Brian Barry is clinical professor of economics and executive director of Chicago Booth's Initiative on Global Markets (IGM). IGM looks broadly at global movements of capital, products, and talent in the modern economy, by examining how these markets work, their effects, and the way they interact with policies and institutions.

Barry was a journalist for the Economist from 1994 to 2007, acting as a US correspondent, Tokyo bureau chief, Southeast Asia correspondent, management correspondent in London, and finance and economics correspondent in Washington. As a US correspondent, he traveled broadly across the American interior, writing about politics, business, and economic and social trends.

Barry attended Swarthmore College, where he earned a bachelor's degree in economics with a minor in political science and graduated with honors in 1989. He earned a master of science degree from the University of Rochester's Simon School of Business in 1994, where he also received a National Doctoral Fellowship.