Sir Richard William Blundell CBE FBA (born 1 May 1952 in

Shoreham-by-Sea Shoreham-by-Sea (often shortened to Shoreham) is a coastal town and port in the Adur District, Adur district, in the county of West Sussex, England. In 2011 it had a population of 20,547. The town is bordered to its north by the South Downs, to ...

) 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 ...

and

econometrician Econometrics is an application of statistical methods to economic data in order to give empirical content to economic relationships. M. Hashem Pesaran (1987). "Econometrics", '' The New Palgrave: A Dictionary of Economics'', v. 2, p. 8 p. 8� ...

. Blundell is the

David Ricardo David Ricardo (18 April 1772 – 11 September 1823) was a British political economist, politician, and member of Parliament. He is recognized as one of the most influential classical economists, alongside figures such as Thomas Malthus, Ada ...

Professor of

Political Economy Political or comparative economy is a branch of political science and economics studying economic systems (e.g. Marketplace, markets and national economies) and their governance by political systems (e.g. law, institutions, and government). Wi ...

at the Department of Economics of

University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

and the Co-Director of the ESRC Centre for the Microeconomic Analysis of Public Policy at the

Institute for Fiscal Studies The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) is an independent economic research institute based in London, United Kingdom, which specialises in UK taxation and public policy. It produces both academic and policy-related findings. The institute's ...

. He is also Associate Faculty Member, TSE, Toulouse. He was the Research Director at the

between 1986 and 2016. He is a Fellow of the

Econometric Society The Econometric Society is an international society of academic economists interested in applying statistical tools in the practice of econometrics. It is an independent organization with no connections to societies of professional mathematicians o ...

(1991), Fellow of the

British Academy The British Academy for the Promotion of Historical, Philosophical and Philological Studies 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 sa ...

(1996), Honorary Member of the

American Economic Association The American Economic Association (AEA) is a learned society in the field of economics, with approximately 23,000 members. It publishes several peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Review, an ...

(2001), Honorary Member

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) 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 other ...

(2002), Honorary Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries (2003), Fellow of the Society of Labor Economists (2005), and Foreign Associate of the National Academy of Sciences (2019). Blundell has received honorary doctorates from the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland in 2003; the

University of Mannheim The University of Mannheim (German: ''Universität Mannheim''), abbreviated UMA, is a public university, public research university in Mannheim, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Founded in 1967, the university has its origins in the ''Palatine Aca ...

in 2011; the Norwegian School of Economics NHH, Bergen in 2011; the Università della Svizzera italiana, Switzerland in 2016; the University of Bristol in 2017; the University of Venice Ca Foscari in 2018; and the Athens School of Economics, AUEB, Athens in 2022. He was

knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

in the 2014 New Year Honours for services to economics and social science.

Career

Blundell received his B.Sc. in economics with statistics from

University of Bristol The University of Bristol is a public university, public research university in Bristol, England. It received its royal charter in 1909, although it can trace its roots to a Merchant Venturers' school founded in 1595 and University College, Br ...

in 1973 before he graduated with a master's degree in econometrics and mathematical economics from 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 1975. He held a position as

lecturer Lecturer is an academic rank within many universities, though the meaning of the term varies somewhat from country to country. It generally denotes an academic expert who is hired to teach on a full- or part-time basis. They may also conduct re ...

in econometrics at the

University of Manchester The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The University of Manchester is c ...

from 1975 to 1984. He was appointed Professor of Economics at

in 1984 and research director of the IFS in 1986, before establishing the ESRC Centre for the Microeconomic Analysis of Fiscal Policy at IFS in 1991. He was

visiting professor In academia, a visiting scholar, visiting scientist, visiting researcher, visiting fellow, visiting lecturer, or visiting professor is a scholar from an institution who visits a host university to teach, lecture, or perform research on a topic fo ...

of economics at UBC in 1980, at

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of modern technology and sc ...

in 1993, at Berkeley in 2000 and at

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

in 2017. He was co-editor of ''

Econometrica ''Econometrica'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal of economics, publishing articles in many areas of economics, especially econometrics. It is published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the Econometric Society. The current editor-in-chief is ...

'' from 1997 to 2001 and co-editor of the '' Journal of Econometrics'' from 1992 to 1997. He currently edits ''Microeconomic Insights''. In 2004 Blundell became president of the

European Economic Association The European Economic Association (EEA) is a learned society, professional academic body which links European economists. It was founded in the mid-1980s. Its first annual congress was in 1986 in Vienna and its first president was Jacques Drèze. ...

, in 2006, president of the

in 2010, president of The Society of Labor Economics in 2010 and served as president of the

Royal Economic Society The Royal Economic Society (RES) is a professional association and learned society that promotes the study of economics. Originally established in 1890 as the British Economic Association, it was incorporated by royal charter on 2 December 1902. ...

(2011–2013).

Awards

In 1995, Blundell received the

Yrjö Jahnsson Award Yrjö, a masculine Finnish given name that is the equivalent of George, may refer to: * Yrjö von Grönhagen (1911–2003), Finnish anthropologist * (1903–1956), Finnish poet * Yrjö Kilpinen (1892–1959), Finnish composer * Yrj ...

, given by the

every two years to the best young economist in Europe (aged under 45), for his work in microeconometrics and the analysis of labour supply, welfare reform and consumer behaviour. In 2000 he was awarded the

's Frisch Medal, awarded every two years for empirical or theoretical applied research published in ''

'' during the previous five years. In 2008 he was recipient of the Jean-Jacques Laffont Prize 2008 given by the Toulouse School of Economics to an international high level economist whose research combines both the theoretical and applied aspects of economics. He was the 2010 Distinguished Center for Economic Studies Fellow, an annual prize given by the CES of the

Ludwig Maximilian University The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich, LMU or LMU Munich; ) is a public research university in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Originally established as the University of Ingolstadt in 1472 by Duke Ludwig IX of Bav ...

of Munich to an outstanding economist who has greatly contributed to the understanding of economic policy problems. In 2012 he was recipient of the IZA Prize in Labor Economics awarded by IZA for outstanding academic achievements in the field of labor economics. In 2014, Blundell received, with

David Card David Edward Card (born 1956) is a Canadian-American labour economist and the Class of 1950 Professor of Economics at the University of California, Berkeley, where he has been since 1997. He was awarded half of the 2021 Nobel Memorial Prize in ...

, the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Economics, Finance and Management for "their contributions to empirical microeconomics," in the words of the jury's citation. "Motivated by important empirical questions, they developed and estimated appropriate econometric models, making significant methodological contributions in the process. Both are known for their attention to institutional detail, careful and innovative research design, rigorous application of econometric tools, and dispassionate reporting of results." In 2016 Blundell received the Nemmers Prize in Economics at

for "his important contributions to labor economics, public finance and applied econometrics". He was elected a foreign associate of the US

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...

in April 2019. In 2020 he was awarded the Jacob Mincer Prize for lifetime contributions to the field of Labor Economics.

Publications

He has published six books and many articles on

econometrics Econometrics is an application of statistical methods to economic data in order to give empirical content to economic relationships. M. Hashem Pesaran (1987). "Econometrics", '' The New Palgrave: A Dictionary of Economics'', v. 2, p. 8 p. 8 ...

microeconomics Microeconomics is a branch of economics that studies the behavior of individuals and Theory of the firm, firms in making decisions regarding the allocation of scarcity, scarce resources and the interactions among these individuals and firms. M ...

consumer behaviour Consumer behaviour is the study of individuals, groups, or organisations and all activities associated with the Purchasing, purchase, Utility, use and disposal of goods and services. It encompasses how the consumer's emotions, Attitude (psy ...

public economics Public economics ''(or economics of the public sector)'' is the study of government policy through the lens of economic efficiency and Equity (economics), equity. Public economics builds on the theory of welfare economics and is ultimately used as ...

applied economics Applied economics is the application of economic theory and econometrics in specific settings. As one of the two sets of fields of economics (the other set being the ''core''), it is typically characterized by the application of the ''core'', i.e ...

economic theory Economics () is a behavioral 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 ...

, inequality and

labour economics Labour economics seeks to understand the functioning and dynamics of the Market (economics), markets for wage labour. Labour (human activity), Labour is a commodity that is supplied by labourers, usually in exchange for a wage paid by demanding ...

. He is an editor and panel member of th
IFS Mirrlees Review
and editor and panel member of th
IFS-Deaton Review: Inequality in the 21st Century
Among his six books, ''Labor Supply and Taxation'' is Blundell's most distinguished book, in which he presents research on the behavior of individuals on the labor market respond to social policy influence and taxation, and on the modern labor markets and public policy reforms.

Books

*''Labor Supply and Taxation'', 2016. *''The Determinants and Effects of Work-Related Training in Britain'', 1996. *''Higher education, employment and earnings in Britain'', 1997. *''Mirrlees Review: Vol II: Tax by Design'', 1997.

Personal life

His brother is the biochemist

Tom Blundell Sir Thomas Leon Blundell, (born 7 July 1942) is a British biochemist, structural biologist, and science administrator. He was a member of the team of Dorothy Hodgkin that solved in 1969 the first structure of a protein hormone, insulin. Blun ...

. Blundell is a jazz and folk fan, and plays guitar and saxophone, playing in a band when a student at the University of Bristol.

References

External links

Debrett's People of TodayUCL webpageIFS websiteIFS-Deaton Review: Inequality in the 21st CenturyIFS Mirrlees ReviewMicroeconomic Insights
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blundell, Richard 1952 births Living people Academics of University College London Alumni of the University of Bristol 20th-century British economists 21st-century British economists Labor economists Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Econometricians Presidents of the Econometric Society Fellows of the British Academy Knights Bachelor People from Shoreham-by-Sea Fellows of the Econometric Society Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Alumni of the London School of Economics Education economists Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences Fellows of the European Economic Association