Will Hutton is an economist, author, think tank/academic leader and writer for the Observer for whom he writes a regular column. He is currently President of the Academy of Social Sciences (since 2021), hosts the We Society podcast and co-chairs the Purposeful Company (since 2015) - a business think tank which argues that companies’ intrinsic purpose should hard-headedly drive their strategy, values and ultimately profit. (See www.thepurposefulcompany.org). He also chairs the advisory board of the Fairness Foundation, is trustee of the National Institute for Economic and Social Research, a member of the Progressive Economic Forum and editorial advisory board of Prospect magazine.

His now fifty-year career spans a period in the City as an investment banker, the Economics editorship of the Guardian and BBC2 Newsnight, the editorship of the Observer, the chief executive of the Work Foundation and Principal of Hertford College Oxford. Along the way he has chaired two government Commissions, won awards both for his journalism and as a thought leader in Human Resources.

He has written seven major books on political economy including 1995’s The State We’re In that became the best-selling political economy book since 1945. Other best-selling books include The Writing on the Wall (2007), the World We’re In (2002), Them and Us (2010), and How Good We Can Be (2015). This Time No Mistakes: How to Remake Britain was published in April 2024, cited in the FT as one of the must-read Economics books of this summer and endorsed by the Prime Minister.