Dr Bob Sutcliffe was educated at Oxford and Harvard Universities. He started his academic career in 1964 as a Research Officer in the Institute of Economics and Statistics, Oxford University. For four years he was also a Fellow and Tutor in Economics at Jesus College, Oxford. He then went on to become a consultant to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) (1970-74), thereafter taking up an appointment as Senior Lecturer at Kingston University (then Polytechnic) where he remained until 1985. He has held visiting appointments at various universities, including Massachusetts, Wisconsin and the Universidad Centroamericana. He is currently Coordinator of Research in Hegoa, University Institute for the Study of Development and the International Economy and Professor at the University of the Basque Country, Bilbao.

His books in English include:

The Profit System (co-author Francis Green), Penguin Books, 1987
Hard Times: The World Economy in Turmoil, Pluto Press, 1983
Industry and Underdevelopment, Addison Wesley, 1972
British Capitalism, Workers and the Profits Squeeze (co-author Andrew Glyn), Penguin Books, 1971.