Ben Spies-Butcher is Honorary Professor of Economy and Society at Macquarie University. After teaching and researching at Macquarie since 2008, he left his substantive position in 2026 and is now CEO of the Centre for Future Work. While at Macquarie, Ben was a founding director of the Australian Basic Income Lab, and founding deputy director of the Macquarie University Housing and Urban Research Centre. He continues to contribute to both institutions.

Ben completed his PhD in Economics at the University of Sydney while working in the non-government sector on issues of human rights. His research focuses on the political economy of inequality, including macroeconomic, climate, welfare and housing policy. His current research explores how financial logics common in the private sector are reshaping public sector budgeting giving rise to new policy models.

Ben is an Area Editor for the Economic and Labour Relations Review, on the editorial collective for the Journal of Australian Political Economy, and was the 2017 Glenda Powell National Travelling Fellow for the Australian Association of Gerontology. Ben's most recent book is Politics, Inequality and the Australian Welfare State After Liberalisation with Anthem Press. His current research collaborations include The Climate Economy: Emerging Strategies for Australia (DP250101443), and Aboriginal led solutions: strategies for reinvestment.