Stephen Machin is Professor of Economics at University College London and Research Director of the Centre for Economic Performance at the London School of Economics. He is one of the Editors of the Economic Journal. Previously he has been visiting Professor at Harvard University (1993/4) and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2001/2). He is an fellow of the British Academy, has been President of the European Association of Labour Economists, is a Fellow of the Society of Labor Economists, a member of the UK Low Pay Commission and of the recently set up Tuition Fees Commission. His current research interests include inequality, education and crime, and the interactions between them.

Machin received a B.A. (Honors) in Economics from Wolverhampton Polytechnic in 1985, a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Warwick in 1988, and an Honorary Ph.D. in Social Science from the  University of Wolverhampton in 2010.