Elhanan Helpman is the Galen L Stone Professor of International Trade at Harvard University and a Fellow of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research. He holds a B.A. degree in Economics and Statistics form Tel Aviv University, an MA degree in Economics from the same institution, and a PhD degree in Economics from Harvard University.

Helpman's contributions include studies of the balance of payments, exchange rate regimes, stabilisation programs and foreign debt. Most important, however, are his studies of international trade, economic growth and political economy. He is a co-founder of the "new trade theory'' and the "new growth theory,'' which emphasize the roles of economies of scale and imperfect competition. Much of his work in trade, growth, and political economy is summarized in seven books: Market Structure and Foreign Trade (with Paul Krugman), Trade Policy and Market Structure (with Paul Krugman), Innovation and Growth in the Global Economy (with Gene Grossman), Special Interest Politics (with Gene Grossman), Interest Groups and Trade Policy (with Gene Grossman), The Mystery of Economic Growth, and Understanding Global Trade.

Helpman has also studied the Israeli economy and has been an active participant in Israeli policy debates. He was a member of the Advisory Board of the Bank of Israel, the Council for National Planning, and the National Council for Research and Development. In addition, he was a member of the board of directors of Bank Hapoalim. Helpman has served on the editorial boards of several scientific journals, and served as Co-Editor of the Journal of International Economics and as Editor of the European Economic Review and the Quarterly Journal of Economics.

He is a Fellow of the Econometric Society and was a member of its Council. He delivered major invited lectures, such as the Frank Graham Memorial Lecture at Princeton University, the Schumpeter Lecture of the European Economic Association, the Walras-Bowley and Frisch Lectures of the Econometric Society and the Ohlin Lectures at the Stockholm School of Economics. He is a member of the Israeli Academy of Sciences and Humanities, a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy, a member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts and a Distinguished Fellow of the American Economic Association. He was President of the Israeli Economic Association and President of the Econometric Society. He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the Catholic University of Louvain, received the Mahalanobis Memorial Medal, the Bernhard Harms Prize, the Rothschild Prize, the EMET Prize, the Nemmers Prize, the Onassis Prize, the BBVA Frontiers of Knowledge Award, the Jean-Jacques Laffont Prize, and the Israel Prize.