Paul Collier

Academic career Collier is Professor of Economics and Public Policy at the Blavatnik School of Government at the University of Oxford and co-director of the International Growth Centre. 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; urbanisation in low-income countries; private investment in African infrastructure and changing organisational cultures.

He has authored numerous books, many of which earned widespread recognition. Of note are The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries are Failing and What Can Be Done About It (2007), The Plundered Planet: Why We Must, and How We Can, Manage Nature for Global Prosperity, (2010), and The Future of Capitalism: Facing the New Anxieties (2018). His most recent book, Left Behind: A New Economics for Neglected Places was published in June 2024.

Collier currently serves on the advisory board of Academics Stand Against Poverty (ASAP).

Honours Collier has received a number of prestigious awards during his career. He was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2008 Birthday Honours and was knighted in the 2014 New Year Honours for services to promoting research and policy change in Africa.

In November 2014, Collier was awarded the President's Medal by the British Academy, for "his pioneering contribution in bringing ideas from research in to policy within the field of African economics." In July 2017, Collier was elected a Fellow of the British Academy (FBA), the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and social sciences.

He was a Silver winner in the 2025 Axiom Business Book Awards in the Economics category for his latest book, Left Behind. He has also been awarded the Adam Smith Prize by Glasgow's Philosophical Society (2023), the Citizenship Award by P&V Foundation in Belgium (2017), Richardson Lifetime Achievement Award (2016), A.SK Prize in Social Science (2013), Estoril Prize (2009), Corine Prize (2008), Lionel Gelber Prize (2008), Arthur Ross Prize (2008), and Thompson 'Current Classic' Award for the most cited article (2010).

He was given an Honorary Fellowship at Trinity College, Oxford, in 2010 and honorary doctorate degrees from Universite d'Auvergne (2007), University of Sheffield (2008), and University of Antwerp (2014).

Work Books Labour and Poverty in Rural Tanzania: Ujamaa and Rural Development in the United Republic of Tanzania, Oxford University Press, New York, 1991 . The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries are Failing and What Can Be Done About It, Oxford University Press, 2007 . Wars, Guns and Votes: Democracy in Dangerous Places, Harper, March 2009 . The Plundered Planet: Why We Must, and How We Can, Manage Nature for Global Prosperity, Oxford University Press, 2010 . Plundered Nations?: Successes and Failures in Natural Resource Extraction co-edited with Anthony J. Venables, Palgrave Macmillan UK, 2011 . Exodus: How Migration is Changing Our World, Oxford University Press, October 2013 . Refuge: Rethinking Refugee Policy in a Changing World with Alexander Betts, Oxford University Press, September 2017 . The Future of Capitalism: Facing the New Anxieties, Allen Lane, April 2018 . Greed Is Dead: Politics After Individualism with John Kay, Allen Lane, July 2020 Left Behind: A New Economics for Neglected Places, Allen Lane, June 2024 ISBN 9780241279168.

Selected articles (with Anke Hoeffler) 'On economic causes of civil war' Oxford Economic Papers, vol 50 issue 4, 1998, pp. 563–573. (with V. L. Elliott, Håvard Hegre, Anke Hoeffler, Marta Reynal-Querol, Nicholas Sambanis) 'Breaking the Conflict Trap: Civil War and Development Policy' "World Bank Policy Research Report," 2003. (with Anke Hoeffler) 'Greed and grievance in civil war' Oxford Economic Papers, vol 56 issue 4, 2004, pp. 563–595. (with Lisa Chauvet and Haavard Hegre) 'The Security Challenge in Conflict-Prone Countries', Copenhagen Consensus 2008 Challenge Paper, 2008.

Video The Royal Economic Society's 2006 Annual Public Lecture, by Collier at the (Royal Economic Society) Interview with Fareed Zakaria on Foreign Exchange TED Conference, Paul Collier on "The Bottom Billion" TED Conference, Paul Collier's new rules for rebuilding a broken nation Why social science should integrate culture and how to do it?, at the Blavatnik School of Government, Oxford University, January 2017 Rethinking Development with Sir Paul Collier | Oxford Society for International Development, February 2025

Press Review of The Plundered Planet by the Financial Times Review of the Bottom Billion by the Financial Times Review of the Bottom Billion in The New York Times Samuel Grove, "The Bottom of the Barrel: A Review of Paul Collier's The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries Are Failing and What Can Be Done about It."