Patrick Minford

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Professor Patrick Minford CBE (b. 1943) is currently Professor of Applied Economics at Cardiff Business School, Cardiff University since 1997. He was previously Edward Gonner Professor of Applied Economics at the University of Liverpool from 1976 to 1997.

Minford was educated at Winchester College (a public school), then Balliol College, Oxford and then at the London School of Economics. He then went on to become Economic Assistant to the Finance Director, Courtaulds Ltd. Minford then became Economic Adviser to the Ministry of Finance of Malawi. He then moved to become Economic Adviser to the Ministry of Overseas Development, then Economic Adviser to Her Majesty's Treasury's External Division. In 1988 he was appointed a Board Member of the Merseyside Development Corporation but resigned, saying it had a negative effect on jobs.

In March 1981 when 364 leading economists published a statement criticising Margaret Thatcher's economic policies, Minford replied by defending the Government in The Times. Mrs. Thatcher subsequently wrote a letter to Minford to congratulate him.

Minford was against Nigel Lawson's policy of pound sterling shadowing the Deutschmark. He was also against Britain joining the European Exchange Rate Mechanism because he thought it was having a bad effect on recovering from recession and keeping down interest rates. Minford favoured the Community Charge as a way of keeping down local government spending. Minford rejected the idea that Britain should sign up to the European Social Chapter.

During the 2005 Conservative leadership election Minford backed David Davis as someone who he thought could deliver tax-cuts and win votes [1].

For many years a Vice-President of the Conservative Monday Club, Patrick Minford is now on the Council of the Conservative Way Forward organisation, and is a member of the European Reform Forum. A confirmed eurosceptic, he is a supporter of the Better Off Out campaign to leave the European Union.

[edit] Publications

Patrick Minford, Substitution Effects, Speculation and Exchange Rate Stability (1978).
Patrick Minford, Unemployment: Cause and Cure (1983).
Patrick Minford, Why there is no alternative (to Conservative economic theory), in Right Ahead newspaper published by the Conservative Monday Club, October 1985 Conservative Party Conference Issue.
Patrick Minford, Economic Strategy, a Policy Paper for the Monday Club's Economics Policy Committee, September 1986.
Patrick Minford, The Housing Morass (1987).
Patrick Minford, Why we need bold tax cuts on March 14, Policy Paper for the Monday Club's Economic Policy Committee, March 1989.
Patrick Minford, Conservative Economic Strategies into the 90s, in Right Ahead newspaper published by the Conservative Monday Club, October 1989 Conservative Party Conference Issue.
Patrick Minford, The Supply Side Revolution in Britain (1991).
Patrick Minford, Markets Not Stakes (1998).
Patrick Minford, Should Britain join the Euro? The Chancellor's Five Euro Tests (2002).
Patrick Minford, Should Britain leave the EU? An Economic Analysis of a Troubled Relationship (2005).