Costas Lapavitsas (born in Thessaloniki, Greece) is a professor of economics at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, and was elected as a member of the Hellenic Parliament for the left-wing Syriza party in the January 2015 general election. He subsequently defected to the Popular Unity in August 2015. In 1982, Lapavitsas obtained a master's degree at the London School of Economics, followed in 1986 by a PhD at Birkbeck College, University of London. Since 1999, he has taught Economics at the School of Oriental and African Studies, first as a lecturer and since 2008 as a professor. Lapavitsas is known for his criticism of the modern Western financial system, particularly the Greek government-debt crisis, the European debt crisis and the European Union. He is also a columnist for the British newspaper *The Guardian*. In 2007, he founded Research on Money and Finance (RMF), an international network of political economists focusing on money, finance and the evolution of contemporary capitalism. Source: [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Costas_Lapavitsas)