He co-authored along with Paul Krugman and Masahisa Fujita the influential book The Spatial Economy - Cities, Regions and International Trade (2001).

[2] He is the current director of the Oxford Centre for the Analysis of Resource Rich Economies (OxCarre).

From 2005 to 2008, he held the position of Chief Economist at the UK Department for International Development.

Venables studied economics at Clare College, Cambridge, where he obtained his B.A.

After completing his undergraduate degree, he then took up his studies at St. Antony's College, Oxford.