ECONOMICS

See Also: THE BARBECUED CHEVALIER; THE CITY OF LONDON & FINANCE; THE FINANCEPHALOGRAPHICAL CROCODILE HUNTER; MAGAZINES The Economist; MONEY; RAILWAYS Industrial Policy

Dr Nicholas Barbon

In about 1680 the property developer Dr Nicholas Barbon created a de facto form of fire insurance. He also wrote a number of works on economics: he addressed rent in Apology for The Builder: or a Discourse Slowing The Cause and Effects of The Increase of Building (1685); he argued that imports underwrote exports in A Discourse of Trade (1690), which was based upon his experience of business in The Netherlands; and he discussed the recoinage in A Discourse Concerning Coining The New Money Lighter (1696). In his will he left instructions that his executor should not pay any of his debts.

Location: Barbon Close, WC1N 3JX (orange, purple)

See Also: DEVELOPMENTS Dr Nicholas Barbon; MONEY The Royal Mint, Sir Isaac Newton

The Dismal Science

The historian Thomas Carlyle dubbed economics the dismal science . He was prompted to do this by Thomas Malthus's prediction that population would outgrow food supply.

Location: 24 Cheyne Row, SW3 5HL (purple, brown)

Goodhart's Law

Goodhart s Law states that all money measures states that all money measures (e.g. M3) used by policymakers become distorted. Charles Goodhart was a senior Bank of England official.

Location: The Bank of England, Threadneedle Street, EC2R 8AR (orange, turquoise)

See Also: THE BANK OF ENGLAND

The Mars Bar Inflation Index

The financial journalist Nico Colchester worked on the Financial Times newspaper from the late 1960s until the mid-1980s. He came to appreciate that the Mars bar,¹ because of changes to its size and weight, had maintained a constant value and thus was an excellent index of inflation. The 24 November 1981 edition of the paper published an article in which he set out his theory.

Location: Bracken House, 1 Friday Street, EC4M 9BT (orange, purple)

See Also: BEANS Inflation; BURGERS McDonalds; CONFECTIONERY; SKYSCRAPERS Centre Point

Website: www.ft.com/nico-colchester www.marsbar.co.uk

¹. Scotland has the worst heart disease rate in Western Europe. The country's overall diet is notorious for its high-fat, high-cholesterol character. In 1995 there were news reports of a new fad in Scottish fish and chip shops - deep fried Mars bars. The bar is treated as would be a piece of fish - it is coated in batter and then submerged briefly in a deep fat frier.

The Royal Economics Society

There is the phenomenon of many economists overusing mathematical modelling. This derives from an appreciation that their subject did not have the same objective rigour as physics. Queen Elizabeth II delivered a speech at a meeting of the Royal Economics Society. In it, she posed the question as to why economists had been unable to foresee the Global Financial Crisis of 2008. Eventually, she received the reply that the overreliance upon mathematical models had had no scope to incorporate others factors.

Location: 2 Dean Trench Street, SW1P 3HE (blue, yellow)

Website: www.res.org.uk

Trinity House

Trinity House operates lighthouses along the English and Welsh coasts. It has been used to examine issues of economic doctrine. Ronald Coase, the winner of the 1991 Nobel Prize for Economics ,¹ used it as an example of a private corporation that fulfils public duties.

Location: Trinity House, Trinity Square, EC3N 4AJ (orange, red)

See Also: ARTISTS' ORGANISATIONS The Royal Academy of Arts; THE BANK OF ENGLAND; ESTATES The Crown Estate; FOREIGN RELATIONS The British Council; HERITAGE The National Trust; NAUTICAL Trinity House

Website: www.trinityhouse.co.uk

¹. In reality, the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel.

The World Monetary & Economic Conference

The World Monetary & Economic Conference of 1933 was an international gathering that was convened in response to the Great Depression. Representatives of 66 country filled 708 seats.

Senator Key Pittman (1872-1940) spent most of the conference drunk. He chased his fellow American Herbert Feis (1893-1972) around a hotel while holding a gun. He attended a reception at Buckingham Palace wearing yellow shoes.

Any - highly unlikely - chance of the event being a success was destroyed by President Roosevelt's decision to take the United States off the gold standard. This aggressively devalued the dollar.

Location: The Geological Museum (now The Science Museum), Exhibition Road, SW7 2DD (red, turquoise)

David Backhouse 2024