Alexandra Digby, Ph.D.

Department of Economics, Minerva University, 14 Mint Plaza, San Francisco, CA 94103, USA

Nationality: British

Experience

Faculty of Economics, Minerva University, San Francisco, USA (2019 – present)
Assistant Professor of Economics, Economics Track Lead, and Head of Advising for Social Sciences

Teaching, assessment, office hours
Monitor and evaluate teaching quality across economics track
Schedule economics courses, chair departmental meetings, organise and edit monthly economics newsletter and host “fireside chats”
Main point of contact for Social Science students, discuss degree plans, careers, and ensure academic success of students

Simon Business School/Department of Economics, University of Rochester, NY, USA (2019 – 2023)
Adjunct Assistant Professor of Economics

Teaching, assessment, office hours
Contribute to departmental events

Faculty of History, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK (2018/19 AY)
Lecturer (sabbatical cover)

Teaching, assessment, office hours

The Economist, London office, UK (2018/19)
Assistant Editor, Open Future

Writing on economic and financial history
Editing and curating content
Editor and judge of The Economist’s Essay Competition for Young People, 2019

Verian, London office, UK (public policy institute, formerly Kantar Public) (2015 – 2018)
Senior Public Policy Researcher

Policy development and evaluation, behavioural change and public policy communication
Contributed to research across qualitative (interviews, focus groups, workshops), quantitative (survey design and implementation), and mixed-methods projects covering a range of policy areas (see publications)
Worked with Department for Education, HM Treasury, HMRC, Department for International Development (now Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office), Public Health England and more

Office of the President, London School of Economics and Political Science (Summer 2013)
Research Assistant to former President, Professor Craig Calhoun

Higher education policy research
Analysing policy changes to the UK higher education system (e.g. the role and legacy of the Robbins Report of the 1960s)

Centre for Financial History, University of Cambridge (2012/13 AY)
Researcher

Working as a researcher on a new edition of Joseph Schumpeter’s History of Economic Analysis

Awards and Grants

Early Career Funding, International Adam Smith Society, 2024/5
Warren J. and Sylvia J. Samuels Young Scholar, History of Economics Society, 2023
Winner of the Pierangelo Garegnani Thesis Prize for best PhD in Economics, 2019
Winner of the MRS Award in Market & Social Research Practice for Public Policy, 2018
History and Economics Prize Research Student, Joint Centre for History and Economics, University of Cambridge, Harvard University, 2013/14 AY
PhD Studentship Award (tuition and stipend), Centre for Financial History, University of Cambridge, 2012-2015

Teaching

Economic History

History of Economic Thought, Department of Economics, University of Rochester (Fall 2019/20/21/22/23)
History of Economic Thought, MPhil in Economic and Social History, University of Cambridge (2018/19 AY)
Economy and Society, MPhil in Economic and Social History, University of Cambridge (2018/19 AY)
“Boom, Bust, and Bubbles”, Economic and Financial History, Simon Business School, University of Rochester (Fall 2019/Spring 2021/22/23)

Economics

Introductory Microeconomics, Minerva University (Fall, Spring 2019-present)
Introductory Macroeconomics, Minerva University (Fall, Spring 2019-present)

Other

Politics, Philosophy and Economics Tutorial, Minerva University (Spring, Fall 2024)
Complex Systems, Minerva University (Fall 2023, 2024)
Doing Business, Minerva University (Spring 2025)

Education

University of Cambridge (2012–2018)
PhD in Economic History

Thesis Title: Political Economy, the Labour Theory of Value, and the Chartist Movement
Brief synopsis: A longitudinal study of the labour theory of value from Locke to the development of utility theory by Jevons, Menger, and Walras in the 1870s. Adopting an intellectualist approach, the core of the thesis is about the ways in which economic ideas conflict and transmit across time and place. The analysis offers a unique account of the appropriation of economic ideas at different levels of society, and the development and adoption of “new” economic ideas in response.

University of Cambridge (2011–2012)
MPhil Economic and Social History

Dissertation Title: Labour Defended in response to Parliamentary debates following the repeal of the Combination Laws: (1823–1825)

University of Manchester (2006–2009)
BA Economics – First Class Honours

Publications

Book Manuscripts

Digby, A., Theory, Slogan or Reality: The labour theory of value from Locke to the Neoclassical Revolution, forthcoming Palgrave MacMillan, 2026

Digby, A., Eatwell, J., Tipping Points: A new analysis of the past and future of the global economy, 2025

Journal Articles

Digby, A. (Ed.), Special Issue “Free Markets vs. State Intervention: a 250-year-old-debate”, International Politics, (forthcoming 2025/6)

This special issue comprises seven articles exploring the “market versus state” debate to mark 250 years since the publication of the Wealth of Nations. Articles explore the debate in historical perspective across the following areas: economic thought, race, gender, environment, education, science and health.
- Digby, A. “Adam Smith’s influence on British reform movements of the early- to mid-nineteenth century”, International Politics (early online release, 2024), View link
- Digby, A., Davis, D., Eremionkhale, A., “Adam Smith, Slavery and Affirmative Action”, International Politics (forthcoming 2025)

Digby, A., “Economic Theory and Political Action: Labour is the source of all Wealth in Chartist thought”, European Journal of History of Economic Thought, forthcoming 2025.

Book Reviews

General and Periodic Crises of Overproduction (Eds. D’Maris Coffman, Ali Kabiri, Nicholas Di Liberto), History of Economic Thought and Policy, Issue 1, 2024, Pages 158–160, View link

The Penguin Book of Feminist Writing (Ed. Hannah Dawson), Contributions to Political Economy, Volume 41, Issue 1, June 2022, Pages 196–198, View link

The Sex Factor: How Women Made the West Rich, Book Review (Victoria Bateman), Contributions to Political Economy, Volume 39, Issue 1, June 2020, Pages 104-106, View link

Public Policy Papers (selection of published papers)

Coulter, A., Beninger, K., Busby, A., Digby, A., “Implementation Evaluation of Slough Children’s Services Trust”, Department for Education, July 2018, View link

Busby, A., Digby, A., Fu, E., “Public Dialogue on Quantum Technologies”, EPSRC, June 2018, View link

Beninger, K., Digby, A., Dillon, A., MacGregor, J., “Understanding Society: how people decide whether to give consent to link their administrative and survey data”, Institute for Social and Economic Research, 03 Nov 2017, View link

Digby, A., Fu, E., “Impacts of homelessness on children – research with teachers”, Shelter, November 2017, View link

Beninger, k., Newton, S., Digby, a., Clay, D., Collins, B., “Newcastle City Council’s Family Insights Programme”, Department for Education, July 2017, View link

Journalism (economic/financial history selection)

Digby, D. Davis, D., Morgan, R., Opinion: It’s not just First Republic that Failed. It’s the whole banking system, Los Angeles Times, May, 2023

Digby, D. Davis, D., Morgan, R., Recent banking crises are rooted in a system that rewards excessive risk-taking – as First Republic’s failure shows, The Conversation, April 2023 (reprinted in Fortune, San Francisco Chronicle and others)

Digby, A., How Keynes would negotiate Brexit, The Economist, August 2018

Digby, A., The Scandalous Love Affair that Fuelled John Stuart Mill’s Feminism, The Economist, Oct 2018

Digby, A., Williams, C., Get a Life: Working hours, The Economist, Sep 2013

Digby, A., Williams, C., Was Tulipmania Irrational?, The Economist, Oct 2013

Conferences

2025 March, “Adam Smith and Institutions”, International Adam Smith Society Conference, Lecce, Italy

2024 Nov, “Tipping Points and Institutional Innovations” (with Professor John Eatwell), Innovation, Sustainability, and Institutions, EPOL’S 40^th Anniversary Conference, Accademia Nationale dei Lincei, Rome, Italy

2023 June, “Labour is the Source of All Wealth: Who did the Chartists turn to for intellectual validation and what conclusions did they derive?”, History of Economics Society Annual Conference, Vancouver, Canada

2023 Feb, “States and Markets: the Global Economy in 2040”, Department of Political Science and International Relations, University of Southern California, California, USA

2019 April, “Rescuing Adam Smith from Myth & Misrepresentation”, College of Social Studies, Wesleyan University

2015 June, “The Labour Theory of Value and the Chartist Movement”, Historical and Philosophical Perspectives on Economics Seminar, London School of Economics and Political Science

2015 March, “Labour Theory of Value: The Backlash”, Economic History Workshop, University College London

2015 March, “Ricardian Socialists and the Labour Theory of Value”, Economic and Social History Seminars, Cambridge University

2014 May, “Political Economy, the Labour Theory of Value and the Chartist movement”, Economic History Series, Institute for New Economic Thinking

2014 Apr, “The Moral use of Ricardo’s Labour Theory of Value”, History Graduate Research Day, Cambridge University

Research Affiliations

Research Associate, Centre for Financial History, University of Cambridge (2024 – )