He is Professor of the Department of Economics and the Instituto de Estudios Internacionales at the University of Chile.

He earned his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Chicago in 1971, where his dissertation was supervised by Larry Sjaastad.

[3] Although the students were later named Chicago Boys, Professor Ffrench-Davis was a critic of the neo-liberal policies implemented in Chile by the Pinochet dictatorship.

He was Co-founder of the think tank Center for Economic Research on Latin America (CIEPLAN) where he acted as Vice-President from 1976 to 1990.

[6][7] He was Chairperson of the Committee for Development Policy of the United Nations in 2007–2010; in 2004–2010 he represented Presidents Ricardo Lagos and Michelle Bachelet in the International Initiative to Fight Hunger and Poverty, launched by Brazil, Chile, France and Spain.