George Christopher Archibald (30 December 1926 – 22 February 1996), briefly 2nd Baron Archibald in 1975, also known as Chris Archibald, was a British economist, a researcher and professor. He played a significant role in building the new

University of Essex The University of Essex is a public university, public research university in Essex, England. Established by royal charter in 1965, it is one of the original plate glass university, plate glass universities. The university comprises three camp ...

into a premier UK research centre for the

social sciences Social science (often rendered in the plural as the social sciences) is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of society, societies and the Social relation, relationships among members within those societies. The term was former ...

in the 1960s.

Richard Lipsey Richard George Lipsey, (born August 28, 1928) is a Canadian academic and economist. He is best known for his work on the Theory of the Second Best, economics of the second-best, a theory that demonstrated that piecemeal establishing of individu ...

(1996), a friend and colleague, in reviewing Archibald's last book, ''Information, Incentives, and the Economics of Control'' (1992) usefully summarises his approach to economics. He was "firmly in the camp of those who accept the practical value of the price system as a coordinator of decentralized decision making while rejecting the cruder versions of Chicagoism that everything produced by the price system is optimal." And while emphasising "the virtues of the price system" noted that "its unaided operations were, in his own words, 'not beyond human wit to improve upon.'" (Lipsey, 1996, p1005-6) Archibald was born in

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

, the first son of

Dorothy Archibald Dorothy Archibald, Lady Archibald (January 1895 – 22 July 1960) was a British politician. Born in Liverpool as Dorothy Holroyd, she studied for a year at the University of Liverpool, then at Girton College, Cambridge. After completing her stu ...

and

George Archibald, 1st Baron Archibald George Archibald, 1st Baron Archibald CBE (21 July 1898 – 25 February 1975) was a British Labour politician. Early life Archibald was the son of George W. Archibald, of Glasgow, and was educated at St George's Road Elementary School and Alan ...

. He completed high school at

Phillips Exeter Academy Phillips Exeter Academy (often called Exeter or PEA) is an Independent school, independent, co-educational, college-preparatory school in Exeter, New Hampshire. Established in 1781, it is America's sixth-oldest boarding school and educates an es ...

New Hampshire New Hampshire ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

, and received his

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 history from

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

in 1943. After military service in

WWII World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and

Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...

, he completed a Bachelor of Science in economics at the

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...

in 1951. After graduation Archibald taught in Otago, New Zealand, but returned to the London School of Economics (LSE) in 1955 and was appointed to the staff. He was one of the founding members of the LSE Staff Seminar on Methodology, Measurement and Testing. He left LSE in 1964 to join the staff at the newly created University of Essex, where he received a professor's chair in 1967. In 1971, he moved to the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a Public university, public research university with campuses near University of British Columbia Vancouver, Vancouver and University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, in British Columbia, Canada ...

. Also in 1971 he married Daphne May Vincent Henman, his second wife. Upon the death of his father, instead of becoming Baron Archibald, he renounced the peerage, expressing the opinion that hereditary honours were empty honours. He retired from the University of British Columbia in 1991 and moved back to Britain.

Selected publications

* with R. G. Lipsey (1958) "Monetary and Value Theory: A Critique of Lange and Patinkin" ''The Review of Economic Studies'' 26(1): pp. 1–22, , applied Patinkin's theory to stock flows and stock equilibrium and developed that relationship for the first in modern monetary economics. * (1967) "Refutation or Comparison" ''The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science'' 17(4): pp. 279–296, , detailed some of what measurement and testing can and cannot accomplish. * (1992) ''Information, Incentives, and the Economics of Control'' Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England, (new edition republished in 2005), is considered a staple in the field.

References

* Lipsey, Richard G., (1996) "Obituary: George Christopher Archibald, 1926-1996" ''The Canadian Journal of Economics / Revue canadienne d'Economique'' 29(4): pp. 1004–1006 {{DEFAULTSORT:Archibald, George Christopher 1926 births 1996 deaths Nobility from Glasgow 20th-century British economists 2 Fellows of the Econometric Society

Archibald Archibald may refer to: People and characters *Archibald (name), a masculine given name and a surname *Archibald (musician) (1916–1973), American R&B pianist * Archibald, a character from the animated TV show ''Archibald the Koala'' Other uses ...