Angus Maddison is a Visiting Professor at the United Nations University (MERIT) at Maastricht, and Emeritus Professor of Economic Growth and Development at the University of Groningen. He held a number of senior positions at the Organisation for European Economic Co-operation (OEEC) and OECD between 1953 and 1978, and has been a policy adviser to governments in Brazil, Ghana, Greece, Mexico and Pakistan. He is the author of 20 books on the long-term economic performance of nations and interactions within the world economy; and has built up an international network of scholars working in this field. He is a fellow of the British Academy, member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Commandeur in the Netherlands Order of Orange Nasssau, an honorary fellow of Selwyn College, Cambridge, and an honorary doctor of Hitotsubashi University in Japan. His latest book is Contours of the World Economy, 1–2030 AD: Essays in Macroeconomic History (Oxford University Press, 2007).