Richard Blundell is the Research Director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, where he is also Director of the ESRC Centre for the Microeconomic Analysis of Public Policy. He also holds the David Ricardo Chair of Political Economy at University College London and has held visiting professor positions at UBC, MIT and Berkeley. He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of the University of St.Gallen, Switzerland in 2003. He was awarded a CBE in the Queen's New Year's Honours List 2006.