I was honoured to be awarded an Honorary Doctor of Letters by Queen Mary University of London for my work in “economics, finance and policy globally.”

It is 43 years since I first came to Queen Mary. I was 22, had a lot more hair and arrived to begin a PhD researching the efficiency of financial futures markets.

After spotting an advert in The Economist, I applied for the Queen Mary award in association with the Henley Centre for Forecasting in the City.

What I discovered was a university that combined intellectual seriousness with openness, opportunity and ambition. Queen Mary encouraged people regardless of background to think independently, work hard and believe they could make a difference.

While a small economics department, which celebrates its sixtieth anniversary this year, it was home to an extraordinary concentration of talent, including Maurice Peston, David Currie, Bernard Corry, Victor Bulmer-Thomas and Paul Ormerod among others. I am, and was, fortunate enough to count them as friends.

The lessons I learnt there have stayed with me. Incentives matter. Theory does not tell the whole story. You need to walk around and see how the economy actually works, and ask what it means for people on the Clapham omnibus. And, as Peston often advised, sometimes the best thing to do is simply to move on.

Traditions mattered too. The Senior Common Room opened each mid-morning for tea and the economics department held court. By evening, the debate simply migrated to the Senior Common Room bar. Our excuse for being regulars was that it sat conveniently beside the economics department – a piece of university planning I always considered remarkably sensible! Among my contemporaries were many impressive economists, including David Blanchflower and Joe Ganley.

Today, Queen Mary is one of the great success stories of UK higher education. It was ranked seventh in the UK for research quality in the latest Research Excellence Framework, with 92% of its research assessed as world-leading or internationally excellent. It is also recognised as a national leader in social mobility and continues to rise in the global rankings.

Its international standing continues to grow. US News ranked Queen Mary 94th in the world and ninth in the UK in its 2025-26 Best Global Universities rankings, while the QS World University Rankings now place it 110th globally after a rise of 35 places in just two years.

Queen Mary turned me from an economics student into an economist, and I remain grateful for the friendship, opportunities and intellectual curiosity it gave me.

It was also particularly special for my family that our eldest daughter, Elf, was also honoured by Queen Mary, receiving her honorary doctorate in absentia.