By David Ulph, University of St Andrews
The author would like to thank, and acknowledge contributions from, Sir Partha Dasgupta (University of Cambridge), Alan Hamlin (University of Manchester), Jim Malcomson (University of Oxford), Chris Orme (University of Manchester), Denise Osborn (University of Manchester), Rüdiger Pethig (University of Siegen, Germany) and Robert Putnam (Harvard University).
Alistair Ulph was a distinguished academic who combined ground-breaking economic research – particularly on the economics of climate change – with significant contributions to university administration, where he was a major institution builder. He cared deeply about those he worked with and was generous with his time for students and younger colleagues.
Alistair and his identical twin David were born in October 1946. In 1958 they entered Hutchesons’ Boys Grammar School, then located in the Gorbals, an area of Glasgow noted for its razor gangs. In 1964 they entered the University of Glasgow, with Alistair graduating in 1968 with First Class Honours in Statistics and Political Economy. They went on to postgraduate study at Balliol College Oxford. After graduating in 1970 with a B.Phil. in Management, Alistair joined the Oxford School of Management, working with Michael Dempster on timetabling algorithms.
From 1972-74 both Alistair and David held Lectureships in Economics at Stirling University, where they began their 50-year stream of significant co-authored publications on a wide range of topics. In 1974 Alistair took up a Research Fellowship at the Centre for Resource and Environmental Studies at the Australian National University, which kick-started his life-long flow of publications in Environmental and Resource Economics – at that time a very niche area.
In 1979 Alistair joined the Department of Economics at the University of Southampton. His 25 years at Southampton corresponded with a flourishing of the Department, to which he contributed more than his share both through his own research and teaching and more widely. Promoted to a Professorship in 1985, Alistair served as Head of Department (1986-89); Dean of Social Sciences (1989-92); and Deputy Vice Chancellor (1995-2001), leading the university in relation to both research policy and finance.
Alistair also recognised the need for academics to be directly involved in the wider institutions of academic life. His leading role in the early years of The Economic Review (1983-5) ensured its educational and commercial success. He served as Production Editor of the Review of Economic Studies (1985-91) overseeing the transition from manual typesetting to electronic submission. He acted as Economic Assessor to a public inquiry on a nuclear power station (1988-9).
In preparation for the 2004 merger of the Victoria University of Manchester and UMIST, Alistair was appointed as the first Dean of the new Faculty of Humanities and Vice-President of the University of Manchester. The post involved overseeing the development of a wide range of disciplines. For his part, Alistair brought unprecedented ambition and dedication.
Within just a few years, Humanities had established the second Confucius Institute in the UK (2006), secured £25m of investment from Tesco for the Sustainable Consumption Institute (SCI, 2007), and recruited world-renowned figures, including Nobel laureates Sir John Sulston and Joseph Stiglitz, as well as political scientist Robert Putnam and author Martin Amis. However, it was the creation of the Institute for Social Change (2006), including the five-year programme, the Social Change Harvard-Manchester Initiative (SCHMI), that Alistair regarded as the highlight of his career. It created a transatlantic network of top young social scientists and, in the view of Robert Putnam, a large portion of today’s leading European and American experts on social reform and democracy are SCHMI alumni.
Alistair stepped down as Dean in 2010 but continued to contribute to various academic institutions. He was Chair of the Board of Manchester University Press from 2013-20, and both Member of Council and Deputy Pro-Chancellor at the University of Keele between 2011 and 2020. In all his many roles Alistair brought a careful analysis of options combined with a collegial style of implementation that drove forward the larger enterprise without seeking personal benefit.
In addition to his formidable contribution to university management, Alistair produced a significant body of highly-regarded economic research. He authored two books, edited six others, and published over 120 refereed papers. While he produced research on a wide range of topics, a major focus was on trade and environmental policy. His particular interest was in the case where (i) in the absence of an overarching government, and the difficulties of establishing a cooperative equilibrium – a topic to which he made important contributions – governments would set environmental policies in a strategic non-cooperative fashion; (ii) the various countries had firms with market power and were also acting strategically in competing for market share.
Later work, informed by data on supermarket shopping, enriched our understanding of consumer behaviour when environmental considerations are in play, and what this implies for the design of environmental policy. A particular concern was the case where consumers adhere to various norms – socially embedded preferences.
His careful, rigorous research challenged a number of widely-held beliefs: that governments would set very tough environmental policies to encourage firms in their country to gain first mover advantage by discovering new clean technologies (the Porter Hypothesis); that because of uncertainty, learning and the irreversible nature of emissions, governments should set very tough policies early on; that greater trade union bargaining strength lowers R&D. In the course of his research Alistair worked with a wide range of co-authors and helped foster the careers of many young scholars.
Alistair contributed greatly to the European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, bringing the annual conference to Southampton (2001) and Manchester (2019). He served as President in 2000-2 and, in recognition of all his contributions to the area, was made a Fellow of the Association in 2019.
Alistair died on 5 October 2024. He had been suffering from Motor Neurone Disease. He leaves a much-loved and loving family – his wife, Nanette, two daughters, Karen and Fiona, and a grand-daughter Sophie.
He had a wry sense of humour and, despite his great distinction, was a humble man. He will be sorely missed.
Alistair Ulph, economist and senior administrator, born October 1946; died 5 October 2024.