Peter Warburton has worked as an applied economist in London since 1975, graduating from Warwick University with a Masters degree and gaining a doctorate from City University in 1988. He has worked in the academic and financial sectors in a variety of roles and is a frequent guest on radio and television programmes discussing the state of the UK economy. He founded Economic Perspectives in 1996.He spent 15 years in the City of London as UK economist and economic adviser for the investment bank Robert Fleming and at Lehman Brothers. Previously, he worked as an economic researcher, forecaster and lecturer at the London and Cass Business Schools.He has been a member of the IEA’s Shadow Monetary Policy Committee since its inception in 1997.He is the author of Debt and Delusion, subtitled ‘central Bank follies that threaten economic disaster’, a critical analysis of the uses and abuses of debt in the global financial system, first published in 1999.He lectures on the Practical History of Financial Markets course, based at Heriot Watt Business School in Edinburgh and teaches occasionally on a postgraduate course at Cardiff Business School. He is managing director of Halkin Services Ltd, an international risk analysis service, and was economist to Ruffer LLP, an investment management company for 15 years.