Born in Glasgow, David went to Cambridge in the hope of playing cricket for England but became fascinated with economics. After also studying at Oxford, he won a Kennedy Scholarship to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He returned to jobs at Oxford then London universities.

An expert on monetary and exchange rate policy, David has advised the Bank of England, HM Treasury, the IMF, and the European Commission. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, a fellow of the City and Guilds of London Institute and a non-executive director of Imperial Innovations, which invests in technology start-ups from Imperial College, University of Cambridge, University of Oxford and UCL.

David has always been committed to showing how useful economics is in making sense of the world around us. His other books include Economics (co-authored with Gianluigi Vernasca, now in its 10th edition) and Economics for Business (co-authored with Damian Ward, now in its 4th edition).