Benn Steil is an American economist and writer. He serves as senior fellow and the director of international economics at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) in Manhattan, New York. He founded and edits the academic journal International Finance.
Steil joined the Council on Foreign Relations in 1999, where he directs its international economics program. He has written about international finance, monetary policy, and the history of economic institutions. He contributes to the councilâÂÂs Geo-Graphics blog. Before joining the CFR, Steil was director of the International Economics Programme at the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House) in London. Earlier, he held a LloydâÂÂs of London Tercentenary Research Fellowship at Nuffield College, Oxford, where he earned his MPhil and DPhil in economics. He received a BSc in economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Steil authored several books on economic history and policy including Financial Statecraft: The Role of Financial Markets in American Foreign Policy (2006, with Robert E. Litan), Money, Markets and Sovereignty (2009, with Manuel Hinds), The Battle of Bretton Woods (2013), The Marshall Plan: Dawn of the Cold War (2018), and The World That Wasn't: Henry Wallace and the Fate of the American Century (2024).
Steil has received several book prizes including: