Lecture 1 - Bank of England

Summary

Introduction

There can be no doubt but that Sir Richard Stone is a true economic scientist, one of those who contributed importantly to the transition of economics from being an art to being a science. Significantly, he emphasized and practiced “measurement with theory,” not “measurement without theory” nor “theory without measurement.” In doing so, he set an excellent example for many others who followed his lead. His careful and thorough measurement procedures and use of sophisticatedly simple theoretical economic models and impressive statistical techniques in analyses of important problems brought him worldwide recognition, as recognized by many, including Angus Deaton in the following words:

Sir Richard Stone, knighted in 1978, and Nobel Laureate in Economics in 1984, is the outstanding figure in post-war British applied economics … Under Keynes' stimulus, the Cambridge Department of Applied Economics was founded and Richard Stone was appointed its first director with an indefinite tenure in the position. Stone brought enormous distinction and worldwide recognition to the department … He was president of the Econometric Society in 1955 and president of the Royal Economic Society from 1978–90.

Further, in an article, “The life and work of John Richard Nicholas Stone 1913–1991,” that appeared in the Economic Journal, M. H. Pesaran and G. C. Harcourt (2000, p. 146) wrote:

Sir Richard Stone … was one of the pioneers of national income and social accounts, and one of the few economists of his generation to have faced the challenge of economics as a science by combining …