John Kay is one of Britain’s leading economists. His work is centred on the relationships between economics, finance and business. In 2015, he put forward the thesis that over the past 40 years, the expansion of the financial services industry in both size and scope has damaged - or at least not helped - prospects for health in the real economy. Kay was the first dean of Oxford’s Said Business School and has held chairs at London Business School, the University of Oxford, and the London School of Economics. He is a Fellow of the British Academy and the Royal Society of Edinburgh and a visiting professor at the London School of Economics. Born and educated in Edinburgh, he has been a member of the Scottish Government’s Council of Economic Advisers. Following the outcome of the referendum on British membership of the European Union in June 2016, he was appointed a member of the Standing Council on Scotland and Europe appointed by the First Minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon. John Kay is a distinguished academic, a successful businessman, an adviser to companies and governments around the world, and an acclaimed columnist. His work has been mostly concerned with the application of economics to the analysis of changes in industrial structure and the competitive advantage of individual firms. His interests encompass both business strategy and public policy. In 1986 Kay founded London Economics, a consulting business, of which he was executive chairman until 1996. He has been a director of Halifax plc and remains a director of several investment companies. He is the first (and still the only) Professor of Management to receive the academic distinction of Fellowship of the British Academy. He is the author of several books and since 1995 he contributes a weekly Column to the Financial Times.