Franklin Allen, (born 6 March 1956) is a British economist and academic. Since 2014, he has been professor of finance and economics, and executive director of the Brevan Howard Centre at

Imperial College London Imperial College London, also known as Imperial, is a Public university, public research university in London, England. Its history began with Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, who envisioned a Al ...

. He was the Nippon Life Professor of Finance and Economics at the

Wharton School The Wharton School ( ) is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia. Established in 1881 through a donation from Joseph Wharton, a co-founder of Bethlehem Steel, the Wharton ...

of the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

. He is most active in the research areas of financial innovations, asset price bubbles, the comparison of financial systems, and

financial crises A financial crisis is any of a broad variety of situations in which some financial assets suddenly lose a large part of their nominal value. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, many financial crises were associated with Bank run#Systemic banki ...

Early life and education

He was educated at

Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood Merchant Taylors' School is an 11–18 boys Public school (United Kingdom), public day school, founded in 1561 in London. The school has occupied various campuses. From 1933 it has been at Sandy Lodge, a site close to Northwood, London, Nort ...

and Norwich City College. He graduated from the

University of East Anglia The University of East Anglia (UEA) is a Public university, public research university in Norwich, England. Established in 1963 on a campus university, campus west of the city centre, the university has four faculties and twenty-six schools of ...

with a first class

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

in 1977 and completed his

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...

in economics at

Nuffield College, Oxford Nuffield College () is one of the Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It is a graduate college specialising in the social sciences, particularly economics, politics and sociology. N ...

in 1980.

Academic career

Allen was associate professor of finance and associate professor of finance and economics at the Wharton School from 1980 to 1990, when he became vice dean and director of the Wharton Doctoral Programs and Professor of Finance and Economics. In 1994 he was assigned to the chair of Nippon Life Professor of Finance and Economics as professor. Additionally, he took the position of co-director of the Wharton Financial Institutions Center. He has also visited diverse universities and research centres in the context of visiting professorships, academic fellowships and scientific advisory such as the

University of Tokyo The University of Tokyo (, abbreviated as in Japanese and UTokyo in English) is a public research university in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1877 as the nation's first modern university by the merger of several pre-westernisation era ins ...

(1993), the Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität of Francfort (2001, 2006), the Indian School of Business in Hyderabad (2005), the Stockholm School of Economics and

University of Gothenburg The University of Gothenburg () is a List of universities in Sweden, university in Sweden's second largest city, Gothenburg. Founded in 1891, the university is the third-oldest of the current List of universities in Sweden#Public universities, S ...

in Sweden (2006). He is a past president of the

American Finance Association The American Finance Association (AFA) is an academic organization whose focus is the study and promotion of knowledge of financial economics. It was formed in 1939. Its main publication, the ''Journal of Finance'', was first published in 1946. ...

, Western Finance Association and the Society for Financial Studies, as well as a scientific adviser at the

Sveriges Riksbank Sveriges Riksbank, or simply the Riksbank, is the central bank of Sweden. Founded in 1668, it is the world's oldest surviving central bank, and the third oldest bank in continuous operation. Prior to World War I, it was also the only state- ...

, the central bank of Sweden. He is the editor of the European Finance Association's flagship journal, the '' Review of Finance''. Besides, he acts as advisor to ''Fair Observer'', an online magazine covering global issues from a plurality of perspectives, on issues concerning finance or economics, but also on future strategy and editorial policy. Together with Stewart Myers and Richard Brealey, he is the author of '' Principles of Corporate Finance''. The work is a widely prescribed, standard textbook for undergraduate students in

corporate finance Corporate finance is an area of finance that deals with the sources of funding, and the capital structure of businesses, the actions that managers take to increase the Value investing, value of the firm to the shareholders, and the tools and analy ...

, and also addresses the needs of practising financial managers.

Honours

In July 2017, Allen was elected a

Fellow of the British Academy Fellowship of the British Academy (post-nominal letters FBA) is an award granted by the British Academy to leading academics for their distinction in the humanities and social sciences. The categories are: # Fellows – scholars resident in t ...

(FBA), the United Kingdom's

national academy A national academy is an organizational body, usually operating with state financial support and approval, that co-ordinates scholarly research activities and standards for academic disciplines, and serves as a public policy advisors, research ...

for the humanities and social sciences.

References

External links

Wharton School Official Curriculum Vitae
{{DEFAULTSORT:Allen, Franklin Living people 1956 births People educated at Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood 21st-century British economists 20th-century British economists Alumni of the University of East Anglia Alumni of Nuffield College, Oxford University of Pennsylvania faculty Financial economists American finance and investment writers American textbook writers American male non-fiction writers Corporate finance theorists Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania faculty Fellows of the Econometric Society Nippon Life Fellows of the British Academy People educated at City College Norwich Presidents of the American Finance Association The Review of Financial Studies editors