Noreena Hertz

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Noreena Hertz

Noreena Hertz (born 24 September 1967) is an English author, economist and broadcaster[1][2][3] and currently Professor at the Centre for the Study of Decision-Making Uncertainty at University College London. In 2001 The Observer newspaper dubbed her "one of the world's leading young thinkers" and Vogue magazine described her as "one of the most inspiring women in the world."[4][5] Describing herself as "a campaigning academic", critics have called her "a do-gooder who moves like a grasshopper from one high-profile good cause to another."[6] She has been called the 'Nigella Lawson of economics' by the UK media,"because she combines striking beauty with a formidable mind".[6][7][8][9][10][11] Fast Company magazine has named her "one of the most influential economists on the international stage" and observed: "For more than two decades [her] economic predictions have been accurate and ahead of the curve."[12]

Hertz's books are published in 20 languages.[12]

Early life

Hertz is a great-granddaughter of British Chief Rabbi Joseph H. Hertz, and was born and brought up in East Finchley, London.[8] When she was 20 years old, her mother, the fashion designer and feminist activist Leah Hertz, died of cancer.[13][14]

Hertz was a precocious child and began her schooling aged just 3 years, taking her A levels at age 16.[15] She first attended North London Collegiate School followed by Westminster School.[8] She graduated from University College London in philosophy and economics at the age of 18.[16] She then attended The Wharton School, Philadelphia, where she majored in finance and earned her MBA at age 21.[16] Hertz then worked for a short period at Triad Artists, a talent agency in Los Angeles, California, where she originally planned to break into the film industry as a producer, before taking up a position as a consultant for the International Finance Corporation (IFC) in Saint Petersburg, Russia.[8][13][14][16] Disillusioned by what she perceived as failings in the World Bank's approach to post-Soviet reforms, she quit her post and worked briefly for the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Of the IFC, she said: "Early on I raised the issue of social safety nets and was quite shocked to see how clearly my concerns were dismissed."[9] Having returned to the UK she studied for a PhD in economics and business at King's College, Cambridge.[8][14][16] Her Cambridge doctoral thesis, Russian Business Relationships in the Wake of Reform was published in 1997 by St. Martin's Press.[8]

Writing career


Eyes Wide Open: How to Make Smart Decisions in a Confusing World (2013)

In "Eyes Wide Open" Hertz lays out a clear strategy for becoming a better decision maker when the stakes are high whether at work or in one's personal life. She exposes in the book the limits of traditional expert's advice, and argues that we must become much more willing to challenge conventional wisdoms and orthodoxies and also ourselves given our own thinking biases and errors. The last part of the book focuses on how to become a smarter "information hunter gatherer" in a digital age.

The Silent Takeover (2001)

In The Silent Takeover: Global Capitalism and the Death of Democracy Hertz warned that unregulated markets, corporate greed, and over-powerful financial institutions would have serious global consequences that would impact most heavily on the ordinary citizen. Hertz received a record six-figure advance from Random House for the book which, in pre-publicity, she promised would "make economics sexy."[17][18] Although the book became a bestseller, it was not well-received by all when first published.[19] Francis Beckett, for The Independent, later observed that the book "was lavishly praised and savagely attacked in equal measure" but had nevertheless "launched her as a new sort of thinker - the first prominent British radical left winger to come out of the business schools."[16]

Tariq Ali, for The Independent, characterized the book as neoliberal, "Third Way anti-capitalism" and concluded "What Hertz really wants is a government that can unite business interests with those of ordinary people - like expecting homoeopathic drops to cure a cancer."[20]


IOU: The Debt Threat (2004)

IOU: The Debt Threat and Why We Must Defuse It comprised a study of debt in developing countries and provided Hertz's blueprint for development.[21]

Desmond Tutu]] credited the book with a "remarkable clarity" and said it "puts forward clear recommendations that can and must be taken." Writing for the New Statesman he declared: "IOU should not go unnoticed. When the truth is told about international debt, then we can begin to overcome the scandalous debt slavery of the world's poor."[22] Hannah Betts, for The Times, labelled the book "more than liberal breast-beating - it endeavours to be a psychology of debt... Without ever falling into the pat illiberalisms that the West brought 9/11 and its aftermath on itself, Hertz discusses the ways in which terrorism, disease and ecological meltdown may be the consequences of Third World stagnation."[15]

On the other hand the journalist Richard Adams, for The Guardian, wrote: "There is nothing here that will surprise readers of Susan George's 1988 book A Fate Worse than Debt, which remains the most forceful call for undoing the burden of the developing world." Hertz's proposed solutions were, he wrote, not well defined. "Some of her suggestions are patronising - setting up panels of international "overseers" for aid funding is a bit rich given her diatribes against external IMF and World Bank meddling - while one is downright dangerous: that wealthy nations hypothecate the taxes paid by immigrant workers for use as overseas aid (so removing their last shield against the xenophobe or racist, that they too pay taxes for the NHS)." [23]


Academic career

In 2009, Hertz was appointed Professor of Globalisation, Sustainability and Finance at Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University and the Duisenberg School of Finance.[12]

Previously she held the Belle van Zuylen Professorship at the University of Utrecht, and was the Miliband fellow at the London School of Economics.

She is also a fellow and Associate Director of the Centre for International Business & Management (CIBAM) at Cambridge's Judge Business School.[24]

She is also a Professor at University College London.

Campaigns

Product Red

Hertz played an influential role in the development of the (PRODUCT)RED campaign, an innovative commercial model to raise money for people with AIDS in Africa, having inspired Bono (co-founder of the project) with her writings.[12]

Make Poverty History

Hertz also played a key role in the Live8 campaign to cancel the debt of the worlds poorest countries, and was one of the speakers at the Edinburgh Live8 concert.[13]

Mayday for Nurses

In April 2007 Hertz launched the Mayday for Nurses campaign in Britain to alleviate the problems of low pay in nursing. Hertz promised nurses at the Royal College of Nursing annual conference that she would make sure that every football player in the Premier League would, by the end of the season, have donated one day's pay (totalling around £1.5 million) to a hardship fund for nurses struggling in their first few years.[6][25][26] The campaign was filmed for a Channel 4 documentary, The Million Pound Footballers' Giveaway, broadcast on 7 June 2007.[6]

The campaign received a "mixed response" and was described by some commentators as "intellectually flawed" and "a thinly-veiled form of blackmail."[27] Gareth Southgate, then the manager of Middlesbrough F.C., cancelled his club's donation after Hertz published a list of footballers who had contributed, "effectively 'outing' those who had not."[28][29] Southgate said: "I am disgusted with the manner in which this campaign has gone about its fundraising. Mayday for Nurses is a worthy cause, but there are many others. The players at this club support any number of local and national charities and good causes, either via financial support, giving up their own time or both. This is often done privately, meaning they neither receive nor ask for any public gratitude or praise... I think it's outrageous that the campaign's fundraising style has bordered on blackmail, with the message being basically, 'Give us your money or we'll publicly shame you'."[30][31]

Advisory roles, trusteeships

Hertz acts in an advisory capacity for "major multinational corporations, CEOs, NGOs and politicians, as well as start-up companies, and sits on various corporate and charitable boards."[32] She is a member of the Inclusive Capitalism Task Force, chaired by Dominic Barton, Global Managing Director of McKinsey & Company. She is also an advisor to the Centre for the Analysis of Social Media and a Trustee of the Institute for Public Policy Research.

Personal life

Hertz is married to Danny Cohen, the Director of BBC Television. They were married in 2012 at the Bevis Marks Synagogue in the City of London. The ceremony was conducted by Lord Sacks, the Chief Rabbi, and attended by guests including Rachel Weisz, Nigella Lawson and Charles Saatchi.[33] She lives with her husband in Primrose Hill, London.[34]

References

  1. ↑ "Birthdays". The Guardian (London). 24 September 2012. p. 26. 
  2. ↑ "Birthdays". The Independent (London). 24 September 2012. p. 44. 
  3. ↑ Naughton, John (8 May 2011). "Britain's top 300 intellectuals". The Observer (London). Retrieved 1 August 2013. 
  4. ↑ Hertz, Noreena (8 April 2001). "Why we must stay silent no longer". The Observer (London). Retrieved 1 August 2013. 
  5. ↑ Buckley, Will (10 June 2007). "Charity begins at home, but not in the Big Brother house". The Observer (London). p. 19. 
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 "How I moved the hearts of football's millionaires". Evening Standard (London). 29 May 2007. p. 1. 
  7. ↑ Stewart, Heather (26 September 2004). "The debt the West owes the Third World: Noreena Hertz's book is a thundering polemic against Western politicians and bankers". The Observer (London). p. 16. 
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 Self, Will (27 May 2001). "How to be an economics goddess". The Independent (London). pp. 6–8. 
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Roberts, Alison (9 May 2001). "'They call me the Nigella Lawson of economics'". Evening Standard (London). p. 29. 
  10. ↑ Bennett, Catherine (26 July 2001). "Direct action - all the rage but does it work?". The Guardian (London). 
  11. ↑ Kingsnorth, Paul (8 November 2004). "On the money". New Statesman 17 (832) (London). pp. 52–53. 
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 "Noreena Hertz". Fast Company. Retrieved 21 August 2013. 
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 Fraser, Douglas (22 June 2005). "Rebel with a capital cause". The Herald (Glasgow). p. 15. 
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 Crichton, Torcuil (26 September 2004). "'Sub-saharan Africa pays out $30 million every day servicing debt, and 30 million people have aids. That money could make a real difference'". Sunday Herald (Glasgow). p. 9. 
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Betts, Hannah (18 September 2004). "A beautiful mind". The Times (London). p. 50. 
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 16.3 16.4 Beckett, Francis (21 October 2004). "In search of a radical way". The Independent (London). p. 18. 
  17. ↑ Jasper, Gerard (26 April 1999). "Diary". The Times (London). p. 20. 
  18. ↑ "The Silent Takeover earned her a six-figure advance - the highest yet for a work on economics." "Stirred into action by political apathy". Times Higher Education (London). 6 April 2001. Retrieved 7 August 2013. 
  19. ↑ "Best selling business books". The Sunday Times (London). 6 May 2001. p. 10. 
  20. ↑ Ali, Tariq (1 May 2001). "The Third Way for anti-capitalists". The Independent (London). p. 5. 
  21. ↑ "THE DEBT THREAT: How Debt Is Destroying the Developing World". Publishers Weekly. 3 January 2005. Retrieved 1 August 2013. 
  22. ↑ Tutu, Desmond (25 October 2004). "IOU: The Debt Threat and Why We Must Defuse It". New Statesman (Political Studies Guide 2005) (London). 
  23. ↑ Adams, Richard (30 October 2004). "Hard to credit: Richard Adams tackles some grim reading on the debt burden". The Guardian (London). p. 11. Retrieved 2 August 2013. 
  24. ↑ "The World According To... Noreena Hertz". The Independent (London). 15 September 2004. p. 2. 
  25. ↑ Rudd, Alyson (12 October 2007). "That's rich: Southgate should be applauded for tough stance on nurses". The Times (London). p. 89. 
  26. ↑ Triggle, Nick (17 April 2007). "Footballers highlight nurse woes". BBC News. Retrieved 3 February 2011. 
  27. ↑ Martin, Samuel (15 October 2007). "Rooney's flaw show". The Times (London). p. 7. 
  28. ↑ Moore, Glenn (7 May 2008). "Football's Charitable Status". The Independent (London). p. 46. 
  29. ↑ Stewart, Rob (12 October 2007). "Southgate in war of words with charity". The Daily Telegraph (London). p. 7. 
  30. ↑ Hardy, Martin (12 October 2007). "THAT'S BLACKMAIL! Boro fury at charity tactics". Daily Mail (London). p. 1. 
  31. ↑ "Angry soccer boss blocks donation to nurses' fund in 'blackmail' row". The Yorkshire Post (Leeds). 12 October 2007. 
  32. ↑ "About Noorena". Noreena Hertz. Retrieved 7 August 2013. 
  33. ↑ Eden, Richard (4 March 2012). "Wedding with Weisz". The Sunday Telegraph (London). p. 11. 
  34. ↑ Lipman, Jennifer (23 April 2013). "Danny Cohen to be BBC's director of television". The Jewish Chronicle (London). Retrieved 19 August 2013. 

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