Centrally planned economies work very badly for two reasons. First, even if you had accurate data on what customers wanted and all the technical relationships between inputs and outputs, you would have a computational problem far beyond any practical solution. … Continued
Most Cambridge students live and study in an area of about one square mile of Cambridge. This includes the city centre and most faculties, though if you need to go to the West Cambridge site or the Biomedical campus (see … Continued
One of my recent dinners was at the house of the Vice Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, at his grand, official residence in Latham Road. The dinner was for speakers at the Cambridge University alumni weekend, which attracts several thousand … Continued
Perhaps it’s having recently re-watched the film Brideshead Revisited, which rather emphasises the food and drink aspect of student life at Oxford. Perhaps it’s the fact that I have seven official work-related dinners (and three drinks receptions) coming up in … Continued
Early September is a pleasantly quiet time of the year in Cambridge, between the tourists and the new year of students. These pictures were all taken within five minutes walk of Cambridge Judge Business School on a short lunchtime stroll. … Continued
…is perfectly expressed in yesterday’s column by the chief political commentator of The Observer newspaper, Andrew Rawnsley. The title is more negative than the rest of the article. I’m indifferent rather than hostile to the Olympics (unlike many of my … Continued
Here is a letter from a US professor who is retiring after 40 years of teaching. He complains of the sense of entitlement among today’s students and says he “grew increasingly weary of all the whining, crying, excuse-making, and general lack … Continued
Thanks to a blog at The Guardian, I’ve just come across a fascinating report from the British charity The Sutton Trust, which aims to increase social mobility through education, a goal that is badly needed in the UK and US. … Continued
I’m reading a new book by the American political philosopher Michael Sandel, called “What Money Can’t Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets”. It’s an interesting and characteristically thoughtful book on the way that market-based ideas and mechanisms have invaded areas … Continued
Recently one of my most distinguished colleagues said that the defining feature of academic research is rigour. He didn’t define it but I think his is a widely accepted view. I agree but “rigour” needs to be considered in context. … Continued
Following my post on teaching and research, I got a couple of comments and questions about the value of research for teaching. At a recent internal meeting, some colleagues who wanted to minimise the dilemma of whether to focus on … Continued
It is well known inside the major research-led universities but perhaps less well known outside, that the status of research is far higher than that of teaching. In a university like Cambridge, appointment, tenure, promotion and general reputation are dominated … Continued
The Institute for New Economic Thinking was founded two years ago with funding from George Soros. It held its first ever conference here in Cambridge, where possibly the greatest combination of leading economists ever assembled for one meeting debated how … Continued
It’s the mission of the University of Cambridge to be globally excellent in research and education. On the whole we don’t take much notice of rankings, though it is obviously nice that Cambridge is usually at or near the top … Continued