Professor Özlem Onaran

Associate Head of the School of Accounting, Finance & Economics - Research & Knowledge Exchange, Co-director of PEGFA

Key details

Professor Özlem Onaran

Professor Özlem Onaran

Associate Head of the School of Accounting, Finance & Economics - Research & Knowledge Exchange, Co-director of PEGFA

Biography

Özlem Onaran is Professor of Economics at the University of Greenwich. She is the director of the Greenwich Political Economy Research Centre and Co-Director of the Centre for Political Economy, Governance, Finance and Accountability. She has done extensive research on issues of inequality, wage-led growth, employment, globalisation, gender, and crises. She has directed research projects for Rebuilding Macroeconomics/ESRC, the International Labour Organisation, UNCTAD, ITUC, the Institute for New Economic Thinking, the Foundation of European Progressive Studies, the Vienna Chamber of Labour, the Austrian Science Foundation, and Unions21. She is a member of the Scientific Committee of the Foundation of European Progressive Studies, the Scientific Advisory Board of the Hans Boeckler Foundation, and the Policy Advisory Group of the Women's Budget Group. She has more than hundred articles in books and leading peer reviewed journals such as Cambridge Journal of Economics, Feminist Economics, World Development, Environment and Planning A, Socio-Economic Review, Development and Change, Public Choice, Economic Inquiry, British Journal of Industrial Relations, European Journal of Industrial Relations, International Review of Applied Economics, Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Eastern European Economics, and Review of Political Economy..

Before joining the University of Greenwich in 2012, Özlem had worked at several universities, including the University of Westminster, the University of Applied Sciences-Berlin, Vienna University of Economics and Business, and Istanbul Technical University.

Economics

Responsibilities within the university

Teaching and administrative activities

MPhil/PhD supervision

  • 1st Supervisor, Thomas Obst, The interaction of income distribution, aggregate demand and economic growth in the context of European imbalances, 2013-16, University of Greenwich
  • 1st Supervisor,  Evrydiki Fotopoulou, The role of gender equality in sustainable development strategy, 2014-2018, University of Greenwich
  • 1st Supervisor,  Shanaz Sumra, Prospects for growth with equality in sub-Saharan Africa in the age of globalisation, 2013-16, University of Greenwich
  • 1st Supervisor,  Daniele Tori, The Effects of Financialisation on Growth and Distribution, 2013-16, University of Greenwich
  • 1st Supervisor,  Alexander Guschanski, “The causes of falling wage share and prospects for growth with equality in a globalised economy” 2015-2018, University of Greenwich
  • 1st Supervisor, Ben Tippet, “Causes and consequences of wealth concentration”, 2019-2022, University of Greenwich
  • 1st Supervisor,  Stephanie Manea, “The impact of fiscal policy, income and wealth distribution, and financialisation on growth”, 2018-22, University of Greenwich
  • 1st Supervisor,  Micaela Fernandez, “External restrictions via gendered lenses: analysing structural 
    interactions of care work and fiscal policy in the Global South and Global North”, 2025-, University of Greenwich
  • 2nd supervisor, Thomas Rabensteiner, (with Dr. Guschanski), 2020-24, University of Greenwich
  • 2nd supervisor, Achilleas Mantes, (with Dr. Nikolaidi), “Financial fragility, income inequality and industrial structure in Europe” 2017-2021, University of Greenwich
  • 2nd supervisor, (with Dr. Hawkes), Sridevi Yerrabati, “FDI and Corporate Governance in Middle Income Countries”, 2012-2014, University of Greenwich
  • 2nd supervisor, Brian Cepparulo, (with Dr. Calvert Jump), 2021-25, University of Greenwich
  • 2nd supervisor, Ines Heck, (with Dr. Oyvat), 2020-26, University of Greenwich
  • 2nd supervisor, Stuart Leitch, (with Dr. Wildauer), 2022-, University of Greenwich
  • 2nd supervisor, Ali Budak, (with Dr. Nikolaidi), 2021-, University of Greenwich
  • 2nd supervisor, Gal Rakover, 2023-, University of Greenwich
  • 2nd supervisor, Jasmin Lukasz, 2023-, University of Greenwich
  • 2nd supervisor, Thomas Lawrence, 2023-, University of Greenwich

Awards
  • November 2025, Centre for Türkiye Studies (CEFTUS) Academic Excellence Award
  • January 2018, The best paper prize of the Association for Social Economics -2018 Warren Samuels Prize for the paper  "The political economy of income distribution: industry level evidence from 14 OECD countries"
  • Excellence in Research Award, University of Greenwich, Faculty of Business, 2015
  • October 2005 Dr. Heinz-Kienzl Prize, Austrian National Bank (€20000)
  • May 2004 Young Economist Award, Austrian Economic Association (€700)
  • May 2004 Academy of Science of Turkey, Young Scientist Award (€1500)
  • Feb–Dec 2000 Post-Doctoral Research Grant, Istanbul Technical University ($12000)

Recognition
  • Invited speech on gendering fiscal policy for sustainable development at the Financing for Development Dialogues, United Nations Headquarters, 2 December 2024, New York, USA
  • Invited speech at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Montevideo/Uruguay at a roundtable on fiscal policy and gender, 19 March 2024Invited speech at the Ecosystem Symposium on Innovation and Transformation in Gender Equality Financing co-organized by the UN Foundation,  the Ford Foundation, and the Permanent Missions of Colombia, Mexico, Rwanda, and Spain during the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women of the United Nations, 11 March 2024, New York, USA.
  • Invited by Nobel Laureate Prof. Stiglitz to the Taskforce on Employment and presented their joint research with Dr Cem Oyvat at the meeting on Employment Prospects in Developing Countries: Implications of Technological and Demographic Trends at Columbia University in New York on 12-13 January 2023.
  • Invited to the advisory board of the Citizens' Economic Council on the cost of living
  • Invited to give evidence to the public inquiry on Quantitative Easing by the House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee, 9 February 2021
  • Council Member, Progressive Economy Forum, 2022
  • Member of the Scientific Committee of the Foundation of European Progressive Studies
  • Member of the Debt Truth Committee of the Hellenic Parliament
  • Associate editor, Competition and Change
  • Member of the Editorial Board, European Journal of Economics and Economic Policies
  • Member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Hans Boeckler Foundation, 2014-
  • Member of the Policy Advisory Group of the Women's Budget Group, UK, December 2013-
  • Member of the Coordinating Committee of the Research Network Macroeconomics and Macroeconomic Policies, 2009-present
  • Member of the Organising Committee of the Post-Keynesian Study Group, 2012-
  • Research Associate of the Political Economy Research Institute, University of Massachusetts, 2007-present
  • Fellow of the Global Labour University, 2010-present
  • Research Fellow of the Economic Research Forum for Arab Countries, Iran and Turkey, 2011-present
  • Member of Economists for Rational Economic Policies (EREP)

Research / Scholarly interests

Özlem Onaran's research areas include globalisation, crisis, income distribution, wage-led growth, employment, investment, development, and gender. Özlem's research has recently focused on five issues:

(1) the interaction of income distribution, demand, and growth,

(2) financial crises and distributional consequences,

(3) the effects of international trade and foreign direct investment on wages, employment, and investment,

(4) gendering macroeconomics

(5) The effects of globalisation on the welfare states.

Recent projects

A recent blog piece and an interview on the report "Planet Earth is Wage-Led:declining wage shares and growth".

  • "Özlem's Project on "Working for the economy: the economic case for trade unions", for Union21 together with NEF

Media activity
  • Interview at BBC World, 28 June 2015, 1 pm News
  • Professor Özlem Onaran has been invited by the President of the Hellenic Parliament, Zoe Konstantopoulou, to join the Debt Truth Committee, which has been recently set up as a special committee of the Parliament. Here is a piece Ozlem has written for Social Europe on the Greek Debt Truth Committee and the video of her talk at the Hellenic Parliament.
  • The press conference to which Ozlem Onaran has participated at the Hellenic Parliament (in Greek)
  • Ozlem Onaran's speech at the launch of the report of the Truth Committee on Public Debt on 18 June 2015 (in Greek)
  • Ozlem Onaran's talk at Rethinking Economics, "Must we pay our debts?" 28 June 2015
  • Telesur 29 June 2015
  • Radio Popolare (in Italian) 2 July 2015
  • Cumhuriyet, 12 July 2015 (in Turkish)
  • Özlem has talked to Share Radio on the Greek Debt Crisis
  • Ozlem Onaran's recent article on the report of the Truth Committee on Public Debt in Greece

Recent publications