Romesh Vaitilingam is a writer and media consultant. He is the author of numerous articles and several books on economics, finance and public policy, including The Financial Times Guide to Using the Financial Pages (FT-Prentice Hall), now in its fifth edition. As a specialist in translating economic and financial concepts into everyday language, Romesh has advised a number of government agencies and international institutions, including the European Central Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the UK’s Department for International Development. His work also involves media consultancy for the economic research community, notably advising the Royal Economic Society, the Centre for Economic Performance at LSE and the Centre for Economic Policy Research (for which he is an editor of Vox). In 2003, he was awarded an MBE for services to economic and social science.