Kaoru Natsuda is a professor, College of International Management, Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University, Japan, and visiting professor, Budapest Business School. He was formerly a visiting scholar at Charles University, Prague. He obtained his PhD in economics from the University of Sydney, Australia, and his MA in international development studies from the University of Bradford, UK. He has published papers including in Review of International Political Economy, European Journal of Development Research, Canadian Journal of Development Studies, and Asia Europe Journal. He serves as a senior associate editor of PSU Research Review and editorial board member of International Journal of Development Issues. John Thoburn holds a PhD degree from the University of Alberta, Canada, and is Emeritus Reader in Economics, School of International Development, University of East Anglia, UK. After retiring from East Anglia, and after six months as a visiting professor at Kobe University, Japan, he became Professor of Development Economics, Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University, and then visiting professor until 2017. He is the author of five books on development, and published articles including in Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Journal of Development Studies, Review of International Political Economy, and Journal of the Asia Pacific Economy (on whose editorial board he serves).