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No 5 - Winter 2000
The Economics Department had a good year in 1999, seeing the triumphant vindication of the decision to launch the July entry in 1998, with degree programmes in Economics, Business Economics and Economics, Business and Law all now having July and January entries. We advertised these programmes in The Economist in May (perhaps you caught up with us there).
In May Malcolm Rees returned from teaching at Lehigh University for the first semester, 1999, and taught the second half of the Health Economics course, sharing it with Stefan Kramer from the University of Westminster. Mike McCrostie is working hard as Economics Admissions Tutor and has rewarded himself with a holiday in Egypt before the beginning of the new term on 24th January 2000 when it will be back to the Economic Environment I. Martin Ricketts gave papers at conferences in Wallerfangen and Aix-en-Provence in 1999, and also presented papers to the Warsaw Business Club in Poland and at the University of Sofia in Bulgaria. He is currently working on the third edition of his book The Economics of Business Enterprise . All the above, together with Linda Waterman, went on a sort of Work Outing in the summer, to Silverstone Circuit, at the invitation of Marc Gene, to watch him practising before the British Grand Prix. It was wonderful (and quite frightening) to see him in action and we came away deafened and even more impressed than we had been before by his extraordinary courage. Marc was extremely sweet to us and we were delighted that he had been in touch when he had so many other, not unimportant, things on his mind. In addition to all the coverage that he received in the press, the Economics Department had another, more personal contact with his progress later in the year, when Chiho Hara, with whom he stayed at the time of the Tokyo Grand Prix, emailed us to say that she'd spent a happy time showing him the sights. Chiho is working for the Corporate Finance Division of Dresdner Kleinwort Benson of the Dresdner Bank Group in Tokyo.
Keith Shaw didn't go anywhere exotic this year (except on holiday) but is taking up a six-week posting at the Institute of Economic Affairs in Ghana in January 2000 and plans to visit Poland in the Spring. Anna Novikova came along after graduation and made us all envious by describing her life in Paris. She also put us in touch with Julia Martynova and we have heard from Kamala Chelliah-Boardman and Kala Thamotharalingam, non economics alumni with whom we were very happy to be in touch. (After all, Julia was in the 1998 Economics group photograph, which was more than some of the economics students managed!)
David Greenaway has had a busy year, as always. The Queen managed to track him down to Nottingham, where she opened the new Jubilee Campus in the summer, for the overall planning and development of which Professor Greenaway was, in addition to all his other activities, responsible. He's also playing golf, we hear. John Dunlop has been in regular touch with us here. He has been visiting Australia, New Zealand, Israel and Fiji and is looking forward to China, Hong Kong and Singapore in the year 2000. That's what you get if you go into the travel tour business. John even sent us a postcard from Scotland; his handwriting is still so awful that we thought he was telling us that he'd taken 'twelve cardigans', but it turned out he was referring to twelve Canadians.
Arif Khurshed and Edward Major successfully defended their doctoral theses in 1999; our congratulations go to them, in recognition of a splendid achievement. Dr Major has started an appointment at the Open University Business School and with the award of his doctorate was confirmed as a Research Fellow there. Dr Mudambi, Arif Khurshed's supervisor, was in Reading for the viva examination in the summer and cycled up to Buckingham to see us (plus ça change), and, when he returned for Dr Khurshed's graduation ceremony in December, he took the opportunity to attend a conference at the University of Manchester and to dine with Professor and Mrs Ricketts in Buckingham. Dr Broyles was Arif's External Examiner so the link with the MSc in Business Economics remains strong. Congratulations are also due to Lanre (R.O.) Babalola (1989-90 Economics) who has completed his PhD programme in Economics. Meanwhile, Rajnish Singh has registered at the University of Buckingham to read for a DPhil with Professor Ricketts as his supervisor. Rajnish is researching the determinants of entrepreneurial growth in Britain: the case for South Asian minorities, and still found the time to marinate and cook some delicious chicken at our summer barbecue / Christmas party held, as tradition demands, in August. Hisashi Okada was glad that he came from Milton Keynes to taste this wonderful food and we were delighted to see him. Rajnish is sharing the office occupied by the doctoral students in the Economics corridor with Penka Marinova. Penka's researches into the implications for environmental policy of changes in property rights structures in Eastern Europe continue apace, as do her marketing activities on behalf of the University; last year she visited Poland, the Ukraine, Bulgaria and Russia, whence she returned in the Autumn with caviar and champagne for the departmental Christmas celebrations, which we were able to share with Michael Lewsey, who bravely continues to teach the Economic Environment course at Buckingham and with Helen Froggatt who has returned safely from her round the world yacht race (Clipper 98) and who is still busy cataloguing the photographs of what was obviously the experience of a lifetime.
It was a sad day when the Austrian Coffee Shop above the Buckingham Bakery closed. As one alumna student said, on hearing the news (she knows who she is), 'Wherever will people go now to recover after their interviews?' Mr. Rees, who knows a watershed event when he sees one, wrote a short ode to mark the passing of that particular era. It really is awfully good.
We have been in touch with Niki Rokni, who tells us she was married in March 1999 and that she is still working at marketing and selling commercial aircraft, specialising in freighters. Sabrina Fernandez (BSc Econ 1993) wrote to us from Cape Town where she is working as an audit manager for PricewaterhouseCoopers. She says she loves it there, and is no hurry to return to England or Spain! Ahmin Pahamin came to England to explore possible commercial outlets for his business here, and took the opportunity to pop in and see us. He has also recommended one of our current undergraduates, Jihoen Lai, to study economics at Buckingham and generally keep an eye on us. David Jeffreys sent us Christmas and New Year wishes from Cambridge. Anthony Yauieb (class of '94 - graduation, BSc (Econ)) arrived to take up his MSc in Development Economics studies at Pembroke College, Oxford and promptly took an afternoon off to visit us in Buckingham. He's on secondment from the Treasury in Papua New Guinea. He is married with three children but doesn't look a day older than when he left. Vikram Lokur has transferred to New York and is working with Morgan Stanley Dean Witter's Private Wealth Management department there. He has been made an associate and was married in January 1998.
Gabriel Mendy sent us millennium greetings from The Gambia, where he is Fund Manager for the Social Security & Housing Finance Corporation, Jana Hlistova wrote from Sydney where she is coordinating the Corporate Suite at the Olympic stadium for Sodexho. She says she's trying to become an 'outdoor kid', learning to play golf and 'possibly horseriding'. I still remember her sweet talking a fireman into carrying her through the water to the bar for a drink when the floods were high at Easter time 1998.
Edward Wihardja tells us that he married in September 1999 and has since begun the MSc in Banking at City University. He's also now able to trade on the London Stock Exchange, after a qualifying period of employment as a Banking Analyst at the Asian Bank.
Nicholas von Moyland has begun reading for the exams of the Association of Corporate Treasurers. Sehyun Yoo has sent us best wishes since the last newsletter appeared and Mark Harris sent a Christmas card from Singapore - but no news! Don't keep it to yourself, Mark.
We were all sad to learn of the death, at the age of 80, of Mrs Joan Pasmore, whom many of you will remember from the 1980's when she covered the evening shift in the Hunter Street and Franciscan Libraries. She was a wonderful, gentle, witty character and we felt it had been a privilege to know her.
Lady Thatcher came to Buckingham in the Autumn for the memorial tribute to Lord Beloff and we were delighted that Sir Alan Peacock, former Vice-Chancellor and Emeritus Professor of Economics, was able to give a seminar to the economists on the occasion of his visit to mark that event. Professor Nicolaus Tideman, who first visited the Economics Department here in 1983, returned for perhaps the twentieth time, and gave a paper on using an applied general equilibrium model to estimate the consequences of taxes. Dr Mark Rogers moved back to the UK to take up a job at the University of Oxford. Koichi Mizumura (Visiting Scholar 1983-84) sent a beautiful calendar, and Karsten Heise wrote to tell us that he'd been to Vienna and that it was lovely in the snow but that he had been too busy working to do the proper touristy things.
It has just been announced that Xu Zhao, one of the first July entry (1998) cohort of students in Business Economics, has won the John and Sylvia Jewkes scholarship for £1,000 for best performance in the Part I examinations.
Carlos Pons, 1999 January entrant into Business Economics, telephoned from Ecuador to tell us that he is bringing something special back with him when he returns to Buckingham in the new year, namely his sister, Mariasol, who is coming to study Economics, Business and Law in January 2000. This put us in mind of other family dynasties we have known; the Vriesingas, the Aridas, the De La Puentes, the Alcaniz-Lorenzos, the Heahs, the Resinellis and who could forget the Garba brothers? Are there any missing from this list? Did you feature in this newsletter? If not, perhaps it's time you got in touch. If you're passing through Buckingham then do drop in. We'd love to see you. If you can't come to us, send an email and tell us what's happening in your life.