Event Recording:
Rising levels of inequality, social exclusion, environmental degradation and political divisiveness are a of source growing disillusionment with our capitalist system.
This discussion brings together the editors of a special issue of the Oxford Review of Economic Policy on Capitalism. It includes articles by leading economists from around the world on the problems with the existing system and the changes that need to be made to address them.
At the heart of the arguments presented is the notion of cohesive communities and societies, and their role alongside globalisation, privatisation and financialisation in restoring trust in capitalism.
- Paul Collier, Professor of Economics and Public Policy, Oxford University
- Diane Coyle, Professor of Public Policy, Cambridge University
- Colin Mayer, Emeritus Professor, Oxford University
- Martin Wolf, Chief Economics Commentator, Financial Times
- Charles Godfray, Director, Oxford Martin School (chair)
In association with the Oxford Martin Initiative on Regional Levelling-up; Blavatnik School of Government and The Royal Society for Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA)
Professor Paul Collier
Lead Researcher, Oxford Martin Initiative on Regional Levelling-up
Sir Paul Collier is Professor of Economics and Public Policy at the Blavatnik School of Government and a Professorial Fellow of St Antony’s College.
From 1998–2003 he took a five-year Public Service leave during which he was Director of the Research Development Department of the World Bank. He is currently a Professeur invité at Sciences Po and a Director of the International Growth Centre.
He has written for the New York Times, the Financial Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post. His research covers the causes and consequences of civil war; the effects of aid and the problems of democracy in low-income and natural resources rich societies; urbanisation in low-income countries; private investment in African infrastructure and changing organisational cultures.
Paul has authored numerous books, including The Bottom Billion (Oxford University Press, 2007) which in 2008 won the Lionel Gelber, Arthur Ross and Corine prizes and in May 2009 was the joint winner of the Estoril Global Issues Distinguished Book prize; Wars, Guns and Votes: Democracy in Dangerous Places (Vintage Books, 2009); The Plundered Planet: How to reconcile prosperity with nature (Oxford University Press, 2010); Exodus: How migration is changing our world (Oxford University Press, 2013); and The Future of Capitalism: Facing The New Anxieties (Penguin Books, 2018).
His latest book, co-authored with John Kay, is Greed is Dead: Politics After Individualism (Penguin Books, 2020).
In 2014, Paul received a knighthood for services to promoting research and policy change in Africa.
Professor Diane Coyle
Bennett Professor of Public Policy, University of Cambridge
Professor Diane Coyle is the Bennett Professor of Public Policy at the University of Cambridge. Diane co-directs the Bennett Institute where she heads research under the themes of progress and productivity. Her latest book is ‘Markets, State and People – Economics for Public Policy’ examines how societies reach decisions about the use and allocation of economic resources. Her next book, 'Cogs and Monsters: What Economics Is, and What It Should Be' was published on 12 October 2021.
Diane is also a Director of the Productivity Institute, a Fellow of the Office for National Statistics, an expert adviser to the National Infrastructure Commission, and Senior Independent Member of the ESRC Council. She has served in public service roles including as Vice Chair of the BBC Trust, member of the Competition Commission, of the Migration Advisory Committee and of the Natural Capital Committee. Diane was Professor of Economics at the University of Manchester until March 2018 and was awarded a CBE for her contribution to the public understanding of economics in the 2018 New Year Honours.
Professor Colin Mayer
Lead Researcher, Oxford Martin Initiative on Regional Levelling-up
Colin Mayer is Emeritus Professor at the Saïd Business School & Visiting Professor at the Blavatnik School of Government at the University of Oxford. He is a Fellow of the British Academy, the Centre for Economic Policy Research and the European Corporate Governance Institute, a Professorial Fellow of Wadham College, Oxford and an Honorary Fellow of Oriel College, Oxford and St Anne’s College, Oxford.
He is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Oxford Playhouse, and he was a member of the UK Government Natural Capital Committee, the UK Competition Appeal Tribunal and the International Advisory Board of the Securities and Exchange Board of India. He was chairman of Oxera Ltd. between 1986 and 2010 and a director of the energy modelling company, Aurora Energy Research Ltd between 2013 and 2020. He was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2017 New Year Honours. He leads the British Academy enquiry into “the Future of the Corporation” and his most recent book Prosperity: Better Business Makes the Greater Good is published by Oxford University Press.
Martin Wolf
Chief Economics Commentator, Financial Times
Martin Wolf is Associate Editor and Chief Economics Commentator at the Financial Times, London. He was awarded the CBE (Commander of the British Empire) in 2000 for services to financial journalism. He was a member of the UK government’s Independent Commission on Banking between June 2010 and September 2011.
Mr Wolf has honorary doctorates from the London School of Economics, Nottingham University, Warwick University and Kingston University, in the UK, Macquarie University, in Australia and KU Leuven, in Belgium. He is an honorary fellow of Corpus Christ College and Nuffield College, Oxford University, and of King’s College, London.
Mr Wolf was joint winner of the Wincott Foundation senior prize for excellence in financial journalism for 1989 and 1997. He won the “Accenture Decade of Excellence” at the Business Journalist of the Year Awards of 2003, “Commentator of the Year” award at the Business Journalist of the Year Awards of 2008, the Ludwig Erhard Prize for economic commentary for 2009 and “Commentariat of the Year 2009” at the Comment Awards, sponsored by Editorial Intelligence. He was placed in Foreign Policy’s list of the “Top 100 Global Thinkers” in 2009, 2010 and 2011. He was joint winner of the 2009 award for columns in “giant newspapers” at the 15th annual Best in Business Journalism competition of The Society of American Business Editors and Writers. He won the 33rd Ischia International Journalism Prize in 2012, the Overseas Press Club of America’s prize for “best commentary on international news in any medium” for 2013 and the 2019 Lifetime Achievement Award at the Gerald Loeb Awards.
His most recent publication is The Shifts and The Shocks: What we’ve learned – and have still to learn – from the financial crisis (London and New York: Allen Lane, 2014).
Professor Charles Godfray
Director, Oxford Martin School
Professor Godfray is a population biologist with broad interests in the environmental sciences and has published in fundamental and applied areas of ecology, evolution and epidemiology. He is interested in how the global food system will need to change and adapt to the challenges facing humanity in the 21st century, and in particular in the concept of sustainable intensification, and the relationship between food production, ecosystem services and biodiversity. In 2017 he was knighted for services to scientific research and for scientific advice to government.
As well as leading the School, Professor Godfray is also a lead researcher of the Oxford Martin Programme on the Future of Food and the Oxford Martin Restatements project, a new approach to providing succinct summaries of scientific evidence around highly contentious topics.
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