Sir Anthony Barnes Atkinson
(4 September 1944 – 1 January 2017) was a British economist, Centennial Professor at the
London School of Economics, and senior research fellow of
Nuffield College, Oxford.
A student of
James Meade, Atkinson virtually single-handedly established the modern British field of
inequality
Inequality may refer to:
Economics
* Attention inequality, unequal distribution of attention across users, groups of people, issues in etc. in attention economy
* Economic inequality, difference in economic well-being between population groups
* ...
and poverty studies. He worked on inequality and poverty for over four decades.
Education and career
Atkinson was born in
Caerleon
Caerleon (; cy, Caerllion) is a town and community in Newport, Wales. Situated on the River Usk, it lies northeast of Newport city centre, and southeast of Cwmbran. Caerleon is of archaeological importance, being the site of a notable Roman ...
, a town in southern Wales near the border with England. Atkinson grew up in north Kent and attended
Cranbrook School.
After leaving school at the age of 17 he worked for
IBM. After one year he left and moved to
Hamburg to volunteer in a hospital in a deprived part of town.
He cited his interest in inequality as beginning from this period as a volunteering in a German hospital and from studying the work of
Peter Townsend.
After studying mathematics for one year he changed to economics and graduated from the
University of Cambridge in 1966 with a first-class degree. Subsequently, he spent time at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
At MIT he attended Robert Solow's seminal growth theory course and worked as a research assistant of Solow. After returning from MIT he considered writing a PhD thesis on
development economics, but eventually never did a PhD.
From 1967 to 1971 he was a fellow at
St. John's College, Cambridge. There he taught public economics together with
Joseph Stiglitz. These lectures were later turned into the famous textbook “Lectures on Public Economics”.
In 1971, at the age of 27, he became full professor of economics at the
University of Essex. In 1976 he became professor of political economy at
University College, London.
During the 1980s he was Tooke Professor of Economic Science and Statistics in the Economics Department at the
London School of Economics. At the LSE he co-directed for 12 years the research programme ‘Taxation, incentives and the distribution of income’. His co-directors were
Nick Stern and
Mervyn King.
He stayed there until 1992 when he returned to the
University of Cambridge for two more years.
In the 1990s he was advisor to the French Prime Minister
Lionel Jospin.
He served as Warden of
Nuffield College, Oxford, from 1994 to 2005.
[ATKINSON, Sir Anthony Barnes, (Sir Tony)](_blank)
''Who's Who 2015'', A & C Black, 2015; online edn, Oxford University Press, 2014. In 1971 he founded the ''
Journal of Public Economics''.
He co-edited it for the next quarter century.
Principles
Several authors have emphasized that some core principles motivate Atkinson's work.
Atkinson became first interested in economics because of his experiences in Hamburg of the 1960s, but also credited the book 'The Poor and the Poorest', by
Brian Abel-Smith
Brian Abel-Smith (6 November 1926 – 4 April 1996) was a British economist and expert adviser and one of the most influential figures of the twentieth century in shaping health and social welfare. In Britain, his research for the Guillebaud c ...
and
Peter Townsend, as having a large influence on his career goals. He was impressed by this account of poverty. At the same time he 'felt that it did not address what to do about the problem'.
This motivated him to provide this missing piece and he published his answer in 'Poverty in Britain and the Reform of Social Security' in 1969.
The same was true for the study of inequality. He mentored
Thomas Piketty
Thomas Piketty (; born 7 May 1971) is a French economist who is Professor of Economics at the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences, Associate Chair at the Paris School of Economics and Centennial Professor of Economics in the In ...
and collaborated with him repeatedly. But he felt that his analysis in
Capital
Capital may refer to:
Common uses
* Capital city, a municipality of primary status
** List of national capital cities
* Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences
* Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used fo ...
was a description of the problem, what was missing was the solution. This again motivated Atkinson 'to go further and show how inequality could actually be reduced in practice' and to write 'Inequality – what can be done?'.
Several have remarked on Atkinson's optimism that progress is possible.
Atkinson's colleague
Max Roser
Max Roser (born 1983) is an economist and philosopher who focuses on large global problems such as poverty, disease, hunger, climate change, war, existential risks, and inequality.
He is the founder and director of the research publication Ou ...
wrote that 'one of
tkinson'sconvictions – apparent in all his writing – was that high levels of economic inequality are not inevitable. Even when the public discourse suggested that nothing could be done to counter the rise of inequality, Tony not only stood by his conviction, but wrote an entire book entitled ''Inequality – What can be done?'.''
In turn, Atkinson also emphasized the optimism of his teacher
James Meade writing, 'Above all, James had a positive vision for the future. He was, in his own words, ‘an inveterate explorer of improvements in economic arrangements’... he wrote that ‘I implore any of my fellow countrymen who read this book not to object: “It can’t be done.” He was ultimately concerned with what could be done to make our world a better place.'
Work
Atkinson's work was predominantly on
income distributions. But he also worked on a wide field of other economic and social questions including
taxation
A tax is a compulsory financial charge or some other type of levy imposed on a taxpayer (an individual or legal entity) by a governmental organization in order to fund government spending and various public expenditures (regional, local, or ...
,
wealth distribution, the economics of the
welfare state,
health economics
Health economics is a branch of economics concerned with issues related to efficiency, effectiveness, value and behavior in the production and consumption of health and healthcare. Health economics is important in determining how to improv ...
, and
poverty. In his long career he published over 350 research papers and authored 24 books. Characteristic for much of his work is a combination of theoretical and applied perspectives.
Inequality
His 1970 paper 'On the measurement of inequality' radically changed the way that economists think about the measurement of inequality. One contribution of this paper is that it introduced a new family of inequality measures that makes different views about distributional justice explicit through a parameter capturing the ‘inequality aversion’ of the measurer. This inequality measure–called the
Atkinson index–is named after him.
Atkinson examined how the wealthy disproportionately influence public policy and influence governments to implement policies that protect wealth.
He presented a set of policies regarding technology, employment, social security, the sharing of capital, and taxation that could shift the inequality in income distribution in developed countries.
He also advocated the introduction of a
basic income
Universal basic income (UBI) is a social welfare proposal in which all citizens of a given population regularly receive an unconditional transfer payment, that is, without a means test or need to work. It would be received independently of an ...
.
He was one of the authors of the
Chartbook of Economic Inequality, a resource widely employed to study the history of inequality.
Global poverty
He had a long-standing interest in the measurement of poverty. One of his most cited research papers is ‘On the measurement of poverty' from 1987.
From 2013 to 2016 he chaired the World Bank's Commission on Global Poverty. The commission included
Amartya Sen
Amartya Kumar Sen (; born 3 November 1933) is an Indian economist and philosopher, who since 1972 has taught and worked in the United Kingdom and the United States. Sen has made contributions to welfare economics, social choice theory, economi ...
,
Ana Revenga,
François Bourguignon
François Bourguignon (born May 22, 1945) is the former Chief Economist (2003–2007) of the World Bank. He has been the Director of the Paris School of Economics, and from 1985 to his retirement in 2013 a professor of economics at the École des H ...
,
Stefan Dercon and
Nora Lustig and had the objective to advise the international institutions on how to measure and monitor global poverty. The commission is usually referred to as the Atkinson Commission.
Before his death he was working on a book on global poverty. Atkinson died before he was able to complete the book, but at his request it was edited for publication by two of his colleagues,
John Micklewright and
Andrea Brandolini. This book–'Measuring Poverty around the World'–was published posthumously in May 2019.
Public economics
Since the 1960s he was one of the leading scholars to develop the discipline of public economics.
In a joint article with
Joseph Stiglitz, he laid one of the cornerstones for the theory of
optimal taxation.
Also jointly with Joseph Stiglitz he authored the seminal textbook “Lectures on Public Economics”. The book was reissued by Princeton University Press in 2015.
In his 2015 publication ''Inequality: What Can Be Done?'', he "called for robust taxation of the rich whom he reckons have got off easily over the last generation."
He recommended government intervention in markets such as employment guarantees and wage controls to influence the redistribution of economic rewards.
He traced the history of inequality, coining the phrase the "inequality turn" to describe the period when household inequality began to rise around 1980. From the 1980s onwards, men and women "tended to marry those who earned like themselves", with rich women marrying rich men. As more women joined the workforce inequality increased.
Influences
Atkinson, who worked on inequality and poverty for more than four decades, was a mentor to
Thomas Piketty
Thomas Piketty (; born 7 May 1971) is a French economist who is Professor of Economics at the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences, Associate Chair at the Paris School of Economics and Centennial Professor of Economics in the In ...
(author of ''
Capital in the Twenty-First Century
''Capital in the Twenty-First Century'' (french: Le Capital au XXIe siècle) is a book written by French economist Thomas Piketty. It focuses on wealth and income inequality in Europe and the United States since the 18th century. It was initiall ...
''); they worked together on building an historical database on top incomes.
Piketty described him as "the godfather of historical studies of income and wealth."
Nobel laureate
Angus Deaton
Sir Angus Stewart Deaton (born 19 October 1945) is a British economist and academic. Deaton is currently a Senior Scholar and the Dwight D. Eisenhower Professor of Economics and International Affairs Emeritus at the Princeton School of Public ...
recalled the first economics seminar he ever attended: "the first seminar I ever heard in economics, in Cambridge in 1969, was Tony presenting his famous paper on the measurement of inequality. It made me think that economics was a pretty cool subject, I thought all economics talks were like this, and it ruined me for a lifetime of seminars."
He had a large influence on the next generation of researchers. Atkinson advised at least sixty PhD students and 'in addition there are many other younger scholars whom he influenced directly through his collaboration on joint research project'.
Membership and honours
He was elected a Fellow of the
British Academy
The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences.
It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the same year. It is now a fellowship of more than 1,000 leading scholars span ...
in 1984, a Fellow of the
Econometric Society in 1974, Honorary Member of the
American Economic Association
The American Economic Association (AEA) is a learned society in the field of economics. It publishes several peer-reviewed journals acknowledged in business and academia. There are some 23,000 members.
History and Constitution
The AEA was est ...
in 1985 and Foreign Honorary Member of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and ...
in 1994.
He was President of the
Econometric Society in 1988.
He was knighted in 2000 and made a Chevalier de la
Légion d'Honneur
The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...
in 2001. He was the first person to be honoured with the A.SK Social Science Award by the
Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung
The WZB Berlin Social Science Center (german: Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung, WZB), also known by its German initials WZB, is an internationally renowned research institute for the social sciences, the largest such institution ...
(WZB Social Science Center in Berlin) in 2007.
He was president of the board of the
Luxembourg Income Study
LIS Cross-National Data Center, formerly known as the Luxembourg Income Study (LIS), is a non-profit organization registered in Luxembourg which produces a cross-national database of micro-economic income data for social science research. The proje ...
, having advised on its creation in the 1980s.
In 2016, Atkinson received the
Dan David Prize
The Dan David Prize is a major international award that recognizes and supports outstanding contributions to the study of history and other disciplines that shed light on the human past. It awards nine prizes of $300,000 each year to outstanding ...
for 'combatting poverty'.
He received 19 honorary doctorates.
Personal life and death
Atkinson was married to Judith Mandeville, whom he met at Cambridge as an undergrad. The couple had three children and eight grandchildren.
He was a passionate sailor and walker.
Atkinson died on 1 January 2017 from
multiple myeloma
Multiple myeloma (MM), also known as plasma cell myeloma and simply myeloma, is a cancer of plasma cells, a type of white blood cell that normally produces antibodies. Often, no symptoms are noticed initially. As it progresses, bone pain, anem ...
in
Oxford, England, aged 72.
Bibliography
Books
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*Atkinson, Anthony B. (2019). Measuring Poverty around the World, Princeton University Press.
Chapters in books
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Journal articles
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(Pdf)*
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See also
*
Atkinson–Stiglitz theorem
The Atkinson–Stiglitz theorem is a theorem of public economics which states that "where the utility function is separable between labor and all commodities, no indirect taxes need be employed." Non-linear income taxation can be used by the govern ...
*
Universal basic income in the United Kingdom
Universal basic income is a subject of much interest in the United Kingdom. There is a long history of discussion yet it has not been implemented to date. Interest in and support for universal basic income has increased substantially amongst the ...
References
External links
Nuffield College official webpage
LSE Homepage* (video)
The Chartbook of Income Inequalityfrom INET at the
University of Oxford by Atkinson, Salvatore Morelli, and
Max Roser
Max Roser (born 1983) is an economist and philosopher who focuses on large global problems such as poverty, disease, hunger, climate change, war, existential risks, and inequality.
He is the founder and director of the research publication Ou ...
(NOTE: This source presents data about long-run changes in the income distribution for 25 countries over the course of more than one hundred years.)
The World Top Income Database accessed 13 May 2017.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Atkinson, Tony
1944 births
2017 deaths
People from Caerleon
21st-century British economists
20th-century British economists
People educated at Cranbrook School, Kent
Alumni of Churchill College, Cambridge
Chevaliers of the Légion d'honneur
Deaths from cancer in England
Deaths from multiple myeloma
Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Fellows of the Econometric Society
Fellows of the British Academy
Knights Bachelor
Academics of University College London
Academics of the London School of Economics
Academics of the University of Essex
Fellows of Nuffield College, Oxford
Wardens of Nuffield College, Oxford
Presidents of the Econometric Society
Professors of Political Economy (Cambridge, 1863)
Commanders of the Order of the British Empire
Honorary Fellows of the London School of Economics
Labor economists
Universal basic income activists
Universal basic income in the United Kingdom