FVC welcomes one of world’s most influential economists

FVC welcomes one of world’s most influential economists
Andy Haldane talks to students

One of the world’s most influential people gave a guest lecture to Business students at Forth Valley College recently.

More than 50 students from HND Accountancy, NC Finance and NC Business courses – and several eager staff members - gathered at the Falkirk Campus on Monday 26 March, to hear from Andy Haldane the Chief Economist at the Bank of England, who was in Scotland as part of the Bank’s new educational outreach programme which will be launched on 27 April.

The VIP guest speaker is the latest in a list of high profile guests to visit the college to inspire and encourage students. He follows in the recent footsteps of prolific novelist Chris Brookmyer and Dame Sue Black a Scottish forensic anthropologist, anatomist and academic who was at the forefront of gathering evidence for the United Nations from mass graves found in Kosovo.

Mr Haldane is also Executive Director for Monetary Analysis, Research and Statistics and is a member of the Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee. He also has responsibility for research and statistics across the Bank. 

He has an honorary doctorate from the Open University, he is an honorary professor at the University of Nottingham, a visiting fellow at Nuffield College, Oxford, a member of the Economic Council of the Royal Economic Society, a fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences, and a member of the Research and Policy Committee at Nesta. Andrew is the founder and a trustee of Pro Bono Economics, a charity which brokers economists into charitable projects, and a trustee of National Numeracy.

He has written extensively on domestic and international monetary and financial policy issues and has published over 150 articles and four books. In 2014, TIME magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world.

Mr Haldane, said: “It was an absolute pleasure to visit FVC and have a chance to meet and speak with its students. The college is clearly full of many bright and inquisitive young minds – I wish them all the very best for their studies and careers ahead.”

Bob Armstrong, Head of FVC’s Department of Business, said: “Andy Haldane is a highly respected economist with the Bank of England and we were absolutely delighted that he was able to come along and give a talk to our students and staff.

“He covered lots of topical issues in his talk including the impact of the recent Financial Crash and the potential economic consequences of Brexit to the future of the world of work, quantitative easing, and much more.

“Andy also explained the Bank of England’s role in supporting the economy and the factors influencing the Monetary Policy Committee’s decisions on setting interest rates including inflation, consumer and business confidence, GDP growth and spare capacity, equity markets, wage growth average earnings and unit labour costs, and unemployment rates.

“At the end of the talk Andy spent time taking questions from the floor and he was brilliant with our students.  Everyone who attended the session agreed that this has been one of the highlight of our academic year and we can’t thank him enough for taking the time out from his busy schedule to visit us here at Forth Valley College.  Who knows we might be lucky enough to have him to return one day to give another talk.”