We are pleased to announce that Dr. Steve Davies has joined the Human Progress Advisory Board.

Davies has spent over four decades researching, writing, and teaching economic history, with a specific focus on the history of classical liberalism, the political realignments reshaping the modern world, and the origins of modern prosperity, among several other topics.

Davies earned his undergraduate degree from the University of St Andrews in 1976 and returned there to complete his PhD in 1984. He then spent thirty years teaching economic history as a Senior Lecturer in the Department of History and Economic History at Manchester Metropolitan University, with stints as a program officer at the Institute for Humane Studies at George Mason University in Virginia and as a Visiting Scholar at the Social Philosophy and Policy Center at Bowling Green State University in Ohio.

Today he is Senior Education Fellow at the Institute of Economic Affairs and a Senior Academic Fellow at the John Locke Institute.

Davies is a prolific author. His early work includes co-editing The Dictionary of Conservative and Libertarian Thought (Routledge, 1991) with Nigel Ashford and writing Empiricism and History (Palgrave Macmillan, 2003). In recent years, his writings focus on big-picture history and current affairs, including The Wealth Explosion: The Nature and Origins of Modernity (2019); The Economics and Politics of Brexit: The Realignment of British Public Life (2020); The Streetwise Guide to the Devil and His Works (2021); and Apocalypse Next: The Economics of Global Catastrophic Risks (IEA, 2024). His newest book, The Great Realignment: Why the New Right Is Here to Stay (Polity Press, 2026), grew out of a 2018 essay he wrote for Cato Unbound and gives a full account of the political realignment reshaping Britain, the United States, and other democracies.

Outside his research, Davies is a keen follower of the fortunes of Manchester City and an enthusiastic reader of fantasy, science fiction, and historical fiction.

Davies’ appointment to Human Progress’ advisory board coincides with a series of fifteen essays he will write for our website exploring conservative critiques of progress.

Please join us in welcoming Dr. Steve Davies.