Abstract
Astill presents Nicholas Barr’s contributions as an academic, his policy work and its influence in the UK and across the world. Barr created an economics of the welfare state, drawing on, among other things, the new economics of information. He established the efficiency role of the welfare state to go far beyond the existing rationale of market failure correction. Barr brings clarity to the controversial economics of higher education finance, presenting the mechanisms at work as transfers of consumption across an individual’s life cycle that mirrors pensions, but recognising the wider systemic failures of choice and access. Finally, with Peter Diamond, Barr explodes myths about pensions and reconstructs the economic analysis space with a pragmatic focus on design issues.
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- 1.
Any quotes not attributed to other sources are from private discussion with Nick Barr in November 2016 and subsequent correspondence.
- 2.
Later to be advisor to Geoffrey Howe when he was Chancellor of the Exchequer in the UK, but at that time a Harkness Fellow at Berkeley.
- 3.
The distinction between risk and uncertainty was first made by Frank Knight (1921).
- 4.
It was when I was studying this Master’s course that I first encountered Nick.
- 5.
LSE’s Suntory and Toyota International Centres for Economics and Related Disciplines.
- 6.
Private correspondence with the author.
- 7.
For a detailed discussion of Friedman’s work on higher education finance, see Barr (2016a).
- 8.
The BBC’s flagship radio morning news programme.
- 9.
One of Nick’s few regrets is that a global virus that day slowed the Internet, so that an invitation to the Blair team’s private celebration after the vote did not reach his inbox until the next morning. Alternative history does not record how the world may have changed.
- 10.
Nick’s critique of the 2012 reforms (see Barr 2012b) is titled, ‘The Higher Education White Paper: The Good, the Bad, the Unspeakable – and the Next White Paper’.
- 11.
The American Economic Review of February 2011 (Arrow et al. 2011) listed the 20 most important papers it had published over the previous 100 years; three were by Peter (including two jointly written with Mirrlees).
- 12.
Private correspondence with the author.
- 13.
Private correspondence with the author.
- 14.
@LSEnews on twitter.com (LSE 2016b).
References
Main Works by Nicholas Barr
Barnes, J. and N. Barr (1988). Strategies for Higher Education: The Alternative White Paper. Edinburgh: Aberdeen University Press, for The David Hume Institute, and London: The Suntory-Toyota International Centres for Economics and Related Disciplines, London School of Economics.
Barr, N. (1979). ‘Myths My Grandpa Taught Me’. Three Banks Review, 124(December): 27–55. Reprinted as Chapter 6 in N. Barr (ed.) (2001) Economic Theory and the Welfare State: Volume II: Income Transfers. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar: 83–111.
Barr, N. (1987). The Economics of the Welfare State. First edition. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson and Stanford University Press.
Barr, N. (1988a). ‘Student Loans Made Easy’. The Times, 28(July): 12.
Barr, N. (1988b). ‘Student Loans: Disentangling the Myths of the White Paper’. Financial Times, 16(November): 29.
Barr, N. (1989). Student Loans: The Next Steps. Edinburgh: Aberdeen University Press, for The David Hume Institute, and London: The Suntory-Toyota International Centres for Economics and Related Disciplines, London School of Economics.
Barr, N. (1992). The Economics of the Welfare State. Second edition. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson and Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Barr, N. (ed.) (1994). Labor Markets and Social Policy in Central and Eastern Europe: The Transition and Beyond. Washington, D.C.: World Bank.
Barr, N. (1998). The Economics of the Welfare State. Third edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press and Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Barr, N. (2000). ‘The History of the Phillips Machine’. Chapter 11 in R. Leeson (ed.) A.W.H. Phillips: Collected Works in Contemporary Perspective. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press: 89–114.
Barr, N. (2001). The Welfare State as Piggy Bank: Information, Risk, Uncertainty, and the Role of the State. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press.
Barr, N. (2002). ‘Reforming Pensions: Myths, Truths, and Policy Choices’. International Social Security Review, 55(2): 3–36.
Barr, N. (2004a). The Economics of the Welfare State. Fourth edition. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press.
Barr, N. (2004b). ‘Obituary: Iain Crawford’. The Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/education/obituary/comment/0,,1176825,00.html.
Barr, N. (2012a). The Economics of the Welfare State. Fifth edition. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press.
Barr, N. (2012b). ‘The Higher Education White Paper: The Good, the Bad, the Unspeakable—And the Next White Paper’. Social Policy and Administration, 46(5): 483–508.
Barr, N. (2014). ‘Gearty Grilling: Nick Barr on Tuition Fees’. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzvGn-jfcuA.
Barr, N. (2016a). ‘Milton Friedman and the Finance of Higher Education’. Chapter 23 in R.A. Cord and J.D. Hammond (eds) Milton Friedman: Contributions to Economics and Public Policy. Oxford: Oxford University Press: 436–463.
Barr, N. (2016b). ‘Dear Friends, This Is Why I Will Vote Remain in the Referendum’. Available at: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/brexit/2016/05/27/dear-friends-this-is-why-i-will-vote-remain-in-the-referendum.
Barr, N. (2017). ‘Funding Post-compulsory Education’. Chapter 16 in G. Johnes, J. Johnes, T. Agasisti and L. López-Torres (eds) Handbook of Contemporary Education Economics. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar: 357–380.
Barr, N. and I. Crawford (1998). ‘The Dearing Report and the Government’s Response: A Critique’. Political Quarterly, 69(1): 72–84. Reprinted as part of Chapter 10 in N. Barr and I. Crawford (2005) Financing Higher Education: Answers from the UK. London and New York: Routledge: 169–184.
Barr, N. and P. Diamond (2008). Reforming Pensions: Principles and Policy Choices. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Barr, N. and P. Diamond (2009). ‘Reforming Pensions: Principles, Analytical Errors and Policy Directions’. International Social Security Review, 62(2): 5–29.
Barr, N. and P. Diamond (2010a). Pension Reform: A Short Guide. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Barr, N. and P. Diamond (2010b). ‘Reforming Pensions: Lessons from Economic Theory and Some Policy Directions’. Economía, 11(1): 1–14.
Barr, N. and P. Diamond (2016). ‘Reforming Pensions in Chile’. Polityka Społeczna, 1(12): 4–8.
Barr, N. and P. Diamond (2017). Designing a Default Structure: Submission to the Inquiry into Superannuation: Assessing Efficiency and Competitiveness. Australian Government Productivity Commission. Available at: http://www.pc.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0015/221703/sub074-superannuation-assessment.pdf.
Barr, N. and P. Diamond (forthcoming). Pension Design. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Barr, N., S.R. James and A.R. Prest (1977). Self-Assessment for Income Tax. London: Heinemann.
Prest, A.R. and N. Barr (1979). Public Finance in Theory and Practice. Sixth edition. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson.
Prest, A.R. and N. Barr (1985). Public Finance in Theory and Practice. Seventh edition. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson.
Other Works Referred To
Arrow, K.J., B.D. Bernheim, M.S. Feldstein, D.L. McFadden, J.M. Poterba and R.M. Solow (2011). ‘100 Years of the American Economic Review: The Top 20 Articles’. American Economic Review, 101(1): 1–8.
Berlinger, E. (2009). ‘An Efficient Student Loan System: Case Study of Hungary’. Higher Education in Europe, 34(2): 257–267.
CPAG (2000). Welfare Benefits Handbook, 2000/2001. London: CPAG.
Diamond, P. (2011). ‘Unemployment, Vacancies, Wages’. American Economic Review, 101(4): 1045–1072.
Farmer, M. and R. Barrell (1982). ‘Why Student Loans Are Fairer Than Grants’. Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy: Public Money, 2(1): 19–24.
Friedman, M. (1955). ‘The Role of Government in Education’. Chapter 9 in R.A. Solo (ed.) Economics and the Public Interest. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press: 123–144.
Friedman, M. and S. Kuznets (1945). Income from Independent Professional Practice. New York: National Bureau of Economic Research.
Heald, D. (1988). ‘Review of The Economics of the Welfare State, by N. Barr’. Economic Journal, 98(392): 871-872.
Holzmann, R. and R. Hinz (2005). Old Age Income Support in the 21st Century: An International Perspective on Pension Systems and Reform. Washington, D.C.: World Bank.
Knight, F.H. (1921). Risk, Uncertainty and Profit. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Company.
LSE (2014). ‘Nicholas Barr Remembers Bill Phillips’. Available at: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsehistory/2014/11/18/nicholas-barr-remembers-bill-phillips.
LSE (2016a). ‘LSE Connect: Martin Lewis’. Available at: http://www.lse.ac.uk/about-lse/connect/assets/documents/LSE-Connect-magazine-Autumn-2016.pdf.
LSE (2016b). ‘@LSEnews on twitter.com’. 8.38am, 6 June.
MacLeod, D. (2003). ‘Myth or Magic?’. The Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/education/2003/dec/02/highereducation.tuitionfees.
Nobel Prize Committee (2001). ‘George A. Akerlof, A. Michael Spence, Joseph E. Stiglitz: Markets with Asymmetric Information’. Nobel Prize in Economics Documents 2001–2002, Nobel Prize Committee. Available at: https://ideas.repec.org/p/ris/nobelp/2001_002.html.
Patterson, W. (1995). ‘A Credit to the Bank’. The Times Higher Education Supplement, 20 (January): 22.
Plotnick, R.D. (1988). ‘Review of The Economics of the Welfare State, by N. Barr’. Journal of Economic Literature, 26(4): 1750–1751.
Powell, M. (2017). ‘Social Policy’s “Greatest Hits”’. Social Policy & Administration. Available at: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/spol.12341/abstract.
World Bank (2006). Pension Reform and the Development of Pension Systems: An Evaluation of World Bank Assistance. Washington, D.C.: Independent Evaluation Group. Available at: http://lnweb90.worldbank.org/oed/oeddoclib.nsf/DocUNIDViewForJavaSearch/43B436DFBB2723D085257108005F6309/$file/pensions_evaluation.pdf.
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Astill, S. (2019). Nicholas Adrian Barr (1943–). In: Cord, R.A. (eds) The Palgrave Companion to LSE Economics. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-58274-4_33
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