Isabella Weber Honored for Her Research on Corporate Power

Isabella Weber, associate professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, has received the 2024 Ellen Meiksins Wood Prize from the Broadbent Institute, a Canadian progressive policy and training organization.

The annual award is presented to a scholar who has made outstanding academic contributions to political theory, social and economic history, human rights, and sociology. Dr. Weber was recognized for her research on corporate power in systemically important sectors, specifically how the concept relates to economic emergencies and inflation. Her expertise caught the eye of President Joe Biden, resulting in an invitation for her to speak with his administration’s Council of Economic Advisors and the Federal Trade Commission.

Dr. Weber first joined the faculty of the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 2019. She currently serves as the research leader for China in the Asian Political Economy program within the university’s Political Economy Research Institute. Additionally, she holds an appointment as a research associate with the Fairbank Center at Harvard University. Her academic pursuits center around economic theory, economic history, and China studies to examine the interaction between economic thinking, policy, and long-term structural patterns in periods of deep social transformation. She is the author of several publications including How China Escaped Shock Therapy: The Market Reform Debate (Routledge, 2021).

Dr. Weber received her bachelor’s degree from the Free University of Berlin. She holds two master’s degrees and a Ph.D. in economics from The New School for Social Research in New York, as well as a second Ph.D. in development studies from the University of Cambridge in England.