Andrew Shonfield

Who was Andrew Shonfield?

Sir Andrew Shonfield was a British economist best known for writing Modern Capitalism, a book that documented the rise of long-term planning in postwar Europe. Shonfield's argument that planning allows public authority to control and direct private enterprise without taking ownership of it as the socialists proposed have made him one of the better-known advocates of a mixed economy.

Shonfield also worked as a journalist. He was the foreign editor of The Financial Times from 1950 and 1958, then worked as The Observer's economic editor.

He was close to the Labour Party and served as Chairman of the Royal Institute of International Affairs, now known as Chatham House. In 1972, he lectured on the consequences of Britain's entry in the European Community in the BBC's Reith Lectures. He was knighted in 1978.