John A. Hobson, (1858–1940) was an English economist and imperial critic, widely popular as a lecturer and writer.

Criticizing classical economics, which centered on inflexible, mathematical laws, he held that economic theory was bound up with the ethical problems of social welfare and should be a guide to reform. The economic measures he supported prefigured the more fully developed ideas of John Maynard Keynes.

In Imperialism (1902) he likened imperialism to the excesses of capitalism. His other works include The Evolution of Modern Capitalism (1894), The Economics of Distribution (1900), The Economics of Unemployment (1922), and the autobiographical Confessions of an Economic Heretic (1938).

See also

Theories of New Imperialism for an account of Hobson's theories on imperialism.