Nicholas Stern, Baron Stern of Brentford
Nicholas Herbert Stern, Baron Stern of Brentford, CH, FRS, FBA, FAcSS (born 22 April 1946 in Hammersmith[2]) is a British economist, banker, and academic. He is the IG Patel Professor of Economics and Government and Chair of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics (LSE), and 2010 Professor of Collège de France. He was President of the British Academy from 2013 to 2017, and was elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 2014.[3][4]
This article is about the economist. For film producer, see Nicolas Stern.
The Lord Stern of Brentford
Stern Review (2006)
Education[edit]
After attending Latymer Upper School, Stern studied the Mathematical Tripos and was awarded a Bachelor of Arts degree in maths at Peterhouse, Cambridge in 1967.[5] In 1971, his doctorate[2] in economics (DPhilEcon) at Nuffield College, Oxford, with thesis on the rate of economic development and the theory of optimum planning,[6] was supervised by James Mirrlees, winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1996.[1]
Career and research[edit]
1970–2007[edit]
He was a lecturer at the University of Oxford from 1970 to 1977[7][8] and served as a professor of economics at the University of Warwick from 1978 to 1987. From 1986 to 1993 he taught at the London School of Economics, becoming the Sir John Hicks Professor of Economics. From 1994 until 1999 he was the Chief Economist and Special Counsellor to the President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. His research focused on economic development and growth, and he also wrote books on Kenya and the Green Revolution in India. Since 1999, he has been a member of the International Advisory Council of the Center for Social and Economic Research (CASE). From 1999 until 2000 Stern was Chairman of the consultancy London Economics founded by John Kay.
From 2000 to 2003 he was the Chief Economist and Senior Vice-president of the World Bank. Stern was then recruited by Gordon Brown, then Chancellor of the Exchequer, to work for the British government where, in 2003, he became second permanent secretary at HM Treasury, initially with responsibility for public finances, and head of the Government Economic Service. Having also been Director of Policy and Research for the Commission for Africa, in July 2005 he was appointed to conduct reviews on the economics of climate change and also of development, which led to the publication of the Stern Review. At the time, he ceased to be a second permanent secretary at the Treasury, though he retained the rank until retirement in 2007; the review team he headed was based in the Cabinet Office. It was reported that Stern's time at the Treasury was marked by tensions with his boss, Gordon Brown:[9]
Awards and honours[edit]
Stern was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 1993;[43] he is also an Honorary Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a Foreign Honorary Member of both the American Economic Association and the American Philosophical Society.[44] In the 2004 Queen's Birthday Honours he was made a Knight Bachelor, for services to Economics.[45][46][47] On 18 October 2007, it was announced that Stern would receive a life peerage and was to be made a non-party political peer (i.e. would sit as a cross-bencher in the House of Lords). He was duly created Baron Stern of Brentford, of Elsted in the County of West Sussex and of Wimbledon in the London Borough of Merton on 10 December 2007.[48] He is, however, usually addressed as Lord Stern, or Lord Stern of Brentford.[49]
In 2006, he was elected as an Honorary Fellow at Peterhouse, Cambridge,[50] and he is also an Honorary Fellow of St Catherine's College, Oxford.[51]
Stern was awarded an honorary Doctor of Science degree by the University of Warwick in 2006,[52] an Honorary Doctor of International Relations degree by the Geneva School of Diplomacy and International Relations in 2007, an Honorary Doctor of Letters by the University of Sheffield in 2008,[53] an Honorary Doctor by the Technische Universität Berlin in 2009[54] and also in 2009 an honorary degree of Doctor of Science from the University of Brighton.[55]
In 2009, Stern was also awarded the Blue Planet Prize for his contributions to research on global environmental problems.[56]
Stern participated in one of the showings of The Age of Stupid at the RSA. At the after-showing webcast panel discussion[57] was director Franny Armstrong, journalist George Monbiot, and the Met Office head of climate impacts Richard Betts. In 2009 Nicholas Stern lent his support to the 10:10 project, a movement encouraging people to take positive action on climate change by reducing their carbon emissions.[58]
Stern received the 2010 BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in the category of Climate Change for his "pioneering report [that] shaped and focused the discourse on the economics of climate change" and provided "a unique and robust basis for decision-making."[59]
On 11 December 2013, Stern was awarded the 2013 Stephen H. Schneider Award for Outstanding Climate Science Communication by Climate One at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco, California.[60]
Stern was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2014[61] in recognition of his work challenging the world view on the economics of climate change.[62] In 2016, he was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences (FAcSS).[63]
Stern was appointed Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour (CH) in the 2017 Birthday Honours for services to economics, international relations, and tackling climate change.[64][65]
The Kiel Institute for the World Economy announced, that Stern will be awarded the Bernhard Harms Prize 2021.[66]
Personal life[edit]
Stern is the son of the late Bert Stern and Marion Stern and nephew of Donald Swann—half of the Flanders and Swann partnership. Richard Stern, former vice-president of the World Bank, and Brian E Stern, former vice-president of Xerox Corporation, are his brothers, and his sister is Naomi Opalinska.