ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳

Professor Nicholas  Barr

Professor Nicholas Barr

Professor of Public Economics

European Institute

Telephone
+44 (0)20 7955 7482
Room No
CON 6.16
Office Hours
Please email for appointment
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Connect with me

Languages
English
Key Expertise
Social Insurance, Pensions, Higher Education, Health Finance

About me

Nicholas Barr FRSA has an MSc in Economics from the London School of Economics and a PhD from the University of California, Berkeley, where he was a Fulbright Scholar. He is Professor in Public Economics at the London School of Economics, the author of numerous articles, and author or editor of over twenty books, including (6th edition, 2012), (with Peter Diamond) (2010, also in Chinese and Spanish), and (with Iain Crawford), (2005). The heart of his work is an exploration of how market failures can both explain and justify the existence of welfare states. He is a member of the Editorial Board of the International Social Security Review and an Associate Editor of CESifo Economic Studies, the Australian Economic Review and the Journal of the Economics of Ageing.  

Alongside teaching and research is wide-ranging involvement in policy. He worked at the World Bank from 1990-1992 on the design of income transfers and health finance in Central and Eastern Europe and Russia, and from 1995-1996 as one of the authors of the World Bank's . He has been a Visiting Scholar at the Fiscal Affairs Department at the International Monetary Fund, a member of the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Councils on Demographic Shifts and on Ageing Society and a member of the governing bodies of HelpAge International and the Pensions Policy Institute.

Since the mid 1980s he has been active in the debate about financing higher education, advocating a system of income-contingent student loans collected alongside income tax or social security contributions. In the UK, he argued for many years for tuition fees fully covered by income-contingent loans, and he and his colleague Iain Crawford have been described as the in England. He led the team that designed the student loan system in Hungary and has advised governments in Australia, New Zealand and Chile. His impact case study (top-rated in the UK 2014 Research Assessment Framework), can be found  and the associated video . In 2017-18 he was a Specialist Adviser to the House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee for their Report on .

He is also involved in pensions policy. He was a member of a small group invited to advise the government of China on pension reform, presenting their findings to the Premier in 2004; and he and Peter Diamond were invited to present a follow-up report in 2009. More recently, he was a member of a Presidential Commission on Reform of the Pension System in Chile which presented its report to the President in 2015. He has also advised governments in the UK, China, Finland, Sweden and South Africa (where he also contributed to the Lund Committee on Child and Family Support).

A range of academic and policy writing can be found on /european-institute/people/barr-nicholas/home.

Activities outside academic life include family, travel, photography, and membership of Middlesex County Cricket Club.

Expertise Details

Economic Theory of the Welfare State; Social Insurance; Pensions; Health Finance; The Finance of Higher Education

Welfare State

  •  ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳ Public Policy Review, 2021; 2(1): 5, pp. 1-8  

  • , 6th edition, Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2020 (also in Polish) 

  • (with Peter Diamond), , Australia Productivity Commission, July 2018 

  • (with Michael Otsuka),   

  • (with Peter Diamond), , Australia Productivity Commission, September 2017  

  • ,In: Franklin, Ben, Urzi Brancati, Cesira and Hocklaf, Dean, (eds.) Towards a new age: The future of the UK welfare state. The International Longevity Centre, London, UK, 2016, pp. 35-40.  

  • , Report to the Expert Group on Public Economics (ESO), 2013:7, Stockholm: Ministry of Finance, 2013  

  • , Evaluation of the Finnish Pension System Part 1, Helsinki: Finnish Centre for Pensions, Eläketurvakeskus, 2013  

  • , 5th edition, Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2012  

  •  In: Bovenberg, Lans, van Ewijk, Casper and Westerhout, Ed, (eds.) The Future of Multi-Pillar Pensions. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, 2012, pp. 90-141. ISBN 9781107022263  

  • (with Peter Diamond),  Issue Brief Number 11-2, January 2011, Chestnut Hill, MA: Center for Retirement at Boston College.  

  • Social Policy and Administration, Vol. 44, No.4, August 2010, pp.359-374  

  •  with Peter Diamond, New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010, also in  and   

  • ‘’, with Peter Diamond, International Social Security Review, Vol. 62, No. 2, 2009, pp. 5-29 (also in French, German and Spanish).  

  • (with Peter Diamond), ‘’, International Social Security Review, Vol. 62, No. 2, 2009, pp. 5-29

  • (with Peter Diamond) , New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008, ISBN 978-0-19-531130-3  

  • The Economics of Welfare - Pensions, Health Care, Unemployment and Long-term Care Insurance in the Twenty First Century, (Tokyo: Kouseikan, 2007), ISBN 978-4-332-60083-1 (Japanese translation of The Welfare State as Piggy Bank, 2001)  

  • '', Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Vol. 22. No. 1, Spring 2006, pp. 1-14  

  • (with Peter Diamond) ', Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Vol. 22. No. 1, Spring 2006, pp. 15-39  

  • The Economics of the Welfare State, 4th edition, Oxford University Press and Stanford University Press, 2004. (also in Hungarian and Korean)

  • , Oxford University Press, 2001 

  • (Editor) Economic Theory and the Welfare State, Edward Elgar Library in Critical Writings in Economics, Edward Elgar, 2001 

  • '', Working Paper WP/00/139, Washington DC: International Monetary Fund, 2000. 

  • 'Genetic Screening and Insurance', in Third Report: Human Genetics: The Science and Its Consequences, Volume II Minutes of Evidence, House of Commons Science and Technology Committee, Session 1994-95, HC 41-IV, HMSO, 1995, pp. 242-247. 

  • 'Economic Theory and the Welfare State: A Survey and Interpretation', Journal of Economic Literature, Vol. 30, No. 2, June 1992, pp. 741-803.

Higher Education Finance

Press Articles

  • ‘’, Research Professional News, 21 July 2024

  •  Financial Times, 14 September 2021

  • (with Peter Diamond and Stefan Lundbergh), ‘’, Dagens Industri, 11 April 2018.
  • ‘’, La Vanguardia, 27 October 2017

  • ‘’, Peru, BNamericas, 28 July 2017

  • ‘’, Carta Capital 6 December 2016
  • ‘’, Carta Capital, 26 November 2016

  • ‘’, The Conversation, 23 October 2015

  • (with Carmelo Mesa-Lago), ‘La reforma previsional: hacienda lo correcto’, El Mercurio, 17 October 2015, p. A2
  • ‘Hay que construir sobre los firmes cimientos de la reforma de 2008’, El Mercurio, 16 September 2015, p. B8

  • (with Peter Diamond), ‘Italy's pension reforms: facing the factsItaly24, 15 May 2015; also in Italian
  • ‘800 pensionsfonder att välja mellan är för mång’”, Debatt, 3 October 2013

  • ‘’, Times 2, 28 March 2011
  • '’, Guardian Education, 24 March 2009
  • ‘What’s it all about? Quality and access’, Economist.com, 29 October 2008

  • '', Guardian Education, 31 October 2006, p. 10
  • ‘Both student loans policies flawed’, The Dominion Post (Wellington), 5 October 2005, p. B7.

  • ‘Rae sets out a realistic plan for financing quality university system’, Toronto Star, 1 March 2005, p. A17.

  • Variable fees are the fairer route to quality’, Financial Times, 30 March 2004, p. 21.
  • , Guardian, 24 March 2004

  • , The Guardian, 24 January 2004

  • 'A Good Deal for All the Family', Times Educational Supplement, 23 January 2004

  • , The Guardian, 2 December 2003

  • , The Guardian, 12 June 2003

  • '', Times Higher Education Supplement, No. 1572, 17 January 2003, p. 20.

  • '', The Independent, 16 January 2003
  • (with Iain Crawford), ‘Set universities free to decide their own fees’, The Independent, Education, 16 January 2003, p. 3

  • 'A Way to Make Universities Universal', Financial Times, 22 November 2002, p.21.

  • (with Iain Crawford), ‘’, Guardian Education, 16 July 2002, p. 13

  • ‘Free our universities to charge whatever fees they can get’, The Independent, 7 July 2000, Review p. 4 

Post-Communist Reform

  • (Editor) , Washington DC: The World Bank, 2005, ISBN 0-8213-6119-8

  • '', in Orlowski, Lucjan T. (ed.), Transition and Growth in Post-Communist Countries: The Ten-Year Experience, Edward Elgar, 2001, pp. 169-218.

  • , New York: Oxford University Press for the World Bank, 1996, pp. 123-31.

  • 'People and Transition' in World Development Report 1996: From Plan to Market, New York: Oxford University Press for the World Bank, 1996, pp. 66-84.

  • , New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994 (also in Hungarian, Romanian and Russian).

Other

  • , Robert (ed.), A. W. H. Phillips: Collected Works in Contemporary Perspective, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999, pp. 89-114.

Blogs and Videos

  • , ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳ Politics and Policy, 8 July 2024 

  • , ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳ Politics and Policy, 7 May 2024

  • ’, ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳ History Blog, 17 January 2024

  • ‘’, HEPI blog, 16 October 2023

  • ‘’, Universities UK Insights and Analysis, 7 September 2023

  • ‘’, Rear Vision, ABC Australia, 25 June 2023

  • ‘’, ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳ Politics and Policy, 7 June 2023

  • ‘’, ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳ Business Review, 1 June 2023

  • ‘’, Fabian Society, 30 March 2023

  • (with Fabian Mushövel) ‘’, Social Europe, 7th February 2023.

  •  ‘’, ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳ Politics and Policy, 28 September 2022,

  • ‘’, ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳ Business Review, 6 September 2022

  • (Video) Inflation,

  • (Video) ‘’, ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳ Festival: How Do We Get to a Post-COVID World?, 16 June 2022

  • ‘’, CENIE International Centre on Aging, 21 April 2022

    • [in Spanish] ‘’, Centro Internacional sobre el Envejecimiento’, CENIE, 21 Abril 2022

  • (Video) , 7 April 2022

  • (Video) ‘’, 20th anniversary of the Dominican Republic social security system, 29 March 2022, [8 minutes starting at 1hr 39]

  • (Video) ‘’, Social Science International,  January 2022

  • (Video) ‘’, Social Science International, January 2022 
  • ‘’, January 2022
  • , ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳ Covid-19, 7 September 2021

  • , ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳ Covid-19, 23 October 2020

  • , ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳ Covid-19, 1 October 2020

  • (with Howard Glennerster), , ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳ Covid-19, 29 May 2020

  • , ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳ Brexit, 9 January 2020

  •  , ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳ Brexit, 2 January 2020

  • (with Andy Westwood), , Wonkhe, 5 June 2019

  • , ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳ Brexit, 24 January 2019

  • , Wonkhe, 7 January 2019

  • , ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳ Brexit, 29 March 2017.

  • (Video), Brexit Lunchtime Lectures, London School of Economics, 1 March 2017.

  • (Video), Madrid, 12 December 2016.

  • , ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳ BrexitVote, 22 July 2016.

  • , ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳ BrexitVote, 27 May 2016.

    with a 
  • , ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳ Centre for Economic Performance Brexit 2016, 27 May 2016.

  • , ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳ Brexit Vote, 1 January 2016.

  • The Conversation, 23 October 2015.

  • (Video), British Government@ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳ Elections Policy Panel, London School of Economics, 18 February 2015.

  • , ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳ History Blog, 18 November 2014.

  • (Video), Gearty Grilling, 2 October 2014.

  • (Video), 2014 Seminar on ageing and labour markets, Fundacja Naukowa Instytut Bada? Strukturalnych (Institute for Structural Research), Warsaw, 25 September 2014.

  • Jobs and Development Blog, 9 December 2013.

  • New York Times, 6 November 2013.

  • , MoneySavingExpert Guest Comment, 29 July 2011.

  • , ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳ British Politics and Policy, 20 August 2010.
  • '', The Independent, 25 March 2010

  • , ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳ Politics and Policy, 19 March 2010

  • , ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳ Blogs, 12 March 2010  
  • (Video), Keynote address, Conference on theWhite Paper and Beyond: Tertiary Education Reform in the Czech Republic Prague, 16 October 2009.

  • (Video), ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳ European Institute-FT Business Future of Europe Public Lecture Series, London School of Economics, 11 February 2009.

My research

Blog Post

Author(s) Nicholas Barr

Article

Author(s) Nicholas Barr

Blog Post

Author(s) Nicholas Barr

Blog Post

Author(s) Nicholas Barr