The support of the Foundation was a vote of confidence by a respected charitable foundation, itself in its early days, to our new institution, and is remembered with great appreciation.
The annual lecture has become a major date in the 51福利 calendar, attracting large audiences with strong student representation.
Esmée Fairbairn lectures, 1981 – present
November 2023
Dr Eleanor Power, London School of Economics
May 2023
Professor Klaus Adam, University of Mannheim
What Inflation Rate Should Central Banks Target?
October 2022
Ali Hortacsu, University of Chicago
Organizational Structure and Pricing: Evidence from a Large U.S. Airline
October 2019
Andy Haldane, Bank of England
Central Bank Communications
November 2018
Professor Paul De Grauwe, London School of Economics
November 2017
Professor Peter Neary, University of Oxford
November 2016
Professor Stefan Dercon, University of Oxford and UK Department for International Development
November 2015
Professor Carol Propper, Imperial College Business School
November 2014
Professor John Hey, University of York
November 2013
Professor Martin Ravallion, Georgetown University, USA
October 2012
Professor Ken Binmore CBE, University College London
November 2011
Professor John Van Reenen, London School of Economics
November 2010
Professor Dieter Helm, University of Oxford
Climate change policy after Copenhagen
January 2009
Professor Tim Besley, London School of Economics
Policy Making in the Crisis
October 2008
Professor Steve Machin, University College London
Education and Inequality
October 2007
Professor David Blanchflower, Dartmouth College, USA
Fear, Unemployment and Migration
November 2006
Professor Andrew Oswald, University of Warwick
Happiness
December 2005
Professor Julian Le Grand, London School of Economics
Choice, Competition and Public Services
November 2004
Professor Nicholas Crafts, London School of Economics
The Economic Impact of ICT: a Perspective from the Age of Steam
November 2003
John Elkington, Chairman, SustainAbility
Sustainable Business: Useful or Dangerously Misleading Oxymoron?
November 2002
Professor Alison Wolf, Institute of Education, University of London
Education and Economic Growth: Some Modern Myths
January 2002
Frances Cairncross, CBE, Chair, Economic and Social Research Council
The Economics of Drugs
November 2000
Dr Derek Morris, Chairman, Competition Commission
Competition Policy and Regulation in the UK: a New Era
November 1999
Professor David Cannadine, Institute of Historical Research
Empire and Hierarchy in Modern Britain
November 1998
Sir Alan Walters, Vice-Chairman, AIG Trading Group; former Chief Economic Adviser to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher
UK Interest Rate Policy: in Pounds and Euros
January 1998
Professor Ivor Crewe, Vice-Chancellor, University of Essex
How Bribable is the British Voter?
January 1997
Professor CAE Goodhart, London School of Economics
The Nature of Money, and Fiscal Problems in the EU Monetary Union
December 1995
Professor David Greenaway, University of Nottingham
EU + ERM ≠ EMU: So Why Have a Single Currency in Europe?
December 1994
Professor the Lord Skidelsky, University of Warwick
The Legacy of Keynes
January 1994
Professor the Lord Peston, Queen Mary and Westfield College, London
Problems of the Finance of Higher Education
November 1992
Dr Walter Eltis, Chief Economic Adviser, Board of Trade
The Financial Foundations of Industrial Success
November 1991
Professor John Kay, London Business School
November 1990
Professor David Pearce, University College London
The Economic Challenge of Global Environmental Problems
November 1989
The Rt. Hon. Lord Jenkins of Hillhead, Former Chancellor of the Exchequer
The 1929 Wall Street Crash and its Effects on British Politics
January 1989
Samuel Brittan, The Financial Times
The Government’s Economic Policy
December 1987
Sir Alan Peacock, Heriot-Watt University
Cultural Economics and the Finance of the Arts
November 1985
Professor Jagdish Bhagwati, Columbia University, New York
Investing Abroad
December 1984
Mary Goldring, Economist, writer and broadcaster
Post-Recession Britain
December 1983
Alistair McIntyre, Deputy Secretary-General, UN Conference on Trade and Development
Foreign Direct Investment in Developing Countries
January 1983
Sir Arthur Knight, Former Chairman, National Enterprise Board
Ideas and Action in Industrial Strategy
February 1982
Christopher Tugendhat, Vice-President, Commission of the European Communities
The Common Market and the National Economy
February 1981
Dick Taverne, QC, Director-General of the Institute for Fiscal Studies
Tax Savings and Incentives