John Michael Van Reenen OBE (born 26 December 1965) is the Ronald Coase School Professor at the

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) is a public university, public research university located in London, England and a constituent college of the federal University of London. Founded in 1895 by Fabian Society members Sidn ...

and the Gordon Y. Billiard Professor of Management and Economics at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

, where he is jointly appointed in the Department of Economics and the

MIT Sloan School of Management The MIT Sloan School of Management (MIT Sloan or Sloan) is the business school of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT Sloan offers bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degree programs, ...

. He is also an Associate in the Growth Research Programme at the

Centre for Economic Performance The Centre for Economic Performance (CEP) is an interdisciplinary research centre at the London School of Economics dedicated to the study of economic growth and effective ways to create a fair, inclusive and sustainable society. Currently led by ...

. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) and received the Yrjö Jahnsson Award.

Background

He is the son of Lionel Van Reenen, formerly a sociologist at

Goldsmiths College Goldsmiths, University of London, officially the Goldsmiths' College, is a constituent research university of the University of London in England. It was originally founded in 1891 as The Goldsmiths' Technical and Recreative Institute by the Wo ...

in the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

and an immigrant from South Africa. His mother is Anne Van Reenen, a retired banker. He is married to Sarah Chambers, an interior designer with the London practice Carden Cunietti. Van Reenen attended Queens' College, Cambridge, where he graduated with a BA in economics and social and political sciences; he won the Joshua King, the Subject, and the College Prizes. He took a Master's at the

, graduating with Distinction and winning the Automation Prize. He completed his PhD at

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

(UCL) and began his career in 1992 at 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 "ad ...

, where he founded the 'Productivity and Innovation' programme. He has been a full professor at UCL and a visiting professor at

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

Stanford Business School The Stanford Graduate School of Business (also known as Stanford GSB) is the graduate business school of Stanford University, a private research university in Stanford, California. For several years it has been the most selective business schoo ...

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

and

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...

. From October 2003 to July 2016, he was a professor in the Department of Economics and director of the

at the

. In July 2016, he became a professor of economics at MIT. In 2000–01 he was a senior advisor to the Secretary of State for Health,

Alan Milburn Alan Milburn (born 27 January 1958) is a British Labour Party politician who was Member of Parliament (MP) for Darlington from 1992 to 2010. He served for five years in the Cabinet, first as Chief Secretary to the Treasury from 1998 to 1999, a ...

, and helped write the

NHS Plan 2000 The NHS Plan 2000 was a ten year plan of the Blair ministry for the National Health Service (England). It combined a commitment to substantial investment with some quite radical changes. The most controversial aspect of the plan was the introducti ...

. He has also been a senior advisor at 10 Downing Street. From 2001 to 2002 he was a partner of an economic consultancy firm, Lexecon, now part of

Charles River Associates Charles River Associates (legally CRA International, Inc.) is a global consulting firm headquartered in Boston. Practice areas Their practices include: aerospace & defense, antitrust & competition economics, auctions & competitive bidding, climat ...

, and was also involved in the software start-up Polygnostics. In 2013 he published a report and book, ''Investing for Prosperity'', written with

Tim Besley Sir Timothy John Besley, (born 14 September 1960) is a British academic economist who is the School Professor of Economics and Political Science and Sir W. Arthur Lewis Professor of Development Economics at the London School of Economics (LSE ...

, which summarised the work of the LSE Growth Commission. This recommended policies for long-run

sustainable growth 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 desi ...

in the UK economy. His research focuses on the causes and consequences of innovation. His early work focused on the impact of technology on wages, inequality, jobs, and firm profits. A characteristic of his approach is a focus on empirical evidence of large-scale datasets and an emphasis on public policy. More recently, he has worked on the measurement of management practices and their impact on productivity across firms and countries with his former PhD students

Nicholas Bloom Nicholas Bloom (born 5 May 1973) is the William Eberle Professor in the Department of Economics at Stanford University, a Courtesy Professor at Stanford Business School and Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, and a co-director of t ...

and Raffaella Sadun. He has published over 100 peer-reviewed articles in the economics of innovation, productivity, labour economics, industrial economics, and econometrics. He is frequently reported in the media in the UK and overseas. He is currently on the editorial board of Quantitative Economics and

Management Science Management science (or managerial science) is a wide and interdisciplinary study of solving complex problems and making strategic decisions as it pertains to institutions, corporations, governments and other types of organizational entities. It is ...

. Previously, he has served on the Editorial Board of the ''Journal of Industrial Economics'', ''

Journal of Economic Literature The ''Journal of Economic Literature'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal, published by the American Economic Association, that surveys the academic literature in economics. It was established in 1963 as the ''Journal of Economic Abstracts'',

'' and ''

Review of Economic Studies ''The Review of Economic Studies'' (also known as ''REStud'') is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal covering economics. It was established in 1933 by a group of economists based in Britain and the United States. The original editorial team ...

''. He is a member of the Council of the

Royal Economic Society The Royal Economic Society (RES) is a professional association that promotes the study of economic science in academia, government service, banking, industry, and public affairs. Originally established in 1890 as the British Economic Association, ...

. He is a fellow of the

Econometric Society The Econometric Society is an international society of academic economists interested in applying statistical tools to their field. It is an independent organization with no connections to societies of professional mathematicians or statisticians. ...

and

British Academy The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the same year. It is now a fellowship of more than 1,000 leading scholars spa ...

, as well as a research fellow 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 ...

Centre for Economic Policy Research The Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) is an independent, non‐partisan, pan‐European non‐profit organisation. Its mission is to enhance the quality of policy decisions through providing policy‐relevant research, based soundly in e ...

and

Institute for the Study of Labor The IZA - Institute of Labor Economics (german: Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit), until 2016 referred to as the Institute of the Study of Labor (IZA), is a private, independent economic research institute and academic network focused o ...

. Van Reenen was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2016 New Year Honours for services to economics and public policy making. In 2009, he was awarded (jointly with Fabrizio Zilibotti) the Yrjö Jahnsson Award. This is the European equivalent of the

John Bates Clark Medal The John Bates Clark Medal is awarded by the American Economic Association to "that American economist under the age of forty who is adjudged to have made a significant contribution to economic thought and knowledge." The award is named after the ...

. It is awarded by the

European Economic Association The European Economic Association (EEA) is a professional academic body which links European economists. It was founded in the mid-1980s. Its first annual congress was in 1986 in Vienna and its first president was Jacques Drèze. The current pres ...

to the best economist in Europe under the age of 45. In 2011 he was awarded the Arrow Prize for the best paper in the field of

health economics Health economics is a branch of economics concerned with issues related to efficiency, effectiveness, value and behavior in the production and consumption of health and healthcare. Health economics is important in determining how to improv ...

. John Van Reenen is both the Professor of Applied Economics at MIT Sloan School of Management and in the Department of Economics.

References

External links

Personal website at LSE
{{DEFAULTSORT:Van Reenen, John 1965 births Living people 20th-century British economists 21st-century British economists Fellows of the Econometric Society Alumni of Queens' College, Cambridge Alumni of the London School of Economics Alumni of University College London Academics of the London School of Economics Labor economists British people of South African descent Officers of the Order of the British Empire