Ben Huf is a PhD candidate in the School of History under the supervision of Professor Nicholas Brown. His thesis examines the uses of classical political economy in the British colonization of New South Wales (1820-1860) and the imperial state’s production of economic subjects, engaging with broader questions about the invention and deployment of the concept of the ‘economic’. He has presented papers on a diverse range of topics including labour history, Australian colonial political culture, nineteenth-century British emigration and the history of economic discourse at conferences in Australia and the United States. Ben has a background in journalism and has written for Australian Book Review.