Dr John Meadowcroft is a political economist who uses the analytical framework of public choice theory to study politics and policy. His principal research project, generously supported by the John Templeton Foundation, examines the origins and operation of British slavery through the lens of public choice theory. He is also interested in public choice theory from the perspective of the history of economic thought where he has made contributions on the ideas of its principal theoretician James Buchanan.

He has taught at King’s College London since 2006 and was a founding member of the Department of Political Economy in 2010; he was instrumental in the decision to create an interdisciplinary department committed to the idea that politics and economics could not be understood as separate enterprises.  He has served as Head of Department, Director of Education, Director of Postgraduate Research, Chair of the Postgraduate Exam Board, and presently Co-Director of the PPE Research Group.