Arkebe Oqubay (PhD) is a senior minister and special adviser to the prime minister of Ethiopia and has been at the centre of policymaking for over twenty-five years. He is the former mayor of Addis Ababa, winner of the Best African Mayor of 2005 and finalist in the World Mayor Award 2005, for his work transforming the city. He is a recipient of the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star, presented by the Emperor of Japan. He currently serves as board chair of several leading public organizations and international advisory boards. He is an ODI Distinguished Fellow and a research associate at the Centre of African Studies in the University of London, and holds a PhD in development studies from SOAS, University of London. His recent works include the path-breaking Made in Africa: Industrial Policy in Ethiopia (OUP, 2015); The Oxford Handbook of the Ethiopian Economy (OUP, 2019); How Nations Learn: Technological Learning, Industrial Policy, and Catch-up (OUP, 2019); China‒Africa and an Economic Transformation (OUP, 2019); African Economic Development: Evidence, Theory, and Policy (OUP, 2020); and The Oxford Handbook of Industrial Hubs and Economic Development (OUP, 2020). He was recognized as one of the 100 Most Influential Africans of 2016, and a ‘leading thinker on Africa’s strategic development’ by the New African, for his work, both theoretical and practical, on industrial policies.

Christopher Cramer is professor of the political economy of development at SOAS, University of London. He is a vice-chair of the Royal Africa Society and chair of the Scientific Committee of the African Programme on Rethinking Development Economics (APORDE). His publications include Civil War Is Not A Stupid Thing: Accounting for Violence in Developing Countries (Hurst Publishers, 2006), African Economic Development: Evidence, Theory, and Policy (OUP, 2020) and The Oxford Handbook of the Ethiopian Economy (OUP, 2019, co-edited with Cheru and Oqubay). He led the research project Fairtrade, Employment, and Poverty Reduction in Ethiopia and Uganda.

Ha-Joon Chang teaches economics at the University of Cambridge. His main books include Kicking Away the Ladder (2002), Bad Samaritans (2007), 23 Things They Don’t Tell You about Capitalism (2011) and Economics: The User’s Guide (2014). His writing has been translated into forty-one languages in forty-four countries. Worldwide, his books have sold over 2 million copies. He is the winner of the 2003 Gunnar Myrdal Prize and the 2005 Wassily Leontief Prize.

Richard Kozul-Wright is director of the Globalisation and Development Strategies Division in UNCTAD. He has worked at the United Nations in both New York and Geneva. He holds a PhD in economics from the University of Cambridge. He has published widely on economic issues including, inter alia, in The Economic Journal, Cambridge Journal of Economics, The Journal of Development Studies, and Oxford Review of Economic Policy. He is the author of many books, including The Rise and Fall of Global Microcredit: Development, Debt and Disillusion (2018, with S. Blankenburg and M. Bateman), Securing Peace: State-Building and Economic Development in Post-Conflict Countries (2011, with P. Fortunato), Climate Protection and Development (2012, with Frank Ackerman) and The Resistible Rise of Market Fundamentalism (2008, with Paul Rayment). His edited volumes include Transnational Corporations and the Global Economy, Economic Insecurity and Development, Securing Peace, Climate Protection and Development, and Industrial Policy. He is a frequent contributor to newspapers worldwide on economic issues, including the Financial Times, The Guardian, and Project Syndicate.