Ha-Joon Chang to join SOAS as distinguished professor

Ha-Joon Chang is set to join SOAS as a distinguished research professor, after 26 years at the University of Cambridge.

The economist takes up one of five new posts for senior academics established by SOAS in November last year to address global challenges as framed by the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Ha-Joon Chang is most well known for his contributions to the fields of development economics, political economy, and institutional economics. He is the author of widely discussed policy books, including: Kicking Away the Ladder: Development Strategy in Historical Perspective (2002), and a number of bestselling books for the general public, including 23 Things They Don’t Tell You About Capitalism and Economics: The User’s Guide.

He is a winner of the Wassily Leontief Prize and the Gunnar Myrdal Prize, and has served as a consultant to numerous international agencies, civil society organizations, and national governments. He has taught economics at Cambridge since 1990, and in 2005 became a reader in the political economy of development.

Commenting on the appointment on Twitter, SOAS Professor of Political Economy of Development Christopher Cramer said: “I am so delighted we can now say out loud that Ha-Joon Chang is joining SOAS. About time too I say and it will be fun to have an old friend closer at hand to collaborate with on some new initiatives.”

Announcing the creation of the new distinguished research professor posts in late 2021, SOAS said they are intended to boost the institution’s contribution towards addressing the SDGs through the perspectives of the people of Africa, Asia and the Middle East.