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David Graham Blanchflower, (born 2 March 1952), sometimes called Danny Blanchflower, is a British-American labour economist and academic. He is currently a
tenure Tenure is a category of academic appointment existing in some countries. A tenured post is an indefinite academic appointment that can be terminated only for cause or under extraordinary circumstances, such as financial exigency or program disco ...
d economics professor at
Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native ...
,
Hanover, New Hampshire Hanover is a town located along the Connecticut River in Grafton County, New Hampshire, United States. As of the 2020 census, its population was 11,870. The town is home to the Ivy League university Dartmouth College, the U.S. Army Corps of En ...
. He is also a research associate at the
National Bureau of Economic Research The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) is an American private nonprofit research organization "committed to undertaking and disseminating unbiased economic research among public policymakers, business professionals, and the academic c ...
, part-time professor at the
University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...
and a Bloomberg TV contributing editor. He was an external member of the
Bank of England The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694 to act as the English Government's banker, and still one of the bankers for the Government o ...
's interest rate-setting
Monetary Policy Committee Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) may refer to: * Monetary Policy Committee (India) The Monetary Policy Committee is responsible for fixing the benchmark interest rate in India. The meetings of the Monetary Policy Committee are held at least fo ...
(MPC) from June 2006 to June 2009. British-born, Blanchflower is now both a British and an American citizen, having moved to the United States in 1989. He was appointed
Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...
(CBE) in the 2009 Birthday Honours.


Education

Blanchflower attended Varndean Grammar School for Boys in
Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...
and
Cantonian High School Cantonian High School is an English-medium 11-18 community school maintained by Cardiff local authority. It is located in Fairwater and serves the surrounding area in the west of Cardiff, Wales. There are currently more than 1000 pupils on roll an ...
in
Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. It forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a ...
. He went on to earn a B.A. in
Social Sciences Social science is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among individuals within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the field of sociology, the original "science of so ...
(
Economics Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics anal ...
) at the
University of Leicester , mottoeng = So that they may have life , established = , type = public research university , endowment = £20.0 million , budget = £326 million , chancellor = David Willetts , vice_chancellor = Nishan Canagarajah , head_lab ...
in 1973 and a Postgraduate Certificate in Education at the
University of Birmingham , mottoeng = Through efforts to heights , established = 1825 – Birmingham School of Medicine and Surgery1836 – Birmingham Royal School of Medicine and Surgery1843 – Queen's College1875 – Mason Science College1898 – Mason Univers ...
in 1975. He received an MSc (Economics) at the
University of Wales , latin_name = , image = , caption = Coat of Arms , motto = cy, Goreu Awen Gwirionedd , mottoeng = The Best Inspiration is Truth , established = , , type = Confederal, non-member ...
in 1981 and his PhD in 1985 at
Queen Mary, University of London , mottoeng = With united powers , established = 1785 – The London Hospital Medical College1843 – St Bartholomew's Hospital Medical College1882 – Westfield College1887 – East London College/Queen Mary College , type = Public researc ...
. He was also awarded an honorary A.M. in 1996 at
Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native ...
and an honorary Doctor of Letters at the
University of Leicester , mottoeng = So that they may have life , established = , type = public research university , endowment = £20.0 million , budget = £326 million , chancellor = David Willetts , vice_chancellor = Nishan Canagarajah , head_lab ...
in 2007, an honorary Doctor of Science from Queen Mary College, University of London in July 2009 and an honorary Doctor of Letters from the
University of Sussex , mottoeng = Be Still and Know , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £14.4 million (2020) , budget = £319.6 million (2019–20) , chancellor = Sanjeev Bhaskar , vice_chancellor = Sasha Roseneil , ...
in July 2011. He was awarded an honorary fellowship by Cardiff University in 2014.


Work in economics

Blanchflower served as a Research Officer at the Institute for Employment Research at
University of Warwick , mottoeng = Mind moves matter , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £7.0 million (2021) , budget = £698.2 million (2020 ...
from 1984 to 1986, when he became a lecturer at the Department of Economics at the
University of Surrey The University of Surrey is a public research university in Guildford, Surrey, England. The university received its royal charter in 1966, along with a number of other institutions following recommendations in the Robbins Report. The institu ...
, a post he held until 1989 when he moved to the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...
. He has been a member of the Editorial Board of '' Small Business Economics'', '' Scottish Journal of Political Economy'', and ''
Industrial and Labor Relations Review ''Industrial and Labor Relations Review'' (ILR Review) is a publication of the Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations. It is an interdisciplinary journal publishing original research on all aspects of industrial relations. The ...
''. He has also been a research associate at the Centre for Economic Performance at the
London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 milli ...
and at the Canadian International Labour Network.


''The Wage Curve''

Blanchflower's ''The Wage Curve'' (with Andrew Oswald), with eight years of data from 4 million people in 16 countries, argued that the wage curve, which plots wages against
unemployment Unemployment, according to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), is people above a specified age (usually 15) not being in paid employment or self-employment but currently available for work during the refe ...
, is negatively sloping, reversing generations of macroeconomic theory. "The
Phillips Curve The Phillips curve is an economic model, named after William Phillips hypothesizing a correlation between reduction in unemployment and increased rates of wage rises within an economy. While Phillips himself did not state a linked relationship ...
is wrong, it's as fundamental as that," said Blanchflower. ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...
'' praised the findings as "one of the most devastating findings of contemporary economics". The implications, that wages are highest when unemployment is lowest and that increased unemployment drives down wages, have been suggested periodically in economics since the publication of
Karl Marx Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...
's ''Wage-Labour and Capital''.


Happiness

Much of Blanchflower's work has focused on the economics of happiness. He has posited a correlation between age and happiness, declining through the 20s, 30s, and 40s before increasing in retirement. He has been labelled a "happiness guru" for his ability to quantify the increase in happiness for individuals who are married or have sex frequently, work which has applications in divorce law and
pharmaceutical A medication (also called medicament, medicine, pharmaceutical drug, medicinal drug or simply drug) is a drug used to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent disease. Drug therapy ( pharmacotherapy) is an important part of the medical field and ...
advertising. He has been interviewed several times on
NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...
and
New Hampshire New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...
Public Radio Public broadcasting involves radio, television and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service. Public broadcasters receive funding from diverse sources including license fees, individual contributions, public financing ...
about his work in this area.


Monetary Policy Committee

Blanchflower joined the
Bank of England The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694 to act as the English Government's banker, and still one of the bankers for the Government o ...
's
Monetary Policy Committee Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) may refer to: * Monetary Policy Committee (India) The Monetary Policy Committee is responsible for fixing the benchmark interest rate in India. The meetings of the Monetary Policy Committee are held at least fo ...
in June 2006, replacing
Stephen Nickell Sir Stephen John Nickell, (born 25 April 1944) is a British economist and former warden of Nuffield College, Oxford, noted for his work in labour economics with Richard Layard and Richard Jackman. Nickell and Layard hypothesised the tendency f ...
. Before his appointment, Michael Fallon questioned his non-residency at the parliamentary
Select committee Select committee may refer to: *Select committee (parliamentary system) A select committee is a committee made up of a small number of parliamentary members appointed to deal with particular areas or issues originating in the Westminster system o ...
on Treasury. Blanchflower attended a number of meetings by conference call. During his tenure, he voted in the minority in eighteen of thirty six meetings. He voted to maintain the interest rate in his first nine meetings, but to reduce interest rates in March 2007 and in every meeting from October 2007 through March 2009. Six other members of the MPC have served during Blanchflower's time on the MPC. Blanchflower continually voted for rate cuts. At the September 2008 MPC meeting, Blanchflower distanced himself further from consensus by voting for a 0.5% 'cut' against the other eight members' 'hold'. In the Autumn of 2008, the worldwide economic situation began to deteriorate dramatically, most clearly evidenced by dramatic falls in the values of
shares In financial markets, a share is a unit of equity ownership in the capital stock of a corporation, and can refer to units of mutual funds, limited partnerships, and real estate investment trusts. Share capital refers to all of the shares of ...
worldwide. On 8 October 2008, the BOE took part in a set of simultaneously announced cuts in the policy rate of a number of major Central Banks. The MPC eventually came around to Blanchflower's view and subsequently lowered rates to levels never before seen in the Bank of England's existence and moved to do unprecedented levels of
quantitative easing Quantitative easing (QE) is a monetary policy action whereby a central bank purchases predetermined amounts of government bonds or other financial assets in order to stimulate economic activity. Quantitative easing is a novel form of monetary pol ...
. In March 2009, it was announced that Blanchflower would be replaced by
David Miles David Kenneth Miles (born 1959) is a British economist. Born in Swansea, he has spent his working life in London, in teaching, business and the public sector. He is a professor at Imperial College London, and was Chief UK Economist of Morgan ...
at the end of his term, 31 May 2009.''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...
'', 19 March 2009
Miles to replace Blanchflower on Bank of England monetary policy committee
/ref>


Current work

David Blanchflower is the Bruce V Rauner professor of economics at Dartmouth College, New Hampshire, part-time professor at the University of Stirling, a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, and a contributing editor for Bloomberg TV. On 27 September 2015, it was announced that he had been appointed to the British Labour Party's
Economic Advisory Committee The British Labour Party's Economic Advisory Committee was in 2015-16 a group of economists, described as experts on globalisation, inequality and innovation, convened by Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell and reporting to Labour Party Leader Jere ...
, convened by the then
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 the then 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 socialis ...
, for whom he is undertaking an independent review of the
Bank of England The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694 to act as the English Government's banker, and still one of the bankers for the Government o ...
, although he has stated that he is not a Corbyn supporter and has never spoken to him. Blanchflower quit the panel and said he would also wind up his review of the role of the Bank of England on 28 June 2016 following the mass resignations of the Shadow Cabinet, joining them in calling for Corbyn to step down.


Personal life

Blanchflower and his then wife were parties in the notable case of ''
Blanchflower v. Blanchflower ''Blanchflower v. Blanchflower'', 150 N.H. 226 (2003), is a landmark decision by the New Hampshire Supreme Court which ruled that sexual relations between two females, one of whom is married, does not constitute adultery because it is not technica ...
''. The case resulted in a landmark decision by the
New Hampshire Supreme Court The New Hampshire Supreme Court is the supreme court of the U. S. state of New Hampshire and sole appellate court of the state. The Supreme Court is seated in the state capital, Concord. The Court is composed of a Chief Justice and four Associat ...
which ruled that sexual relations between two females, one of whom is married, does not constitute
adultery Adultery (from Latin ''adulterium'') is extramarital sex that is considered objectionable on social, religious, moral, or legal grounds. Although the sexual activities that constitute adultery vary, as well as the social, religious, and legal ...
because it is not technically
sexual intercourse Sexual intercourse (or coitus or copulation) is a sexual activity typically involving the insertion and thrusting of the penis into the vagina for sexual pleasure or reproduction.Sexual intercourse most commonly means penile–vaginal pene ...
. The case was overturned in April 2021 by the NH Supreme Court in the case of ''Blaisdell v Blaisdell''.


Publications

* Not Working: Where Have All The Good Jobs Gone? , Princeton University Press, 2019 * With David N.F. Bell, 'The Well-being of the Overemployed and the Underemployed and the Rise in Depression in the UK', Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, volume 161, May, pp. 180–196, 2019. * With David Bell, 'Underemployment in Europe and the United States', forthcoming Industrial and Labor Relations Review. * With Andrew Oswald, 'Unhappiness and pain in Modern America: a review essay, and further evidence, on Carol Graham's Happiness for All?', Journal of Economic Literature, 57(2), pp. 385–402, 2019. * With David Bell, 'The lack of wage growth and the falling NAIRU', National Institute Economic Review, No. 245, August, pp. R1-R16, 2018. * With David Bell, 'Underemployment and the Lack of Wage Pressure in the UK', National Institute Economic Review, No. 243, February, pp. R53-R61, 2018. * With Andrew Oswald, 'Antidepressants and Age: A New Form of Evidence for U-shaped Well-being Through Life', Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization 127, pp. 46–58, 2016. * 'Hard times are only going to get harder' British Journal of Sociology, 66(3), September, pp. 577–583, 2015. * 'As Good as it Gets? The UK Labour Market in Recession and Recovery', National Institute Economic Review February, 231: pp. F76-F80, 2015. * With David Bell, 'Youth unemployment in Greece: measuring the challenge', IZA Journal of European Labor Studies, 29 January 2015 * With David N.F. Bell, Alberto Montagnoli, and Mirko Moro, 'The happiness tradeoff between unemployment and inflation', Journal of Money Credit and Banking, Supplement to vol 46(2), October, pp. 117–141, 2014. * With David N.F. Bell, 'Labour Market Slack in the UK', National Institute Economic Review No. 229 August, F4-F11, 2014. * With David Bell 'Underemployment in the UK revisited', National Institute Economic Review, NO 224, pp. F8-F22, May, 2013. * With Andrew Oswald and Sara Stewart-Brown, 'Is psychological well-being linked to the consumption of fruit and vegetables?’, Social Indicators Research, December, Volume 114, Issue 3, pp 785–801, 2013. * With Andrew Oswald, 'Is Well-being U-Shaped over the Life cycle?', February 2007. https://www.nber.org/papers/w12935


Footnotes


External links


Danny Blanchflower
(Twitter)
Blanchflower's website at Dartmouth CollegeWho's Blanchflower Blanchflower's IZA Bio
(Bank of England) {{DEFAULTSORT:Blanchflower, David 1952 births Labor economists 21st-century American economists British economists Business commentators Dartmouth College faculty Academics of the University of Surrey Academics of the University of Warwick Alumni of Queen Mary University of London Alumni of the University of London Alumni of the University of Leicester Alumni of the University of Wales Living people Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Alumni of the University of Birmingham Academics of the University of Stirling