Huw David Dixon (/hju: devəd dɪksən/), born 1958, is a British

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...

. He has been a professor at

Cardiff Business School , native_name_lang = , image = , image_size = , image_alt = , caption = , latin_name = , other_name = , former_name = , motto = , motto_lang = , mottoeng = , established = , type = Business school , parent = Cardiff Univ ...

since 2006, having previously been Head of Economics at the

University of York The University of York (abbreviated as or ''York'' for post-nominals) is a collegiate research university, located in the city of York, England. Established in 1963, the university has expanded to more than thirty departments and centres, co ...

(2003–2006) after being a professor of economics there (1992–2003), and the

University of Swansea Swansea University ( cy, Prifysgol Abertawe) is a public university, public research university located in Swansea, Wales, United Kingdom. It was chartered as University College of Swansea in 1920, as the fourth college of the University of Wales. ...

(1991–1992), a Reader at Essex University (1987–1991) and a lecturer at

Birkbeck College , mottoeng = Advice comes over nightTranslation used by Birkbeck. , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £4.3 m (2014) , budget = £10 ...

(University of London) 1983–1987.

Education

He graduated from his first degree in

Philosophy and Economics Philosophy and economics studies topics such as public economics, behavioural economics, rationality, justice, history of economic thought, rational choice, the appraisal of economic outcomes, institutions and processes, the status of highly id ...

from Balliol College, University of Oxford in 1980, and he went on to do his PhD at

Nuffield College Nuffield College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It is a graduate college and specialises in the social sciences, particularly economics, politics and sociology. Nuffield is one of Oxford's newer c ...

, University of Oxford under the supervision of

Nobel Laureate The Nobel Prizes ( sv, Nobelpriset, no, Nobelprisen) are awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Swedish Academy, the Karolinska Institutet, and the Norwegian Nobel Committee to individuals and organizations who make o ...

Sir

James Mirrlees Sir James Alexander Mirrlees (5 July 1936 – 29 August 2018) was a British economist and winner of the 1996 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. He was knighted in the 1997 Birthday Honours. Early life and education Born in Minnigaf ...

graduating in 1984.

Career

Dixon was a fellow of the CEPR from 1991–2001, a member of the

Royal Economic Society The Royal Economic Society (RES) is a professional association that promotes the study of economic science in academia, government service, banking, industry, and public affairs. Originally established in 1890 as the British Economic Association, ...

council (1996–2001), and a fellow of the Ces-ifo institute since 2000. He has been on the Editorial Board of the Review of Economic Studies (1986–1993), the Journal of Industrial Economics. He edited the Controversies section of the

Economic Journal ''The Economic Journal'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal of economics published on behalf of the Royal Economic Society by Oxford University Press. The journal was established in 1891 and publishes papers from all areas of economics.The edit ...

(1994-9) and has been the Chair of the Royal Economic Society Conference 1992. Dixon has a wide scope in terms of the areas of economics he has researched and published in and he has been described as one of Europe's leading economists. The topics include: #

Bertrand–Edgeworth model In microeconomics, the Bertrand–Edgeworth model of price-setting oligopoly looks at what happens when there is a homogeneous product (i.e. consumers want to buy from the cheapest seller) where there is a limit to the output of firms which are wil ...

s with strictly convex costs. Francis Edgeworth developed the analysis of the model of

Bertrand competition Bertrand competition is a model of competition used in economics, named after Joseph Louis François Bertrand (1822–1900). It describes interactions among firms (sellers) that set prices and their customers (buyers) that choose quantities at the p ...

in a setting where firms had constant

marginal cost In economics, the marginal cost is the change in the total cost that arises when the quantity produced is incremented, the cost of producing additional quantity. In some contexts, it refers to an increment of one unit of output, and in others it ...

up to capacity. Dixon explored how this could be generalized to the case of convex costs. He established the existence of a mixed-strategy

Nash equilibrium In game theory, the Nash equilibrium, named after the mathematician John Nash, is the most common way to define the solution of a non-cooperative game involving two or more players. In a Nash equilibrium, each player is assumed to know the equili ...

, and of an

Epsilon-equilibrium In game theory, an epsilon-equilibrium, or near-Nash equilibrium, is a strategy profile that approximately satisfies the condition of Nash equilibrium. In a Nash equilibrium, no player has an incentive to change his behavior. In an approximate Nas ...

in a large market, and in other aspects. # Strategic investment Models. The use of capital to alter the way firms compete in

oligopoly An oligopoly (from Greek ὀλίγος, ''oligos'' "few" and πωλεῖν, ''polein'' "to sell") is a market structure in which a market or industry is dominated by a small number of large sellers or producers. Oligopolies often result f ...

by altering their

, or conjectural variations. #

Bounded rationality Bounded rationality is the idea that rationality is limited when individuals make decisions, and under these limitations, rational individuals will select a decision that is satisfactory rather than optimal. Limitations include the difficulty o ...

. Dixon explored the implications of evolutionary ideas for oligopoly theory and learning. He also developed one of the first models of endogenous aspirations in economics. # New Keynesian Macreconomics. Dixon was one of the first economists to examine the effect of

imperfect competition In economics, imperfect competition refers to a situation where the characteristics of an economic market do not fulfil all the necessary conditions of a perfectly competitive market. Imperfect competition will cause market inefficiency when it hap ...

on the effectiveness of fiscal policy in his paper ''A simple model of imperfect competition with Walrasian features''. This is an idea that was much explored in many other papers by him and more recently. This paper was the first to demonstrate in a simple

general equilibrium model In economics, general equilibrium theory attempts to explain the behavior of supply, demand, and prices in a whole economy with several or many interacting markets, by seeking to prove that the interaction of demand and supply will result in an o ...

that the

fiscal multiplier In economics, the fiscal multiplier (not to be confused with the money multiplier) is the ratio of change in national income arising from a change in government spending. More generally, the exogenous spending multiplier is the ratio of change ...

could be increasing with the degree of

in the output market. The reason for this is that

in the output market tends to reduce the

real wage Real wages are wages adjusted for inflation, or, equivalently, wages in terms of the amount of goods and services that can be bought. This term is used in contrast to nominal wages or unadjusted wages. Because it has been adjusted to account ...

, leading to the household substituting away from consumption towards

leisure Leisure has often been defined as a quality of experience or as free time. Free time is time spent away from business, work, job hunting, domestic chores, and education, as well as necessary activities such as eating and sleeping. Lei ...

. When

government spending Government spending or expenditure includes all government consumption, investment, and transfer payments. In national income accounting, the acquisition by governments of goods and services for current use, to directly satisfy the individual ...

is increased, the corresponding increase in lump-sum taxation causes both leisure and consumption decrease (assuming that they are both a normal good). The greater the degree of imperfect competition in the output market, the lower the

and hence the more the reduction falls on leisure (i.e. households work more) and less on consumption. Hence the

is less than one, but increasing in the degree of imperfect competition in the output market. Other topics include

macroeconomics Macroeconomics (from the Greek prefix ''makro-'' meaning "large" + ''economics'') is a branch of economics dealing with performance, structure, behavior, and decision-making of an economy as a whole. For example, using interest rates, taxes, and ...

nominal rigidity Nominal rigidity, also known as price-stickiness or wage-stickiness, is a situation in which a nominal price is resistant to change. Complete nominal rigidity occurs when a price is fixed in nominal terms for a relevant period of time. For exampl ...

. Most of his work is

New Keynesian New Keynesian economics is a school of macroeconomics that strives to provide microeconomic foundations for Keynesian economics. It developed partly as a response to criticisms of Keynesian macroeconomics by adherents of new classical macroec ...

. Dixon supports the

High Speed 2 High Speed 2 (HS2) is a planned high-speed railway line in England, the first phase of which is under construction in stages and due for completion between 2029 and 2033, depending on approval for later stages. The new line will run from its m ...

development for the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

, and expressed his support in a

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...

article on 6 January 2012, along with other leading economists. He has contributed to The Times Higher Education Supplement multiple times regarding economics.

Works

He has authored a boo
Surfing Economics
which explores

New Keynesian economics New Keynesian economics is a school of macroeconomics that strives to provide microeconomic foundations for Keynesian economics. It developed partly as a response to criticisms of Keynesian macroeconomics by adherents of new classical macroec ...

, the Natural Rate,

Bounded Rationality Bounded rationality is the idea that rationality is limited when individuals make decisions, and under these limitations, rational individuals will select a decision that is satisfactory rather than optimal. Limitations include the difficulty o ...

, Social Learning and the meaning of

Economics Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics anal ...

References

External links

Cardiff Business School: Huw Dixon (homepage)

Official website huwdixon.org
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dixon, Huw 1958 births Living people New Keynesian economists Monetary economists British social scientists Welsh economists People from Swansea Academics of Cardiff Business School Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford 20th-century British economists 21st-century British economists Alumni of Nuffield College, Oxford Academics of the University of York Academics of Swansea University Academics of Cardiff University Academics of the University of Essex Academics of Birkbeck, University of London People associated with Cardiff University Fellows of the Royal Economic Society