Sir Arthur "Richard" Jolly, KCMG (born 30 June 1934) is a development economist who served as Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations from 1982 to 2000.

[2][8] He also served as Special Consultant on North-South issues to the Secretary-General of the OECD in 1978, and from 1978 to 1981 was a member and rapporteur of the UN Committee on Development Planning.

He was the senior author of the final volume, UN Ideas that Changed the World[15] and a co-author of five others, three of which were recognized by Choice magazine as outstanding academic books of the year.

One of these volumes, UN Voices: the Struggle for Social Justice and Development,[16] contains summaries of in-depth interviews of the leadership and experiences of the four living Secretaries-General and 75 other senior UN officials.

Sir Richard has served as a trustee of OXFAM,[21] Chairman of the UN Association of the United Kingdom[22] and as an Overseas Development Institute Member of Council.