and Economic Change, Future of Work and Future of Development. He is a Professorial Fellow at Oxford University’s Balliol College, where he serves on the governing body, investment, development and ethics committees.
Professor Goldin is an advisor to a wide range of businesses, governments and international agencies and has been a non-executive director of six leading Fortune 100 firms, serving as the Senior Independent Director on CDC (now British International Investment), and as chair of key committees.
Previously, Professor Goldin was World Bank Vice President and the Group’s Director of Policy, and served on the World Bank Executive and other key committees. Before joining the World Bank he was Chief Executive of the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) and Economic Advisor to President Nelson Mandela, accompanying President Mandela on all major international engagements. He succeeded in transforming the DBSA from an apartheid institution to the leading provider of finance for infrastructure in the 14 countries of Southern Africa, including over 500 municipalities. His previous positions include as Principal Economist at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and Programme Director of the Trade and Environment Programmes at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
Professor Goldin has a BA (Hons) and BSc from the University of Cape Town, an MSc from the London School of Economics, an AMP from INSEAD and an MA and Doctorate from the University of Oxford. He has published over 50 academic papers, including Why is Productivity Slowing Down? in the Journal of Economic Literature.
The most recent of Professor Goldin’s 25 books are Age of the City and The Shortest History of Migration. His previous books include: Rescue: From Global Crisis to a Better World; Terra Incognita: 100 Maps to Survive the Next 100 Years; Age of Discovery: Navigating the Storms of our Second Renaissance; The Butterfly Defect: How globalisation creates systemic risks and what to do about them; The Pursuit of Development: Economic Growth, Social Change and Ideas; Exceptional People: How Migration Shaped Our World and Will Define our Future; and Is the Planet Full?.
Professor Goldin is a well known media commentator and a regular guest on leading TV programmes globally. He has written and presented three BBC series: After the Crash, Will AI Kill Development and The Pandemic that Changed the World and the BBC 'Analysis' programme The Death of Globalisation?.
Professor Goldin was knighted by the French Government for his services to development and is Chair of the core-econ.org initiative to transform economics, a founding Director of the Center for Future Generations, a member of the International Science Council and an honorary trustee of Comic Relief and other charities.
Expertise
- Globalisation
- Globalisation and systemic risk
- Migration
- Governance, particularly the need to break away from short-term decision-making and reporting in order to make progress on some of the world's toughest challenges
- International development
- New approaches to research, specifically the need for inter-disciplinary research to tackle the biggest challenges of the 21st century
Selected publications
- Why is Productivity Slowing Down (Journal of Economic Literature, 2024)
- Age of the City: Why our Future will be Won or Lost Together (Bloomsbury, 2023)
- Age of Discovery: Navigating the Storms of Our Second Renaissance (Revised Edition, 2017)
- Is The Planet Full? (2014)
- The Butterfly Defect: How Globalization Creates Systemic Risks, and What to Do About It (2014)
- Divided Nations: Why Global Governance is Failing, and What We Can Do About It (2013)
- Exceptional People: How Migration Shaped Our World and Will Define Our Future (2012)
Media experience
Professor Goldin has extensive media experience across print and broadcast and in both the UK and international media.
Recent media work
- Tariffs, Trade & Globalization with Ian Goldin & James Fraser (Talks of the Trade, Ep. 3, J.P. Morgan, 2025)
- An Oxford professor on how robots will change work, politics, and the global economy (Business Insider, 2017)
- Donald Trump: History told us not to ignore how furious people are at the elite (International Business Times, 2016)
- The Next Phase In Migrant Crisis: Helping The Newly Settled Land Jobs (All Things Considered, 2015)
- Why welcoming more refugees makes economic sense for Europe (New Scientist, 2015)