Paul Collier

Professor of Economics and Director of the Centre for the Study of African Economies - Oxford University

Eminent Panel Member

Paul Collier is Professor of Economics and Director of the Centre for the Study of African Economies, Oxford University. He has previously served as Director of the Development Research Group at the World Bank. 

He is also a Professeur invité at CERDI, Université d’Auverge, and at Paris 1. In 2008 Professor Collier was awarded a CBE ‘for services to scholarship and development’.

Professor Collier is currently Advisor to the Strategy and Policy Department of the IMF, advisor to the Africa Region of the World Bank; and he has advised the British Government on its recent White Paper on economic development policy. His research covers the causes and consequences of civil war; the effects of aid and the problems of democracy in low-income and natural-resources rich societies.

He is the author of 'The Bottom Billion', which in 2008 won the Lionel Gelber, Arthur Ross and Corine prizes and in May 2009 was the joint winner of the Estoril Global Issues Distinguished Book prize. His second book, 'Wars, Guns and Votes: Democracy in Dangerous Places' was published in March 2009; and his latest book, 'The Plundered Planet: How to reconcile prosperity with nature' was published in May 2010.