Nicholas Herbert Stern, Baron Stern of Brentford , (born April 22, 1946) is an English economist and academician. He is an economics and government professor and chair of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics (LSE), and the 2010 Professor CollÃÆ'¨ge de France. Since 2013, he has become President of the British Academy.
Video Nicholas Stern, Baron Stern of Brentford
Education
After attending Latymer Upper School, Stern studied Mathematical Tripos and was awarded a Bachelor of Arts degree in mathematics at Peterhouse, Cambridge, and DPhilEcon in economics at Nuffield College, Oxford, with a thesis on the level of economic development and the theory of optimal planning in 1971 overseen by James Mirrlees.
Maps Nicholas Stern, Baron Stern of Brentford
Careers and research
He was Senior Chief Economist and Vice President of the World Bank from 2000 to 2003, and has recently been an economic advisor to government and civil servants in the UK. In June 2007, Stern became the first holder of I. G. Patel Chair at the London School of Economics. In 2008, he was also appointed Chair of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, a major new research center on the LSE. He is the Chair of the Center for Economic and Climate Change Policy at Leeds and LSE Universities. Stern is chairman of the Global Commission on Economy and Climate, with Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and Paul Polman.
He was a lecturer at Oxford University from 1970 to 1977, a climate change economist and served as Professor of Economics at the University of Warwick from 1978 to 1987. He taught from 1986 to 1993 at the London School of Economics, becoming Sir John Hicks, Professor of Economics. From 1994 to 1999 he was Chief Economist and Special Adviser to the President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. His research focuses on economic development and growth, and he also writes books on Kenya and the Green Revolution in India. Since 1999, he is a member of the International Advisory Board of the Center for Social and Economic Research (CASE). From 1999 to 2000 Stern was chairman of the London Economics consultancy founded by John Kay.
After taking office as Chief Economist of the World Bank from 2000 to 2003, Stern was recruited by Gordon Brown, then Chancellor of the Minister of Finance, to work for the British government where, in 2003, he became the second permanent secretary in H.M. Treasury, initially with responsibility for public finance, and head of the Government's Economic Service. After also serving as Director of Policy and Research for the Commission for Africa, he, in July 2005, was appointed to review the economics of climate change as well as development, leading to the publication of the Stern Review. At that time, he ceased to be the second permanent secretary of the Treasury even though he retained his rank until retiring in 2007; his review team is based in the Cabinet Office.
It was reported that Stern's time at the Treasury was marked by tension with his boss, Gordon Brown:
[...] Some Whitehall sources told The Times that Brown disliked some of the suggestions he had received from Sir Nicholas, including some "home truths" about long-term trends in the economy and he never went into the inner circle of the chancellor. [...] He then has no real role and spends most of his time working on major international reports on global warming and reducing poverty in Africa. His report full of danger about failing to cope with climate change, published in October, caused tensions within the Government by sparking debate on environmental taxes and causing calls for major policy changes.
The Stern Review Report on Climate Change Economy was produced by a team led by Stern in HM Treasury, and released in October 2006. In the review, climate change is described as an economic externality. Stern further refers to the externality of climate change as the biggest market failure ever:
Climate change is the result of the biggest market failures that the world has ever seen. The evidence on the seriousness of the risk of inaction or delayed action is now overwhelming... The problem of climate change involves a fundamental failure of the market: those who damage others by emitting greenhouse gases generally do not pay
Regulations, carbon taxes and carbon trading are recommended to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It is said that the world economy can reduce greenhouse gas emissions with significant but manageable costs. This review concludes that immediate reductions in greenhouse gas emissions are needed to reduce the worst risks of climate change. The conclusion of the review was widely reported in the media. A relatively large estimate of the cost of 'business as usual' climate change damage gets special attention. This is an estimate of the damage that may occur if there is no further effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
There are mixed reactions to Stern's reviews of economists. Some economists have been critical of a review, for example, a paper by Byatt et al. (2006) described the review as "highly flawed". Some have supported the Review, while others argue that Stern's conclusions make sense, even if the methods he achieves are incorrect. The Stern Review team has responded to criticism over reviews in several papers. Stern also went on to say that he underestimated the risk of climate change in the Stern Review.
Stern's approach to discounting has been debated among economists. The discount rate allows the economic effects that occur at different times to be compared. Stern uses the discount rate in its calculations of the impact of "mediocre" climate change damage. A high discount rate reduces the calculated benefits for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Using too low a discount rate would be a waste of resources because it would result in too much investment in reducing emissions (Arrow et al. , 1996, p.Ã, 130). Too high the discount rate will have the opposite effect, and lead to a lack of investment in reducing emissions. Most research on the deterioration of climate change uses higher discount rates than those used in the Stern Review. Some economists support the choice of Stern discount rate (Cline, 2008; Shah, 2008 Heal, 2008) while others are very important (Yohe and Tol, 2008; Nordhaus, 2007).
Another criticism of the Stern Review is that it is more political than analytical documents. Writing in the Daily Telegraph newspaper, Charles Moore's columnist compares the Stern Review with the British Government's "dodgy documents" on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.
In a speech given in 2007 at the Australian National Press Club, Stern called for one percent of the global gross product to be used in environmental measures related to global warming. He also joins the Cool Earth advisory board. In 2009, Stern connects the recovery from the global economic crisis with an effective response to climate change. His book, Blueprint for a Safer Planet , was published in April 2009.
In 2007, Nicholas Stern joined IDEAglobal as Vice Chairman.
In 2009, he published non-fiction literature, The Global Deal: Climate Change and the Creation of a New Era of Progress and Prosperity . This book examines climate change from an economist's perspective, and outlines the steps needed to achieve global economic growth while managing climate change. In 2009, he also became a member of the International Advisory Board of the Chinese government wealth fund, China Investment Corporation.
Stern is a supporter of vegetarianism as an element of climate change mitigation.
He is a member of the scientific committee of IDEAS Fundacion, the Spanish Socialist Party think tank.
In 2015, he was one of the authors of the report that launched the Apollo Global Program, which called on developed countries to commit to spend 0.02% of their GDP over 10 years, to finance coordinated research to make lower-carbon base loads less expensive of electricity from coal in 2025.
Following the successful United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris (mid-December 2015), Stern appears optimistic, saying, "If we get this right, it will be stronger than the industrial revolution. He also said
Where we can, we must go to zero carbon, because of the growing population and the increasing middle class in developing countries who want the same standard of living that has been enjoyed by developed countries. Greenhouse gases must be cut at least 50% worldwide by 2050, with rich rich countries cutting up to 80%, compared to 1990 levels. We are at the beginning of a technical revolution in the size of trains, automobiles... The economic crisis is an opportunity to lay the foundations for the future... You can tell a very positive story here.
In November 2015, he was commissioned by the Minister of University and Science of the United Kingdom, Jo Johnson to lead a review of the Excellence Excellence Framework (REF) used in assessing the research performance of Universities and Research Institutes in the UK. This report was published in July 2016.
Awards and honor
Stern was elected a Fellow at the British Academy in 1993; he is also an Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and an Honorary Member of Foreign Affairs of the American Economic Association. In the Queen's Anniversary Awards 2004 she was appointed a Knight Scholar, for Economic services. On October 18, 2007, it was announced that Stern would receive the title of nobility and should be a non-party political partner (ie sit as a cross destroyer in the House of Lords). He should have created the Baron Stern of Brentford Elsted in County West Sussex and Wimbledon at London Borough of Merton on December 10, 2007. However, he is usually called Lord Stern, or Lord Stern of Brentford.
In 2006, he was elected Honorary Member at Peterhouse, Cambridge, and he is also an Honorary Member of St. Catherine's College, Oxford.
Stern was honored with a Doctor of Honors degree by the University of Warwick in 2006, Honorary International Relations Honors Degree by the Geneva School of Diplomacy and International Relations in 2007, a Doctor of Honor of Literature at Sheffield University in 2008, an Honorary Doctor by Technische UniversitÃÆ'¤t Berlin in 2009 and also in the 2009 Honorary Doctor of Science degree from the University of Brighton.
Stern participated in one of The Age of Stupid performances at The RSA. In the after-show webcast panel discussions were director Franny Armstrong, journalist George Monbiot, and head of the Climate Met Office Richard Betts. In 2009, Nicholas Stern gave his support to the 10:10 project, a movement that encourages people to take positive action on climate change by reducing their carbon emissions.
Stern received BBVA 2010 Frontage Knowledge Award in the Climate Change category for its "pioneering reports that form and focus discourse on climate change economies" and provide "a unique and powerful basis for decision-making."
On 11 December 2013, Stern was awarded the Stephen H. Schneider 2013 Award for Climate One Exceptional Climate Communications at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco, California.
Stern was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2014 in recognition of his work challenging the world view of the economics of climate change. In 2016, he was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences (FAcSS).
Stern is appointed as a Member of the Honorary Friendship (CH) Order in the 2017 Anniversary Award for economic services, international relations, and climate change mitigation.
Personal life
Stern is the son of the late Bert Stern and Marion Stern and Donald Swann's nephew - half of the Flanders and Swann partnerships. Richard Stern, former vice-president of the World Bank, and Brian E Stern, former vice president of Xerox Corporation, are his siblings, and his sister is Naomi Opalinska.
Work
- Strategy for Development , World Bank Publication, 2002 (ISBN 978-0821349809).
- The Economics of Climate Change: The Stern Review , Cambridge University Press, 2007 (ISBN 978-0521700801).
- Blueprint for a Safer Earth: How to Manage Climate Change and Create a New Era of Progress and Prosperity , Bodley Head, PublicAffairs, 2009 (ISBN 978-1-84792-037-9).
- Global Agreement: Climate Change and the Creation of a New Era of Progress and Wellbeing , 2009 (ISBN 978-1586486693).
- Why Are We Waiting? Logic, Urgency, and Promise Overcoming Climate Change, MIT Press, 2015 (ISBNÃ, 9780262029186).
References
Further reading
- Personal Sites
- Mr. Stern from Brentford - LSE Login experts
- World Bank Biography
- Lord Stern of Brentford, FBA at CSA Celebrity Speakers
- Stern at Oxford University
- The person behind the UK giant climate change report
- UK Government Treasury web page on Stern review
- An article about Stern's review conclusions about China's development
- Interview with Nicholas Stern at The Beaver, February 13, 2007
- Speech for Economic Climate Change Symposium, Nov 2006
- 'Green Route For Growth' article published in Guardian.co.uk Explanation Is a Free Part, October 23, 2008
- Launch the green economic revolution now, says Stern
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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