Edward Lawrence Wheelwright (1921–2007) was an Australian economist, radio host and anti-war activist who taught at the University of Sydney from 1952 until 1986. He has written on Australian economic history, often from an institutionalist or Marxian perspective, and his published works have included the analysis of capitalism in Australian history and an analysis of the influence and development of transnational corporations. He authored 11 books independently and 5 with co-editors, and made frequent appearances on ABC Radio's Notes on the News program. He is the namesake of a memorial lecture at the University of Sydney and an annual prize in the university's political economy course. While at the University of Sydney, he set up the Transnational Corporations Research Project.

Wheelwright was a vocal critic of the influence of transnational corporations in the politics of sovereign countries. Writing in 1982 with G.J. Crough, he argued:

Along with fellow University of Sydney economist Gregory Crough, Ted Wheelwright was one of the founding members and permanent staff of the Transnational Corporations Research Project, set up through the University of Sydney in July 1975. The stated goal of the project was to "provide information on, and initiate research into aspects of foreign investment, and the activities of transnational corporations in Australia." Publications of the project assert three objectives;

Through the project Wheelwright kept a correspondence with the United Nations Information and Research Centre on Transnational Corporations, the Transnational Institute in Washington, and an institute of the same name in Amsterdam. More than forty documents were published by the Transnational Corporations Research Project.