Edward Nell graduated from Princeton and went to Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar. He has taught at Wesleyan University, the University of East Anglia and the New School For Social Research in Manhattan, where he was the Malcolm B. Smith Professor and served as Department Chair of economics in the graduate faculty.

In the 1980s he joined his friend and colleague Bertell Ollman in designing, producing and marketing the political board game, Class Struggle.

He has held teaching appointments in many countries (including Australia, Austria, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, the UK, Spain, and others) and has served as an advisor to many governments and non-profits, focusing on monetary policy, fiscal issues, and development.

His interests include issues of methodology and philosophy: Rational Economic Man with Martin Hollis (1976); and Rational Econometric Man with Karim Errouaki (2013). His main work concerns growth—with special attention to money and finance as the causes of instability and cycles. Publications include: Transformational Growth and Effective Demand (1992); General Theory of Transformational Growth (1998). Complementing this approach to growth is attention to public goods and the public sector. Publications include: Prosperity and Public Spending (1988).

As Professor Emeriti, Nell is now Chief Economist for the ECO Capacity Exchange (formerly Recipco) in London, which presents a specially created credit-currency.