Wynne Godley
| Wynne Godley | |
|---|---|
Wynne Godley
|
|
| Born |
2 September 1926 London |
| Died | 13 May 2010 (aged 83) |
| Nationality | British |
| Field | Monetary economics |
| School or tradition |
Post-Keynesian economics |
| Influences | John Maynard Keynes, Nicholas Kaldor, James Tobin, Francis Cripps |
| Contributions |
Sectoral financial balances |
Wynne Godley (2 September 1926 – 13 May 2010) was an economist famous for his pessimism toward the British economy and his criticism of the British government.
Born in London, he went to Rugby School then read politics, philosophy and economics at New College, Oxford where Isaiah Berlin and Philip Andrews, one of the main economists of the Oxford Economic Research Group, were two of his most important mentors. Godley trained to become a professional musician, studying at the Paris Conservatoire for three years, and then becoming principal oboist at the BBC Welsh Orchestra. He was however continuously nervous about performing in public, and gave up this career, although he remained interested in music and was director of the Royal Opera from 1976 to 1987. In 1955 he married Kitty Epstein, daughter of Jacob Epstein the sculptor, who used his head as the model for his statue of St Michael at the rebuilt Coventry Cathedral.
After his musical career ended he became an economist at the Metal Box company, and then from 1956 to 1970 he worked at the Treasury where he worked in macroeconomic policy issues and short term forecasting, bridging economic and policy issues, including the 1967 devaluation of the pound under Harold Wilson. While at the Treasury he met Nicholas Kaldor, who persuaded him to move to Cambridge University where he became a fellow of King's College and director of the department of applied economics, although he continued to work as a government economic advisor at times, and was appointed as one of Norman Lamont's 'seven wise men' external economic advisors after Black Wednesday. He predicted that the 1973–74 economic boom would end, and that unemployment would hit 3 million in the 1980s. As one of his proteges noted, these dire warnings "… earned him the title 'Cassandra of the Fens' and were derided – until they came true".
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