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The Ronald Tress Memorial Lecture

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Venue: Birkbeck Clore Management Centre

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The Ronald Tress Memorial Lecture is an annual event held in remembrance of Professor Ronald Tress, former Master of Birkbeck and founder of the Department of Economics, Mathematics, and Statistics.

Tress established the Economics Department at Birkbeck and our scholarly community honours his legacy and contribution to the world of economics by inviting a leading figure in the field to speak on the pressing issues affecting society today.

BIRKBECK’S 200th ANNIVERSARY 

Birkbeck is incredibly proud to be commemorating its 200th anniversary in 2023. As part of our 200th Anniversary commemorations we are proud to welcome you all to celebrate Ronald Tress who was instrumental in the founding of the economics department in 1972. We also celebrate the department's fiftieth anniversary which was reached last year. 

 

2023

Professor Jagjit S. Chadha, Director of the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR): What went wrong with 21st Century Economic Policy - a View from Westminster

Wednesday 10 May 6-7:30pm 

We are delighted to announce that this year we will be joined by Professor Jagjit S. Chadha, Director of the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) as our memorial lecturer. Professor Chadha will discuss what went wrong with the 21st Century Economic Policy with a view from Westminster. 

In 2000, inflation was low and stable, economic growth was consistently strong, public debt was low, income and wealth inequality had improved and income per head suggested we were a leading economy.   As we survey the economic landscape today with inflation hovering around double digits, anaemic economic growth, burgeoning public and household debt we seem to be in a low growth trap, which means that for example our average income per head is some 50-60% of that in the United States. This lecture will draw out the main factors in this relative decline and suggest some ways that we may be able to recover lost ground, should we wish to do so.

The Ronald Tress Memorial Lecture 2023 is open to students, alumni, staff, and friends of the Department of Economics, Mathematics, and Statistics. The Lecture is planned to take place in person on Birkbeck Campus. 

LECTURE ITINERARY

6.00pm   Welcome address – Professor David Latchman, Vice-Chancellor, Birkbeck, University of London

6:10pm   Introduction – Dr Ken Hori, Head of Department, Economics, Mathematics, and Statistics

6:15pm   The Ronald Tress Memorial Lecture – Professor Jagjit S. Chadha, Director of the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR)

7.00pm   Leading Q&A –Dr Ken Hori, Head of Department, Economics, Mathematics, and Statistics

7:30pm   Closing remarks and vote of thanks - Professor Geoff Walters, Executive Dean, Business, Economics and Informatics

7:35pm    Drinks Reception in the Clore Foyer 

 

BIOGRAPHY 

Professor Jagjit S. Chadha, National Institute of Economic and Social Research 

Jagjit is Director of the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR).  Previously he was Professor of Economics at the University of Kent and Professor of Economics at the University of St Andrews, and Fellow at Clare College, Cambridge. He has worked at the Bank of England on Monetary Policy, as Chief Quantitative Economist at BNP Paribas, and has served as Chair of the Money, Macro, Finance Study Group. He has acted as Specialist Adviser to the House of Commons Treasury Committee and academic adviser to both the Bank of England and HM Treasury, and to many central banks, as well as the Bank for International Settlements. In the City of London he was the Mercers’ Memorial Professor of Commerce at Gresham College from 2014-2018.  He served as a member of the ESRC Strategic Advisory network until 2021.

His main research interests are developing the links between finance and macroeconomics in general equilibrium models and has published widely in economics journals.  He is editor of the Cambridge University Press series on Modern Macroeconomic Policymaking, an associate editor of several journals and author of The Money Minders, which examines the world of central banking. He has published a number of papers related to the impact of quantitative easing on financial market prices.

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