Economics from Minnesota with a British accent
An introduction is an odd thing to write, but here goes…
I’m an economist at the Center of the American Experiment, a think tank based in Minnesota which focuses primarily - but not solely - on state policy. I’m also a Fellow of the Cobden Centre, a think tank based in London which is dedicated to the principles of sound money and free trade. I’m also an immigrant, a Brit living in the Midwestern United States.
I started an economics A level when I was 16 but dropped it halfway through. It wasn’t until around 2003 when I read A World Without Walls by Michael Moore - no, not that one - that I found the subject interesting. Initially, inspired by this book and others about the then hot topic of ‘Globalization’, my main interests were in economic growth and development. I went to study Economic and Social Policy at Birkbeck College, which caters to mature students with jobs, hoping to find a career in that field.
During my first year, 2007-2008, when I told people I was doing an economics degree, their eyes would glaze over. At the start of my second year Lehman Brothers collapsed and the world plunged into the greatest macroeconomic calamity since the Great Depression. Now, when I told people I was doing a economics degree they were very interested indeed. My interests switched to macro and monetary economics, and I found that the Austrian School provided a pretty good analysis of the problems we were facing. That is how I got involved with the Cobden Centre.
I graduated from Birkbeck in 2011, but failed to find work as an economist. Degrees, like money, are worth less when their quantity increases faster than the demand for them. So, in 2012, I started an MSc in Economic History at the London School of Economics. I graduated in 2014 - I was, again, doing it round a full time job so the usual one year course was spread over two years - and finally found a job as an economist at a consultancy, working on their commissioned projects team. We worked as hired guns, I suppose, but this meant that every project was different and you had to learn something new all the time. All in all, it was about as good a first job as I could have had.
Along the way I had met and, in 2013, married a Minnesotan. We had always planned to move to the United States and when, in 2016, I saw an opening at the Center of the American Experiment, I jumped at it. And here I am.
I write regularly for the Center’s website about the state and national economy. I also occasionally write for other platforms on other subjects. I will share all that stuff here. If you’re interested, please subscribe. Its free, and you can always unsubscribe later.
