Soumaya Keynes

Soumaya Anne Keynes (born 1 August 1989) is a British journalist, economist, and current economics columnist at the Financial Times.

As her work with FT, she is set to host a new podcast starting in 2024 on economic matters.

Before joining the Financial Times, she worked for eight years as the Britain economics editor at The Economist magazine.

Soumaya Keynes was born in Britain on 1 August 1989, to Zelfa Hourani and conservationist Randal Keynes.

Her younger brother, Skandar Keynes (born September 5, 1991), is a political adviser and former actor.

Soumaya Keynes also worked as a child actress.

On her maternal side, her grandfather was Lebanese author Cecil Hourani, an advisor to the late Tunisian president Habib Bourguiba.

The Hourani family were immigrants to Manchester from Marjeyoun in southern Lebanon.

Cecil's two brothers were Albert Hourani, a historian of the Middle East, and George Hourani, philosopher, historian, and classicist..

Keynes also has Persian and Turkish ancestry on this side of her family.

Her maternal grandmother, Furugh Afnan, was the great-granddaughter of Bahá'u'lláh, founder of the Baháʼí Faith, making Keynes a great-great-great-granddaughter of Baha'u'llah.

On her paternal side, she is the great-great-niece of John Maynard Keynes, a British economist who had a large impact on macroeconomic theory and policy.

Keynes herself says it is partially because of this relationship that she initially avoided macro-economics in her studies, focusing instead on microeconomics.

Keynes attended Trinity College, Cambridge for both her undergraduate and master's degrees.

She completed a Bachelor of Arts in Economics in 2010 (1st Class) and a MPhil Economics in 2011.

She completed her MPhil with distinction.

It was during her time at the University of Cambridge that she learned of, and decided to join, the Institute for Fiscal Studies.

Keynes joined the Institute for Fiscal Studies in 2012.

During her work at the institute for Fiscal Studies she frequently published research with Carl Emmerson, Rowena Crawford, and Gemma Tetlow.

Her work with the Institute covered economic reforms to the UK's state pension, the UK Government's fiscal policies, economic analyses of health variations in the UK and US, and a variety of other topics.

Throughout her research papers she aimed to tell a story, moving from previous literature into how her work will either change what was previously thought, or expand upon what was previously thought.

Her final report with the Institute for Fiscal Studies was published on May 22, 2015.

Keynes joined The Economist in June 2015 after receiving an email from the magazine's economics editor asking her to apply for the position.

She began by writing the Free Exchange column, which provides a literature review of recent papers in economics.

Her first article with the column, Public Debt - How Much is Too Much, was published June 3, 2015.

She co-hosted The Economist's Money Talks podcast, and co-founded and co-hosted Trade Talks, a podcast covering economic trade, from 2017-2021.

Her work at The Economist was focused on the US economy and the trade policies of Donald Trump's presidency.

Her career in economic research began as a policy adviser for Her Majesty's Treasury in London, looking at banking and credit.

Afterward, she worked at the Institute for Fiscal Studies, focusing on pensions and public finances.

She was promoted to US economics and trade editor in June 2018, and in 2019 became the trade and globalization editor at The Economist.

Keynes has worked on multiple projects during her time with The Economist.

Her early work had a wide scope and covered a variety of topics, such as the Big Mac Index.

Her latest work has mostly focused on the United States Trade War under the Trump Administration.

Recently she has covered the impacts of trade disputes such as the need for firms to reduce investments, its effect on consumers, the risks to the World Trade Organization, and the changes to America's relationship with countries around the world.

Keynes has been on The Economist radio podcast Money Talks multiple times.

Much of her work on the podcast is in the same areas as her writing, focused on trade and the Donald Trump presidency.

She has also done episodes in a similar vein to her previous work with the Institute for Fiscal Studies, examining the impact of economic research on public policy.

During her work with The Economist she has expressed multiple personal opinions on the material she covers.

She has repeatedly stated that she feels Trump is damaging the economy through acting in an unpredictable manner.

Keynes supports a rules based system for international trade, through bodies like the World Trade Organization, to resolve any discrepancies and disputes between countries.