Douglas McWilliams

Douglas McWilliams sold the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr), the economics consultancy that he had founded thirty-five years earlier, in autumn 2024 to a management buyout. Cebr has become well known, especially for its World Economic League Table published on Boxing Day each year. Before setting up Cebr, he had been chief economic adviser to the CBI and chief economist for IBM UK. Douglas had also chaired the Economics Committee of what is now called Business Europe in Brussels. While running Cebr, he was also the Gresham Professor of Commerce, and today he remains a member of the Growth Commission. Among his books, the best known are The Flat White Economy, about the emerging UK tech economy, and The Inequality Paradox, where he refutes Thomas Piketty’s theory of exploitation.