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, serves as a Managing Co-Editor of the Review of Economic Studies.

He holds an LL.B. from the law school of the National Kapodistrian University of Athens, a Master's in Public Administration (MPA) from Columbia University, and a Ph.D. in economics from the London Business School. After completing his doctorate in 2005, he worked at the Financial Research Division of the European Central Bank. From 2007 to 2012, he worked as Assistant Professor at Dartmouth College. During 2010-2012 he served as a Visiting Assistant Professor at the Economics Department of Harvard University, and in 2019-2020, he was the Hal Varian Visiting Professor at MIT's Department of Economics.

His research, published in leading peer-reviewed journals, such as in Nature, Econometrica, the Quarterly Journal of Economics, the Journal of Political Economy, and the American Economic Review covers international finance, political economy, economic history, growth, and development.

Elias was the inaugural laureate. His research has been recognized with the 2005 Young Economist Award by the European Economic Association, the 2008 Austin Robinson Memorial Prize by the Royal Economic Association, and the 2013 European Investment Bank Young Economist Award.