Hettie O'Brien is currently a Leader Writer and Assistant Editor for the Guardian, where she writes about social affairs and the incursion of finance into everyday life. She is also a contributing writer to the Long Read and Guardian Review. She has previously worked for the New Statesman, where she covered economic and social affairs, and as a reporter in Washington D.C. covering corporate monopolies and the Federal Trade Commission. Before becoming a journalist, she worked as a researcher for Rethinking Economics. She has written about economics, politics and culture for the Times Literary Supplement, the Baffler, the Atlantic and the Architectural Review, has contributed to radio, including the BBC World at One, and has chaired panels at the Design Museum and Royal Society of Arts.