One of the world's oldest learned societies devoted to economics has chosen its new President and President-elect to lead it for the next year.
The former Chief Economist of the World Bank and former President of the British Academy, Lord Nicholas Stern has been named as President of the Royal Economic Society for 2018/19.
The Society also appointed Professor Rachel Griffith as its President-elect who will become President in 2019/2020.
They will join the ranks of other prestigious economists who have led the Society in its 128-year history. Past Presidents have included John Maynard Keynes and William Beveridge.
Currently Lord Stern is the IG Patel Professor of Economics and Government, Chairman of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society and served as head of the Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change and was head of the Government Economic Service from 2003-2007.
Welcoming his appointment, Lord Nicholas Stern said:
“It is a great honour to be elected as President of the Royal Economic Society. The Society dates back nearly 130 years and plays an important role in supporting the work of economists and promoting economics in the UK and around the world.
“The Society is going through a period of development which will enable us to do more to reach out to students, professionals and the public on the significance that economics can play in our understanding of key issues and in our lives.”
President-elect Rachel Griffith is Professor of Economics at the University of Manchester, Research Director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) and Co-Director of the Centre for the Microeconomic Analysis of Public Policy (CPP).
Professor Rachel Griffith said:
“I am excited about taking on this historic role and becoming President of the Royal Economic Society next year.
“I look forward to working towards achieving greater diversity in the economics profession and to promoting more meaningful engagement with the public to create a better understanding of the economics of the world we live in.”
The Royal Economic Society has a tripartite Presidential system with three Presidents serving at any one time for a three-year term, as President-elect, President and Immediate Past President.
Peter Neary, Professor of Economics at the University of Oxford and a Professorial Fellow of Merton College, Oxford has now become the Society's Immediate Past President.
Professor Peter Neary said:
"The past year has been a busy one for the Royal Economic Society, with a new Chief Executive Officer overseeing the establishment and consolidation of the Society''s first permanent office in its history, and with the negotiation of a new publishing contract for our journals.
“It has been a huge honour and pleasure to be associated with these exciting new developments, and under the direction of Nick Stern and Rachel Griffith the Society is now well-placed to further its core mission of promoting the study of economic science as well as increasing the impact and public understanding of the discipline."
The Royal Economic Society elects their Presidents at its Annual General Meeting held during its Annual Conference. This year the Conference was held at the University of Sussex in Brighton (26-28 March 2018) bringing together more than 700 economists to discuss and present around 500 academic papers. Keynote speakers included Dave Donaldson (MIT), Botond Koszegi (Central European University) and Maristella Botticini (Bocconi).
The Royal Economic Society was founded in 1890 and received its Royal Charter in 1902. It is a learned society formed to promote the study of economic science. It has around 3500 members and publishes The Economic Journal and The Econometrics Journal.
