Andrew Shonfield


Sir Andrew Shonfield was a British economist best known for writing Modern Capitalism, a book that documented the rise of long-term planning in postwar Europe. Shonfield's argument that planning allows public authority to control and direct private enterprise without taking ownership of it as the socialists proposed have made him one of the better-known advocates of a mixed economy.
Shonfield also worked as a journalist. He was the foreign editor of The Financial Times from 1950 until 1958, then worked as The Observer's economic editor.
He was close to the Labour Party and served first as Director of Studies and then as Director of the Royal Institute of International Affairs, usually known as Chatham House. He was a member of the Royal Commission on Trade Unions and Employers' Associations which reported in 1968. He headed the Social Science Research Council between 1969 and 1971. In 1972, he lectured on the consequences of Britain's entry in the European Community in the BBC's Reith Lectures. During the final three years of his life he was Professor of Economics at the European University Institute in Florence. He was knighted in 1978.

Publications

British Economic Policy since the War
The Attack on World Poverty

A Man Beside Himself
Modern Capitalism: The Changing Balance of Public and Private Power
Europe: Journey to an Unknown Destination
The Use of Public Power
In Defence of the Mixed Economy