History of Economics in Oxford
Despite the department's relatively recent establishment, Oxford has a long history within Economics.
The 19th century saw an expansion of economics within Oxford, with political economy being offered as an option to Greats students, and the Drummond Chair in Political Economy being established in 1825 at All Souls College, first being held by Nassau William Senior. Other notable 19th century Oxford economists include Arnold Toynbee, Francis Ysidro Edgeworth.[3][4]
The 20th century saw the first economics programme, a postgraduate Diploma in Economics, in 1904. Economics was later introduced as part of a degree programme as part of the “modern greats” course in 1920, later Philosophy, Politics and Economics. Economist L.L. Price argued that this emphasised Oxford's stance of treating economics “pretty.. but unimportant”.[3][4][5] 20th century Oxford economists include Sir Roy Harrod, Jacob Marschak,[6] Nicholas Stern,[7] Sir David Hendry,[8] Stephen Nickell,[9] David Soskice,[10] Tim Harford,[11] and Mark Carney.[12]
Nobel Prizes
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Nine academics affiliated with Oxford have won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences:[13]
- Sir John Hicks (1972; MA, Balliol; Drummond Professor of Political Economy)[14]
- Gunnar Myrdal (1974; Fellow of Balliol)[15]
- James Meade (1977; MA, Oriel)[16]
- Lawrence Klein (1980; Lincoln)[17]
- Robert Solow (1987; George Eastman Visiting Professor; Fellow of Balliol)[18]
- Sir James Mirrlees (1996; Edgeworth Professor of Economics; Fellow of Nuffield)[19]
- Amartya Sen (1998; Fellow of Nuffield; Drummond Professor of Political Economy; Fellow of All Souls)[20]
- Michael Spence (2001; Rhodes Scholar; MA, Magdalen)[21]
- Joseph Stiglitz (2001; Drummond Professor of Political Economy; Fellow of All Souls, Visiting Fellow of St Catherine's)[22]
