Catherine R. Schenk is Professor of Economic and Social History at the University of Oxford. She completed her undergraduate and Masters degrees at University of Toronto in Economics, International Relations and Chinese Studies before completing her PhD at the London School of Economics. She has held academic positions at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, Royal Holloway, University of London and University of Glasgow. She was visiting professor at Nankai University, China, and Hong Kong University. She has also been a visiting researcher at the International Monetary Fund, the Bank for International Settlements, Bank of England and at the Hong Kong Institute for Monetary Research.