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Alfredo Saad-Filho

Professor Alfredo Saad-Filho

Professor of Political Economy and International Development

Research interests

  • Economics
  • International development
  • International relations
  • Policy

Biography

Alfredo Saad-Filho is Professor of Political Economy and International Development in the Department of International Development. Previously, he was Professor of Political Economy at SOAS University of London; Chair of the SOAS Department of Development Studies (2006-10); Head of SOAS Doctoral School (2018-19); and Senior Economic Affairs Officer at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (2011-12).

Alfredo was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Medal from the Federal University of Goiás, Brazil in 2014 and the SOAS Director’s Teaching Prize in 2016. He has degrees in Economics from the University of Brasília (Brazil) and SOAS University of London and has taught in universities and research institutions in Brazil, Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mozambique, Switzerland and the UK.

His academic publications include nine authored or edited books, 70 journal articles and 50 book chapters, as well as 30 reports and other contributions for the United Nations and other international agencies (UNCTAD, UNDP, UN-ESCWA, and UN-DESA). His work has been published in 15 languages and presented over 200 academic events in 30 countries.

These writings range across critiques of the (Post-)Washington consensus; International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank policies and pro-poor policy alternatives. They also include concrete analyses of fiscal, monetary, financial, balance of payments and employment policies, as well as inflation targeting, resource use (including ‘resource curse’ and Dutch Disease) and policy-making in sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America (especially Brazil) and the Middle East.

Research

  • The political economy of development
  • Industrial policy
  • Neoliberalism, democracy, and alternative economic policies
  • Latin American political and economic development
  • Inflation and stabilisation
  • The labour theory of value and its applications

Alfredo is currently researching the political economy of Brazil, especially the transitions from import-substituting industrialisation to neoliberalism, and from military dictatorship to democracy. 

He is also investigating the recent trajectory of Brazil, and the achievements and limitations of the administrations led by the PT and by President Jair Bolsonaro.

Further details

See Alfredo's research profile

    Research

    Mind the gap
    Poverty, Inequality & Inclusive Growth research group

    Exploring the causes of poverty in emerging economies and the factors that prevent people from escaping it, including who remains vulnerable to economic slow-downs.

    contemporary marxim research group resized
    Contemporary Marxism Research Group

    The Contemporary Marxism Research Group use the varieties of Marxist theory to analyse the contemporary world, with special reference to political economy and to political and social movements.

    KBI City Hall, Erechim, Brazil (2)
    Governance, leadership and democracy

    This research group explores Brazil's transition to democracy, the quality of democracy, transitional justice and human rights.

    LPENLogo
    London Political Economy Network

    The London Political Economy Network aims to foster cross-university exchange and networking between London-based political economy research centres

    News

    'We need a democratic economic strategy to overcome current global crisis': Professor Alfredo Saad-Filho

    Professor Saad-Filho delivered the Dudley Seers Lecture at the 2023 general conference of the European Association of Development Research Training Institutes...

    Professor Alfredo Saad-Filho delivering the Dudley Seers Lecture at the EADi conference 2023 in Lisbon

    Academic network celebrates milestone

    An innovative academic network which brings together scholars in the field of political economy is celebrating a new milestone.

    London skyline in the foreground, with cloudy sky in the background

    New DID Outstanding Teaching Award

    Dr Anna Grimaldi has been awarded the Department of International Development's inaugural Annual Teaching Award.

    Anna Grimaldi

    Has austerity led us to the COVID-19 pandemic?

    The COVID-19 pandemic could have been prevented if not for decades of austerity measures, says Professor Alfredo Saad Filho.

    Stock market floor, New York

    Events

    02MarIndia Healthcare

    The COVID-19 pandemic and the Indian economy

    Join us for this talk with Jayati Ghosh about the COVID-19 and the Indian economy.

    Please note: this event has passed.

    08DecClimate change deforestation

    Climate change in the context of neoliberalism

    Join student reps and the Head of the Department of International Development to hear about economic alternatives in the age of global climate crisis.

    Please note: this event has passed.

    22JunLawfare Event Image

    Lawfare: Waging War through Law with Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, 35th President of Brazil

    This special event from the Department for International Developement will discuss the concept of lawfare and examine in detail the best-known case of lawfare...

    Please note: this event has passed.

    24MarCOVID-19 temp check Africa

    Covid and Development: a roundtable discussion with members of the Department of International Development

    'What has Covid revealed? And what will it result in?', with a focus on various Global South contexts.

    Please note: this event has passed.

    16OctBrazil Panel, King's College London, Jair Bolsonaro

    The Election of Jair Bolsonaro: Why Did This Happen?

    King's Brazil Institute seminar on the Brazilian election and its links to modern global society.

    Please note: this event has passed.

    06NovVietnam fishermen

    The crises of neoliberalism

    Professor Alfredo Saad Filho (King’s College London) talks about the overlapping crises of global politics and the global economy.

    Please note: this event has passed.

    Features

    COVID-19 in Brazil: how Jair Bolsonaro created a calamity

    Brazil has had what is arguably the worst pandemic policy response in the world, driven by its far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro.

    spotlight-covid-1920

    Coronavirus: how Brazil became the second worst affected country in the world

    The COVID-19 pandemic has stress-tested countries, economies and political systems like never before. Nowhere has the outcome been more devastating than in...

    EPA-EFE

      Research

      Mind the gap
      Poverty, Inequality & Inclusive Growth research group

      Exploring the causes of poverty in emerging economies and the factors that prevent people from escaping it, including who remains vulnerable to economic slow-downs.

      contemporary marxim research group resized
      Contemporary Marxism Research Group

      The Contemporary Marxism Research Group use the varieties of Marxist theory to analyse the contemporary world, with special reference to political economy and to political and social movements.

      KBI City Hall, Erechim, Brazil (2)
      Governance, leadership and democracy

      This research group explores Brazil's transition to democracy, the quality of democracy, transitional justice and human rights.

      LPENLogo
      London Political Economy Network

      The London Political Economy Network aims to foster cross-university exchange and networking between London-based political economy research centres

      News

      'We need a democratic economic strategy to overcome current global crisis': Professor Alfredo Saad-Filho

      Professor Saad-Filho delivered the Dudley Seers Lecture at the 2023 general conference of the European Association of Development Research Training Institutes...

      Professor Alfredo Saad-Filho delivering the Dudley Seers Lecture at the EADi conference 2023 in Lisbon

      Academic network celebrates milestone

      An innovative academic network which brings together scholars in the field of political economy is celebrating a new milestone.

      London skyline in the foreground, with cloudy sky in the background

      New DID Outstanding Teaching Award

      Dr Anna Grimaldi has been awarded the Department of International Development's inaugural Annual Teaching Award.

      Anna Grimaldi

      Has austerity led us to the COVID-19 pandemic?

      The COVID-19 pandemic could have been prevented if not for decades of austerity measures, says Professor Alfredo Saad Filho.

      Stock market floor, New York

      Events

      02MarIndia Healthcare

      The COVID-19 pandemic and the Indian economy

      Join us for this talk with Jayati Ghosh about the COVID-19 and the Indian economy.

      Please note: this event has passed.

      08DecClimate change deforestation

      Climate change in the context of neoliberalism

      Join student reps and the Head of the Department of International Development to hear about economic alternatives in the age of global climate crisis.

      Please note: this event has passed.

      22JunLawfare Event Image

      Lawfare: Waging War through Law with Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, 35th President of Brazil

      This special event from the Department for International Developement will discuss the concept of lawfare and examine in detail the best-known case of lawfare...

      Please note: this event has passed.

      24MarCOVID-19 temp check Africa

      Covid and Development: a roundtable discussion with members of the Department of International Development

      'What has Covid revealed? And what will it result in?', with a focus on various Global South contexts.

      Please note: this event has passed.

      16OctBrazil Panel, King's College London, Jair Bolsonaro

      The Election of Jair Bolsonaro: Why Did This Happen?

      King's Brazil Institute seminar on the Brazilian election and its links to modern global society.

      Please note: this event has passed.

      06NovVietnam fishermen

      The crises of neoliberalism

      Professor Alfredo Saad Filho (King’s College London) talks about the overlapping crises of global politics and the global economy.

      Please note: this event has passed.

      Features

      COVID-19 in Brazil: how Jair Bolsonaro created a calamity

      Brazil has had what is arguably the worst pandemic policy response in the world, driven by its far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro.

      spotlight-covid-1920

      Coronavirus: how Brazil became the second worst affected country in the world

      The COVID-19 pandemic has stress-tested countries, economies and political systems like never before. Nowhere has the outcome been more devastating than in...

      EPA-EFE