Ann Pettifor (born February 1947) is a British
economist
An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics.
The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...
who advises governments and organisations. She has published several books. Her work focuses on the
global financial system
The global financial system is the worldwide framework of legal agreements, institutions, and both formal and informal economic actors that together facilitate international flows of financial capital for purposes of investment and trade financ ...
,
sovereign debt restructuring
Debt restructuring is a process that allows a private or public company or a sovereign entity facing cash flow problems and financial distress to reduce and renegotiate its delinquent debts to improve or restore accounting liquidity, liquidity so ...
,
international finance
International finance (also referred to as international monetary economics or international macroeconomics) is the branch of financial economics broadly concerned with monetary and macroeconomic interrelations between two or more countries. Inter ...
and
sustainable development
Sustainable development is an organizing principle for meeting human development goals while also sustaining the ability of natural systems to provide the natural resources and ecosystem services on which the economy and society depend. The des ...
. Pettifor is best known for correctly predicting the
financial crisis of 2007–08
Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. It is related to, but not synonymous with economics, the study of production, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods and services (the discipline of fina ...
. She was one of the leaders of the
Jubilee 2000
Jubilee 2000 was an international coalition movement in over 40 countries that called for cancellation of third world debt by the year 2000. This movement coincided with the Great Jubilee, the celebration of the year 2000 in the Roman Catholic C ...
debt cancellation campaign.
She is the director of Policy Research In Macroeconomics (PRIME) a network of economists researching
Keynesian
Keynesian economics ( ; sometimes Keynesianism, named after British economist John Maynard Keynes) are the various macroeconomic theories and models of how aggregate demand (total spending in the economy) strongly influences economic output and ...
monetary theory
Monetary economics is the branch of economics that studies the different competing theories of money: it provides a framework for analyzing money and considers its functions (such as medium of exchange, store of value and unit of account), and it ...
and
policies
Policy is a deliberate system of guidelines to guide decisions and achieve rational outcomes. A policy is a statement of intent and is implemented as a procedure or protocol. Policies are generally adopted by a governance body within an organ ...
, an honorary research fellow at the Political Economy Research Centre at
City, University of London
City, University of London, is a public research university in London, United Kingdom, and a member institution of the federal University of London. It was founded in 1894 as the Northampton Institute, and became a university when The City Univ ...
(CITYPERC), Chair of the Political Economy Research Centre's Advisory Board at
Goldsmiths
A goldsmith is a metalworker who specializes in working with gold.
In German, the Goldsmith family name is written Goldschmidt.
Goldsmith may also refer to:
Places
* Goldsmith, Indiana, United States
* Goldsmith, New York, United States, a h ...
, a fellow of the
New Economics Foundation
The New Economics Foundation (NEF) is a British think-tank that promotes "social, economic and environmental justice".
NEF was founded in 1986 by the leaders of The Other Economic Summit (TOES) with the aim of working for a "new model of wealth ...
, a director of Advocacy International and a trustee of the PREP Foundation for
pluralist economics. Pettifor is a member of the Green New Deal Group of economists, environmentalists and entrepreneurs.
Biography
Lynda Ann Pettifor was born in South Africa in February 1947, and graduated with a degree in politics and economics from the
University of the Witwatersrand
The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (), is a multi-campus South African Public university, public research university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg. It is more commonly known as Wits University or Wits ( o ...
.
In the 1980s she held several posts as adviser to Frances Morrell, the leader of the Inner London Education Authority and later advised
Greater London Council
The Greater London Council (GLC) was the top-tier local government administrative body for Greater London from 1965 to 1986. It replaced the earlier London County Council (LCC) which had covered a much smaller area. The GLC was dissolved in 198 ...
,
Ken Livingstone
Kenneth Robert Livingstone (born 17 June 1945) is an English politician who served as the Leader of the Greater London Council (GLC) from 1981 until the council was abolished in 1986, and as Mayor of London from the creation of the office i ...
. She also advised the Right Hon.
Margaret Beckett
Dame Margaret Mary Beckett (''née'' Jackson; born 15 January 1943) is a British politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Derby South since 1983. A member of the Labour Party, she became Britain's first female Foreign S ...
MP who went on to serve in the
1997 Labour government. She also worked as a lobbyist for Ian Greer Associates.
Pettifor co-founded the
Jubilee 2000
Jubilee 2000 was an international coalition movement in over 40 countries that called for cancellation of third world debt by the year 2000. This movement coincided with the Great Jubilee, the celebration of the year 2000 in the Roman Catholic C ...
worldwide campaign for the
cancellation of the debts of the poorest countries. In 1998
Jubilee 2000
Jubilee 2000 was an international coalition movement in over 40 countries that called for cancellation of third world debt by the year 2000. This movement coincided with the Great Jubilee, the celebration of the year 2000 in the Roman Catholic C ...
organised a human chain of approximately 70,000 people, which surrounded the 1998
G8 summit in
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...
, United Kingdom.
[ In 1999 at the Cologne G8 Summit the G8 agreed to write off approximately $100 billion of ]third world debt
The debt of developing countries usually refers to the external debt incurred by governments of developing countries.
There have been several historical episodes of governments of developing countries borrowing in quantities beyond their abilit ...
owed by 37 countries, in large part due to the campaign. Jubilee 2000 had supporters including Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...
, Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali (; born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr.; January 17, 1942 – June 3, 2016) was an American professional boxer and activist. Nicknamed "The Greatest", he is regarded as one of the most significant sports figures of the 20th century, a ...
, Bono
Paul David Hewson (born 10 May 1960), known by his stage name Bono (), is an Irish singer-songwriter, activist, and philanthropist. He is the lead vocalist and primary lyricist of the rock band U2.
Born and raised in Dublin, he attended M ...
, Tony Blair
Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of th ...
, Gordon Brown
James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. He previously served as Chance ...
and Bill Clinton
William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...
. ''The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
'' would later describe her work on the campaign as 'genius'.
At the conclusion of the Jubilee 2000 campaign Pettifor joined the New Economics Foundation
The New Economics Foundation (NEF) is a British think-tank that promotes "social, economic and environmental justice".
NEF was founded in 1986 by the leaders of The Other Economic Summit (TOES) with the aim of working for a "new model of wealth ...
in London where she headed their research unit on global macro-economics.
Pettifor became a member of the Green New Deal Group of economists, environmentalists and entrepreneurs that published ''The Green New Deal'' in July 2008. The group argued that "The triple crunch of financial meltdown, climate change and ‘peak oil’ has its origins firmly rooted in the current model of globalisation. Financial deregulation has facilitated the creation of almost limitless credit. With this credit boom have come irresponsible and often fraudulent patterns of lending, creating inflated bubbles in assets such as property, and powering environmentally unsustainable consumption."
In the 2010 general election Pettifor attempted to stand for Parliament as a Labour
Labour or labor may refer to:
* Childbirth, the delivery of a baby
* Labour (human activity), or work
** Manual labour, physical work
** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer
** Organized labour and the labour ...
candidate and was shortlisted in the North West Durham
North West Durham is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 12 December 2019 by Richard Holden of the Conservative Party.
Constituency profile
The constituency is in the north west of County Durham ...
selection process but lost to Pat Glass
Patricia Glass (born 14 February 1957) is a Labour Party former politician who was the Member of Parliament for North West Durham from 2010 to 2017. She was appointed Shadow Education Secretary on 27 June 2016 by Jeremy Corbyn, but resigned ...
. She has also unsuccessfully stood as a local election candidate for the West End ward on Westminster City Council
Westminster City Council is the local authority for the City of Westminster in Greater London, England. The city is divided into 20 wards, each electing three councillors. The council is currently composed of 31 Labour Party members and 23 Cons ...
.
As a director of Advocacy International she worked on designing and promoting the MamaYe campaign together with Options Consultancy Services. Working in five African countries the campaign makes life-saving changes for mothers and babies during pregnancy and childbirth.
In September 2015, she was appointed to the British Labour Party's Economic Advisory Committee, convened by Shadow Chancellor
The Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer in the British Parliamentary system is the member of the Shadow Cabinet who is responsible for shadowing the Chancellor of the Exchequer. The title is given at the gift of the Leader of the Opposition and ...
John McDonnell
John Martin McDonnell (born 8 September 1951) is a British politician who served as Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2015 to 2020. A member of the Labour Party, he has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Hayes and Harlington since 1997. ...
and reporting to Labour Party Leader Jeremy Corbyn
Jeremy Bernard Corbyn (; born 26 May 1949) is a British politician who served as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party from 2015 to 2020. On the political left of the Labour Party, Corbyn describes himself as a socialist ...
, regarding which she stated that she was honoured to be asked to serve with such distinguished colleagues and that she hoped to play her part in overturning the Chancellor's deficit fetishism, and his employment of it as a smokescreen for an attack on the state. She currently resides in London, England.
Pettifor contributed an article to the Labour in the City Anthology in October 2018, which was launched at the City Corporation by Alistair Darling
Alistair Maclean Darling, Baron Darling of Roulanish, (born 28 November 1953) is a British politician who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer under Prime Minister Gordon Brown from 2007 to 2010. A member of the Labour Party, he was a Member ...
. Pettifor argues that far more radical reforms are needed to prevent a recurrence of the 2008 crisis.
Awards
Pettifor was granted the freedom of the city of Callao in Peru in 1999 (for her work on debt cancellation for Peru); and the Pax Christi International Peace Award
The Pax Christi International Peace Award is given out every year since 1988 by the Christian peace organisation Pax Christi to other peace organisations and peace activists. The focus lies on grassroots activists and organisations that are active ...
in 2000. In 2001 she was awarded an honorary doctorate by Lord Patten, Vice-Chancellor of Newcastle University, and in the same year was honoured with a Masters of Letters Degree (a Lambeth Degree) by the Archbishop of Canterbury. The President of Nigeria, President Obasanjo made her a Member of the Order of the Niger (MON) for her work in leading the campaign to write off billions of dollars of debt owed by Africa's poorest countries. In 2018, she was awarded with the Hannah Arendt Prize
The Hannah Arendt Prize for Political Thought (german: Hannah-Arendt-Preis für politisches Denken, links=no) is a prize awarded to individuals representing the tradition of political theorist Hannah Arendt, especially in regard to totalitarianis ...
.
Works
Pettifor is known for correctly predicting the global financial crises in several publications including in the book ''The Real World Economic Outlook'', and summarised in the New Statesman in an article published on 1 September 2003 entitled "Coming soon: The new poor”. This was followed by her September 2006 book ''The Coming First World Debt Crisis''.
*1996: ''Debt, the Most Potent Form of Slavery: : a discussion of the role of Western lending policies in subordinating the economies of poor countries''. Debt Crisis Network.
*2000: ''Kicking the Habit: Finding a Lasting Solution to Addictive Lending and Borrowing and Its Corrupting Side-Effects'' (Joseph Hanlon & Angela Travis). Jubilee 2000 Coalition.[
*2001: ''It Takes Two to Tango: Creditor Co-Responsibility for Argentina's Crisis – and the Need for Independent Resolution'' (with Liana Cisneros & Alejandro Olmos). New Economics Foundation.][
*2002: ''Chapter 9/11?: Resolving International Debtcrises – The Jubilee Framework for International Insolvency''. New Economics Foundation.
*2003: ''The Real World Economic Outlook'' Palgrave Macmillan.
*2006: ''The Coming First World Debt Crisis''. Palgrave Macmillan.
*2008: ]
The Green New Deal – Joined up policies to solve the triple crunch of credit crises, climate change and high oil prices
' New Economics Foundation.
*2013:
National Plan for the UK: From Austerity to the Age of the Green New Deal
' New Economics Foundation
*2014: ''Just Money: How Society Can Break the Despotic Power of Finance''. Commonwealth Publishing.
*2017:
The Production of Money
– How to Break the Power of Bankers'', Verso
*2019: ''The Case for the Green New Deal''. Verso
References
External links
Website of Policy Research in Macroeconomics (PRIME)
Advocacy International's website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pettifor, Ann
British activists
University of the Witwatersrand alumni
Living people
South African emigrants to the United Kingdom
Members of the Order of the Niger
20th-century South African economists
South African women economists
21st-century British economists
British women economists
1947 births
Monetary economists