My background

I was born in Seoul, South Korea, on 7 October, 1963 (there are stories about what life was like in South Korea in my youth in the Prologue of my book, Bad Samaritans* and also the Introductory chapter of the latest book, Edible Economics – A Hungry Economists Explains the World*). I came to the UK as a graduate student at the Faculty of Economics and Politics, University of Cambridge in 1986. I earned my PhD in 1992. I taught economics at the Faculty of Economics (as it is called now) and the Development Studies programme at the University of Cambridge between 1990 and 2022. In June 2022, I joined the Department of Economics at SOAS University of London.

I still keep my Korean nationality, but Britain is now my second home. I am still not convinced by the weather and cricket (as a good short-tempered Korean, I don’t have the patience for a game that lasts for five days), but I have come to like HP sauce and Branston pickle.

I live in London with my wife, Hee-Jeong Kim, but with no dog (most British authors seem to live with a dog – or three).