Alan Freeman is a research affiliate of the University of Manitoba and the University of Greenwich. He is a former principal economist with the Greater London Authority where he held the brief for the Creative Industries. In collaboration with Hasan Bakhshi of the UK think tank NESTA and Peter Higgs of Queensland University of Technology, he developed the Creative Industry statistical reporting system of the UK  Department of Culture, Media and Sport. 

He was the lead author for ‘London: a Cultural Audit’, a comparative study of the cultural offer of London, Shanghai, Paris, Tokyo and New York, which evolved into the Global Cities Cultural Forum, an annual event involving over 40 global cities. 

He is a member of the BRICS academic expert committee, a regular contributor to the discussion pages of the Valdai Discussion club, honorary life Vice President of the Association for Heterodox Economics and a vice-chair of the World Association for Political Economy. He a board member of the Christopher Freeman Trust.

With Radhika Desai, he co-directs the Geopolitical Economy Research Group and the International Manifesto Group. He co-edits the Future of World Capitalism and Geopolitical Economy book series.

He is the author of ‘The Benn Heresy’, a biography of English politician Tony Benn, and has co-edited five books on political economy and politics. His regularly publishes in both journals and on his blog