Soumaya Keynes

Soumaya Anne Keynes (born 31 July 1989) is a British economist and journalist and current columnist at the Financial Times.

In addition to her work as a columnist for the FT, she started hosting a new podcast for them in May 2024, on economic matters.

Before joining the Financial Times, she worked for eight years as the Britain economics editor at The Economist magazine. She co-hosted The Economist'''s Money Talks podcast, and co-founded and co-hosted Trade Talks, a podcast covering economic trade, from 2017-2021. Her work at The Economist was focused on the US economy and the trade policies of Donald Trump's first presidency. Her career in economic research began as a policy adviser for Her Majesty's Treasury in London, looking at banking and credit. Afterward, she worked at the Institute for Fiscal Studies, focusing on pensions and public finances.

Early life and family Soumaya Keynes was born in Britain on 31 July 1989, to Zelfa Hourani and conservationist Randal Keynes.

On her paternal side, she is the great-great-niece of John Maynard Keynes, a British economist who had a large impact on macroeconomic theory and policy. Keynes herself says it is partially because of this relationship that she initially avoided macro-economics in her studies, focusing instead on microeconomics. She completed a Bachelor of Arts in Economics in 2010 (1st Class) and a MPhil Economics in 2011. Her work with the Institute covered economic reforms to the UK's state pension, the UK Government's fiscal policies, economic analyses of health variations in the UK and US, and a variety of other topics. Throughout her research papers she aimed to tell a story, moving from previous literature into how her work will either change what was previously thought, or expand upon what was previously thought. Her final report with the Institute for Fiscal Studies was published on May 22, 2015.

The Economist Keynes joined The Economist in June 2015. She began by writing the Free Exchange column, which provides a literature review of recent papers in economics. Recently she has covered the impacts of trade disputes such as the need for firms to reduce investments, its effect on consumers, and the changes to America's relationship with countries around the world.

Keynes has been on The Economist radio podcast Money Talks multiple times. Much of her work on the podcast is in the same areas as her writing, focused on trade and the Donald Trump presidency. She has also done episodes in a similar vein to her previous work with the Institute for Fiscal Studies, examining the impact of economic research on public policy.

During her work with The Economist she has expressed multiple personal opinions on the material she covers. She has repeatedly stated that she feels Trump is damaging the economy through acting in an unpredictable manner. Keynes supports a rules based system for international trade, through bodies like the World Trade Organization, to resolve any discrepancies and disputes between countries.

Keynes' work, during her time with The Economist, is not restricted to solely their events and publications. She has written for a variety of newspapers and magazines, such as Prospect magazine. She has hosted and chaired events, such as the 2019 World Trade Symposium in New York, and participated as a panel member for a variety of panels. She is a Poynter fellow at Yale University, where she has talked on Trump's trade policy.

Trade Talks Podcast Keynes co-hosts the podcast Trade Talks with Chad Bown, an economist at The Peterson Institute for International Economics. The podcast began in 2017 and covers the intricacies of international trade policy from the perspective of two economists. They have covered topics such as the Trump Administration's legal battles with the World Trade Organization, the North American Free Trade Agreement, and the impact of tariffs on washing machines. Examples include Caroline Freund of the World Bank and Peter Van den Bossche of the World Trade Institute at the University of Bern.

Select scholarship and works

Single-Tier Pension: What Does it Really Mean? Working alongside Rowena Crawford and Gemma Tetlow, Keynes investigated the impact of the newest reforms to the UK pension system in 2013. The pension would pay only one amount, £144, per week, meaning that high income earners, who contribute more, would get the same pension as low income earners. The paper analyzed both the short and long-run impacts of this change as well as the winners and losers of the change.

By comparing people's income under the previous system to their income under the new system, the paper found that in the short run there would be some winners. Low income earners in the bottom quintile would see an average rise in weekly pension income of £3.97. These findings differed dramatically from the numbers published by the Department for Work and Pensions in 2015, which stated that 70% of men and 75% of women would benefit from the single-tier pension. The largest losers, however, would be young people and high income earners. A high-income earner working for 35 years would lose up to £2,300 in pension under the new system, compared to the old system. The research examined the fiscal spending and borrowing plans of each of the United Kingdom's major political parties. They projected, for the course of the next government's term, what net borrowing and net spending of public funds would be. Overall the researchers faced difficulties in trying to determine the true intentions of the parties, as not all were forthcoming with their full spending and borrowing plans. The researchers were able to determine that if a Conservative government was elected the public spending would fall by 5.2% of national income between 2014 and 2019.

Ed Miliband's Labour Party had, like the conservative party, released limited information on how much public borrowing they intended to carry out as government.

Women and Economics - Inefficient Equilibrium Keynes has, throughout her years as an economist and especially throughout her time at The Economist'', focused on women in economics, and why there are so few of them. She has done multiple podcasts on the topic, including a three-part special for the BBC, she has given a TED Talk and a talk at Yale University about the issue, and, most notably, wrote a special in the 2017 Economist's Christmas Specials publication titled Women in Economics - Inefficient Equilibrium. The piece focuses on the disparity between men and women in the field of research economics and why this matters for the profession. The article was influential in encouraging other economists to examine the issue.

Keynes highlights that only 20% of European, and 15% of American, senior economists are female. and also used to sing as a soprano with the 18th Street Singers. In January 2023 she announced on Twitter that she and husband London-based conductor and musicologist Patrick Allies had welcomed their first child, a son.

In January 2025, Keynes announced via Bluesky that she and husband had welcomed their second child, a daughter.