John Kay (economist)


John Anderson Kay, is a British economist. He was the first dean of Oxford’s Said Business School and has held chairs at London Business School, the University of Oxford, and the London School of Economics. He has been a fellow of St John's College, Oxford, since 1970.

Career

Born in Edinburgh, Kay was educated at the Royal High School, Edinburgh University, and Nuffield College, Oxford. He lectured in economics at Oxford from 1971 to 1978.
In 1979, Kay became Research Director and the Director of the independent think tank, the Institute for Fiscal Studies. In 1986 he became a professor at the London Business School and founded London Economics, a consultancy firm. He was the first director of Oxford's Said Business School from 1997 to 1999, and has written at some length as to why he chose to resign after only two years. He has served as a director of Halifax plc and of several investment companies.
Kay, addressed to non-economists, attempts to answer what Robert Lucas has called the most exciting economic question: across the globe, why are so few rich and so many poor?
He is a regular editorial contributor to the Financial Times, where he has also had a weekly column since 1995. He sits on the European Advisory Board of Princeton University Press.
In 2012 he presented a substantial report to the British government on reform of the equity market, which suggested that "the stockmarket exists to provide companies with equity capital and to give savers a stake in economic growth. Over time that simple truth has been forgotten". Kay suggested a series of reforms which he hoped would correct some problems with stock markets; some critics suggested his analysis of the problem was better than his proposed solution.
Kay has also served as a member of the Council of Economic Advisers to the First Minister of Scotland from 2007 to 2011. Five months before the 2014 Scottish independence referendum, Kay said it was a "mistake" for voters to think claims of an independent Scotland being one of the world's wealthiest nations would mean more cash in their pockets. Kay warned that using GDP as a measure fails to reveal how much money bypasses locals by going straight to foreign companies and drew comparisons with Ireland, which appeared "better off" than it actually was before economic meltdown.
He also spoke as part of Asian Institute of Finance's Distinguished Speaker Series in 2016 entitled "Other People’s Money
Masters of the Universe or Servants of the People?" in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Honours

In 1997, Kay was elected a Fellow of the British Academy. In 2008, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. In 2016, he was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences.
Kay received an Honorary Doctorate from Heriot-Watt University in 2009
Kay was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2014 New Year Honours for services to economics.

Books

Some of Kay's many columns on economics and business topics, published in the Financial Times, are reprinted in:
Other books include: