Elias is a Professor of Economics at the London Business School, where he co-directs the Wheeler Institute for Business and Development. Elias, a CEPR Research Fellow, is a Managing Co-Editor of the Review of Economic Studies.

His research covers international finance, political economy, economic history, growth, and development. He has published in leading peer-refereed journals, among others, in Econometrics, the Review of Economic Studies, the Quarterly Journal of Economics, the Journal of Political Economy, the American Economic Review, and the Journal of Finance.