South Korean economist Ha-Joon Chang specializes in development economics. Born in 1963, Chang emigrated to the United Kingdom in 1986, where he studied at the University of Cambridge, completing his PhD in 1992. His thesis is titled The Political Economy of Industrial Policy – Reflections on the Role of State Intervention. From 1990 to 2022, Chang taught at the University of Cambridge. In 2022, he joined the faculty of the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) University of London, a public research university.

In addition to coauthoring numerous academic studies, Chang has published several books. In his 2003 book, Kicking Away the Ladder, Chang argues that many of today’s richest countries relied on interventionist policies to become wealthy and then prevented developing countries from doing the same. The book received a generally positive reception, though some of Chang’s peers criticized his methodology, accusing him of selectivity bias in his use of evidence. In 2008, Chang published Bad Samaritans: The Myth of Free Trade and the Secret History of Capitalism, which extends many of the themes in the previous book and likewise sparked debate about Chang’s rejection of free trade as a driver of growth in developing countries.