Douglas Francis McWilliams (born 1951) is a British economic consultant, specializing in forecasting and the technology sector. After holding senior positions with IBM and the Confederation of British Industry, in 1992 he won a ''

Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...

'' award and founded the

Centre for Economics and Business Research The Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr) is an economic consultancy based in London, United Kingdom. Cebr supplies economic forecasting and analysis to private firms and public bodies. It provides a range of economic services, ...

. He was later

Gresham Professor of Commerce The Professor of Business at Gresham College, London, gives free educational lectures to the general public. The college was founded for this purpose in 1597, when it appointed seven professors; this has since increased to ten and in addition the c ...

Gresham College Gresham College is an institution of higher learning located at Barnard's Inn Hall off Holborn in Central London, England. It does not enroll students or award degrees. It was founded in 1596 under the will of Sir Thomas Gresham, and hosts ove ...

in the

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London fr ...

Early life

Born in November 1951, McWilliams was educated at

Stonyhurst College Stonyhurst College is a co-educational Catholic Church, Roman Catholic independent school, adhering to the Society of Jesus, Jesuit tradition, on the Stonyhurst, Stonyhurst Estate, Lancashire, England. It occupies a Grade I listed building. Th ...

and the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

, gaining his first degree in philosophy, politics and economics and then graduating

MPhil The Master of Philosophy (MPhil; Latin ' or ') is a postgraduate degree. In the United States, an MPhil typically includes a taught portion and a significant research portion, during which a thesis project is conducted under supervision. An MPhil m ...

in economics."Douglas McWilliams"
londonspeakerbureau.com, accessed 27 December 2022

Career

McWilliams became Chief Economist for IBM (UK) and then was Chief Economic Adviser to the

Confederation of British Industry The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) is a UK business organisation, which in total claims to speak for 190,000 businesses, this is made up of around 1,500 direct members and 188,500 non-members. The non members are represented through the 1 ...

from 1988 to 1992. In that year, he won the ''

'' Golden Guru Award for best United Kingdom economic forecaster and founded the

(CEBR). He was the

Professor of Commerce in 2012–14, lecturing on the economic impact of globalisation,"Douglas McWilliams"
greekbritishsymposium.com, accessed 27 December 2022 and was succeeded by

Jagjit Chadha Jagjit Singh Chadha ( Punjabi: ਜਗਜੀਤ ਸਿੰਘ ਚਢਾ, born 1 December 1966 in West Yorkshire is a British economist who is the Director of the National Institute of Economic and Social Research. He is on secondment from his po ...

. In February 2012, together with

Roger Bootle Roger Bootle (born 22 June 1952) is a British economist and a weekly columnist for ''The Daily Telegraph''. He is the chairman of Capital Economics, an independent macroeconomic research consultancy. He and Capital Economics were awarded the Wol ...

Capital Economics Capital Economics is an independent economic research business based in London. The company produces written pieces of economic research as well as offering consultancy services, seminars, conferences and commissioned research projects. In 2012 i ...

, McWilliams was called to give evidence to the

European Scrutiny Committee The European Scrutiny Committee is a select committee of the House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Following Britain's withdrawal from the European Union in January 2020 and the end of the transition period on 31 December 202 ...

of the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

on the

Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union The Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union; also referred to as TSCG, or more plainly the Fiscal Stability Treaty is an Enhanced cooperation#Related intergovernmental treaties, intergovernmental treat ...

.''European Scrutiny Committee: Treaty on stability, coordination and governance: impact on the eurozone and the rule of law, sixty-second report of session 2010-12, Vol. 1: Report, together with formal minutes, oral and written evidence, Volume 1 Evidence'' (The Stationery Office, 2012)
p. 25
/ref> McWilliams's book ''The Flat White Economy'' (2015) details the digital sector, which he saw as driving the British economy, and rose to first position in the

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology c ...

Business and Law Best Seller List. His ''The Inequality Paradox'' (2018) argues against the

Thomas Piketty Thomas Piketty (; born 7 May 1971) is a French economist who is Professor of Economics at the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences, Associate Chair at the Paris School of Economics and Centennial Professor of Economics in the Int ...

conclusion that increasing

economic inequality There are wide varieties of economic inequality, most notably income inequality measured using the distribution of income (the amount of money people are paid) and wealth inequality measured using the distribution of wealth (the amount of we ...

is the result of exploitation. ''Driving the Silk Road'' (2020) is about his experience of driving a classic

Bentley S1 The Bentley S1 (originally simply "Bentley S") was a luxury car produced by Bentley Motors Limited from 1955 until 1959. The S1 was derived from Rolls-Royce's complete redesign of its standard production car after World War II, the Silver Clo ...

on the

Peking to Paris The Peking to Paris motor race was an automobile race, originally held in 1907, between Peking (now Beijing), then Qing China (now the People's Republic of China) and Paris, France (then the Third French Republic), a distance of . The idea for ...

Endurance Rally of 2019 and his perceptions of economic conditions in the countries of Asia and Europe he drove through. As of 2022, McWilliams is Deputy Chairman of CEBR, a member of the Council of the

Institute for Fiscal Studies The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) is an economic research institute based in London, United Kingdom, which specialises in UK taxation and public policy. It produces both academic and policy-related findings. The institute's aim is to "a ...

, Economic Adviser to the

Chartered Institute of Marketing The Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) was founded in 1911. It has over 30,000 members, including more than 3,000 registered Chartered Marketers. CIM offers 130 study centres in 36 countries, and exam centres in 132 countries. In 1952 Prince ...

, and a member of the Advisory board of e-Propelled, a US company which makes electric motors for pumps and vehicles.

Personal life

McWilliams is a lapsed Roman Catholic. In 1979, he married Ianthe Wright, whom he met on the river bank while cheering on Oxford in the

Boat Race Boat racing is a sport in which boats, or other types of watercraft, race on water. Boat racing powered by oars is recorded as having occurred in ancient Egypt, and it is likely that people have engaged in races involving boats and other wate ...

. They live in a large house in

Regent's Park Regent's Park (officially The Regent's Park) is one of the Royal Parks of London. It occupies of high ground in north-west Inner London, administratively split between the City of Westminster and the Borough of Camden (and historically betwee ...

.Charlotte Edwardes
"The top economist, his zeitgeisty book — and a shocking fall from grace"
''

Evening Standard The ''Evening Standard'', formerly ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), also known as the ''London Evening Standard'', is a local free daily newspaper in London, England, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format. In October 2009, after be ...

'', 4 March 2015, accessed 27 December 2022

Books

*''Basic Economics: A Dictionary of Terms, Concepts, and Ideas'' (London: Arrow Books, 1976, with

Tim Congdon Timothy George Congdon CBE (born 28 April 1951) is a British economist. Early life He was educated at Colchester Royal Grammar School and St. John's and Nuffield colleges at the University of Oxford. Career Over the years, he has accumulated ...

) *''The Renaissance of British Management'' (IBM Lecture,

Kingston Business School Kingston Business School is a business school located in London, United Kingdom and a part of Kingston University. It holds AACSB, AMBA, and EFMD EPAS accreditation History Kingston Business School origins date to the 1960s. It is now part of th ...

, 25 May 1988) *''The Flat White Economy: How the Digital Economy Is Transforming London and Other Cities of the Future'' (London: Gerald Duckworth & Co, 2015) *''The Inequality Paradox: How Capitalism Can Work for Everyone'' (New York: Overlook Press, November 2018; London: Abrams Press, September 2019) *''Driving the Silk Road: Halfway Across the World in a Bentley S1'' (Whitefox Publishing, 23 December 2019)

Notes

External links

The Winning and Losing Nations
Gresham College lecture by Douglas McWilliams, 21 March 2013
The Inequality Paradox by Douglas McWilliams
speech by

Nick Gibb Nicolas John Gibb (born 3 September 1960) is a British politician serving as Minister of State for Schools since October 2022, having previously held the office from 2010 to 2012 and again from 2015 to 2021. He has served at the Department for E ...

*Doug McWilliams
The Treasury has got its mini-budget sums wrong
Reaction Life, 23 September 2022 *Doug McWilliams
What happened to Rishi Sunak’s £30bn surplus?
Reaction Life, 3 November 2022 {{DEFAULTSORT:McWilliams, Douglas Francis 1951 births Alumni of the University of Oxford British economists IBM employees People educated at Stonyhurst College Professors of Gresham College Living people