Douglas McWilliams

In The Flat White Economy author and economist Douglas McWilliams seeks to explain and to present the challenges and some possible futures for advanced western economies in the face of the digital revolution. The London Evening Standard described the book as one of the most important works on the British economy to be published in decades.

In his follow up publication of 2018, The Inequality Paradox: How Capitalism Can Work for Everyone he challenges the view of the world espoused by Thomas Picketty in his famous book Capital in the Twenty-first Century.

Douglas asserts that inequality isn’t driven by a conspiracy of the rich, but by rapid changes happening in technology and by globalisation. One outcome driven by robotics and AI will be the disappearance of unskilled jobs and the societal issues that that will bring.

More than twenty-five years ago Douglas founded Cebr, leading British think tank known worldwide for its expertise in forecasting and in the relationship between technology, the economy, and jobs. Today he is executive deputy chairman of the organisation.

As a speaker Douglas has delivered to business sectors from packaging to property, from insurance to information technology, and from catering to construction.

As well as working within working within the Cebr Douglas McWilliams was Chief Economic Adviser to the CBI, was Chief Economist at IBM, has chaired the economics committee of Business Europe, and has served as the Gresham Professor of Commerce.