Nicholas Stern, Baron Stern of Brentford

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Nicholas Stern, Baron Stern of Brentford bigraphy, stories - British economist and academic

Nicholas Stern, Baron Stern of Brentford : biography

22 April 1946 – living

Nicholas Herbert Stern, Baron Stern of Brentford, Kt, FBA (born 22 April 1946) is a British economist and academic. He is IG Patel Professor of Economics and Government, 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. From 2013, he will be President of the British Academy.

Statements

“Where we can, we have to go to zero carbon, because of a growing population and a rising middle class in developing countries which wants the same standard of living the developed world already enjoys. GHGs must be cut by at least 50% around the world by 2050, with the rich, developed countries cutting by 80%, compared to 1990 levels. We are at the beginning of a technical revolution of the magnitude of the railway, the motor car … The economic crisis is an opportunity to lay the foundation for the future … You can tell a very positive story here.”Nicholas Stern: climate and economic crises can be tackled jointly, Wind Directions (EWEA), March 2009 pages 46-47

Awards and recognition

Stern was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 1993;The British Academy (2006). . Retrieved 31 October 2006. he is also an Honorary Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Economic Association. In the 2004 Queen’s Birthday Honours he was made a Knight Bachelor, for services to Economics.Press and Information Office – LSE (2006). . Retrieved 31 October 2006. 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). His full title is Baron Stern of Brentford, of Elsted in the County of West Sussex and of Wimbledon in the London Borough of Merton, but he is usually addressed as Lord Stern, or Lord Stern of Brentford.

In 2006, he was elected as an Honorary Fellow at Peterhouse, Cambridge."Peterhouse" (college magazine) Jan 2008, page 3; also http://www.pet.cam.ac.uk/fellows/fellows.html

Stern was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Science degree by the University of Warwick in 2006,University of Warwick (2006). . Retrieved 31 October 2006. 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,University of Sheffield (2008). an Honorary Doctor by the Technische Universität Berlin in 2009http://www.pressestelle.tu-berlin.de/uploads/media/CL_041109_PI-Ehrenprofessur_eng.pdf and also in 2009 an honorary degree of Doctor of Science from the University of Brighton.

Lord Stern participated at one of the showings of The Age of Stupid at The RSA. At the after-showing webcast panel discussion was director Franny Armstrong, journalist George Monbiot, economist Nicholas Stern, 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.

The BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award was awarded to Lord Stern in January 2011 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." http://www2.lse.ac.uk/GranthamInstitute/Media/Announcements/BBVA-award-stern-Jan11.aspx

Biography

After attending Latymer Upper School, he earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in mathematics at Peterhouse, Cambridge, and his Doctor of Philosophy in economics at Nuffield College, Oxford with thesis titled Location and the rate of development: a study in the theory of optimal planning. He was a lecturer at University of Oxford from 1970 to 1977, and served as a 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 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. From 1999 until 2000 Stern was Chairman of the consultancy London Economics founded by John Kay.