Tony Venables is Professor of Economics at Oxford University where he directs a programme of research on urbanisation in developing countries and the Oxford Centre for the Analysis of Resource Rich Economies.  He is a Fellow of the Econometric Society, the Regional Science Association, and the British Academy, and a member of the steering group of International Growth Centre.  Former positions include chief economist at the UK Department for International Development, professor at the London School of Economics, research manager of the trade group in the World Bank, and advisor to the UK Treasury. He has published extensively in the areas of international trade and spatial economics, including work on trade and imperfect competition, economic integration, multinational firms, economic geography, and natural resources.  Publications include The spatial economy; cities, regions and international trade, with M. Fujita and P. Krugman (MIT press, 1999), and Multinationals in the World Economy with G. Barba Navaretti (Princeton 2004).