School History

In 1881, Nottingham's first civic college was opened in the city centre four years after the foundation stone was laid by former Prime Minister, WE Gladstone.

Political Economy taught in extension courses being offered leading to a certificate from the University of Cambridge.

Professor John Aiton Todd appointed as the first Professor of Economics and Commerce at University College Nottingham.

Professor Adam Willis Kirkaldy appointed as Head of Department of Economics and Commerce and oversaw an influx of students post World War I.

In 1928, the college moved to 35 acres of land donated by Jesse Boot at Highfields which later became known as University Park. Initially the college was accommodated in the Trent Building, opened by George V in the same year.

Arthur Radford appointed Head of Department, after joining the Department of Economics and Social Studies in 1920.

Courses continued throughout the war years and examinations were administered at the University of London. Economics was linked to two other subjects from English, French, History or Geography.

In 1948, the college was awarded a Royal Charter and became the University of Nottingham, now able to award degrees in its own name.

Professor John Hedley Brian Tew was Head of School. In 1956, Clive WJ Granger began work in the Department of Economics as an Assistant Lecturer in Maths Pure and Applied.

Now part of the Faculty of Law and Social Sciences, the Department of Economics was led by Professor Brian Tew, supported by around seven members of teaching staff.

In 1967, David Llewellyn joined the department from the Economic Section of the Treasury to work on flows of funds analysis. This research, together with Tew's consultancy work and the close working relations developed with senior members of Midland Bank, led to the endowment by the Midland Bank in 1967 of a new Chair of Money and Banking.

In 1969, Brian Tew was succeeded by Professor John (Jack) Parkinson, a distinguished development economist. Under his leadership the Department gained a higher profile for teaching and research, and there was no shortage of well-qualified applicants for the undergraduate courses. Macroeconomics and econometrics were developed at this time, reflecting his own focus on shipbuilding, international trade and development economics.

Under Professor Parkinson's leadership a new degree in Economics and Econometrics was introduced in 1981. Staff continued to develop their areas of research, gaining international reputations for the quality of their research.

David Greenaway was appointed Professor of Economics and Head of Department in September 1987, becoming the youngest head of Economics there had been at that point. He went on to become the University's Vice-Chancellor from 2008 to 2017.

Pictured: Lady Pat Granger, Sir Clive Granger and Professor Sir David Greenaway

Under David Greenaway's leadership, followed by Professor Chris Milner between 1995-2002, the Department rose through the ranks in the terms of the Research Assessment Exercise (now Research Excellence Framework). Research began to be organised into research centres as the Department expanded.

In 1998, David Greenaway and a team from the school won Leverhulme Trust funding of a million pounds to fund a GLM (Globalisation and Labour Markets) research centre. A subsequent successful bid, again under David Greenaway's direction, expanded the centre further and it became GEP (Centre for Research on Globalisation and Economic Policy), which helped the Department boost its research income.

Alongside GEP and CREDIT, the third main centre for research formed in 2000 was ExCEM – Experian Centre for Economic Modelling, with funding from Experian plc, directed by Professor Paul Newbold.

In September 1998, the Department changed to the School of Economics.

Under Heads of School David Greenaway (2002-2004), Chris Milner (2004-2008, 2010-2012) and Professor Alan Duncan (2008-2010), further Research Centres were founded in the School of Economics, notably the Centre for Decision Research and Experimental Economics (CeDEx), the Granger Centre for Time Series Econometrics, Network for Integrated Behavioural Sciences (NIBS), the Centre for Finance, Credit and Macroeconomics (CFCM) and most recently Nottingham Interdisciplinary Centre for Economic and Political Research (NICEP).

In 2003, the building was re-named in honour of Clive Granger being awarded the Nobel Prize for Economic Sciences, later changing to 'Sir Clive Granger Building' to also recognise his knighthood.

Professor Kevin Lee took over as Head of School from 2012 to 2018. Under his leadership, the school continued to flourish, achieving a 96% score for student satisfaction in the National Student Survey 2016. In 2018, student satisfaction was once again highly commended with the school finishing top out of Russell Group economics departments.

Staff continue to publish regularly in international journals and contribute to high-profile conferences around the world, and the school boasts an excellent reputation for rigorous and topical research of the highest quality. 

Professor Facundo Albornoz Crespo became the new Head of School in 2018.