Dear Participant

The Summer Programme in Oxford Frontiers in Economics is unique in that it is designed specifically for university students  and aspiring young professionals in the field of economics, business and governmental studies. The programme provides participants with a comprehensive understanding of the challenging issues involving government economic policy, monetary and fiscal policy, the banking system in the post-2008 world, and policies to create sustainable, stable and inclusive economic growth and prosperity. We are confident that the rewards from completing the programme will be substantial. These will be derived, not only from an enhancement of your understanding of most important and challenging issues on central banking, but also from the development of a strong network of senior international contacts at the programme.

We are pleased to introduce you personally to a leading group of experts who will present and engage with you on the programme. Expert presenters include Professor Avner Offer (Chichele Professor in Economic History, All Souls College, University of Oxford), Dr James Forder (Dean, Balliol College, Oxford), the leading expert on central bank independence, credibility and transparency policies, Professor Charles Goodhart (LSE), the Bank of England’s leading central bank and monetary economics expert, Dr Jennifer Castle of Magdalen College (University of Oxford) who is also the Director of Climate Econometrics at Nuffield College (University of Oxford) as well as Dr Plamen Ivanov, a Senior Lecturer in Banking at a number of UK Universities with interests in the varieties of capitalism. You will have the chance to meet these leading lights, discuss with them, benefit from their insights – and often join them for lunch or dinner during the Programme.

The programme also features my work, which includes my original proposal for a new monetary policy in the mid-1990s, when I was chief economist of an investment bank in Tokyo, which I called “Quantitative Easing”. It will feature my policy design to boost domestic growth quickly without extra government expenditure, by simply switching the public sector funding method (“Enhanced Debt Management”). And of course it will feature the first empirical tests I conducted in the 5000-year history of banking on hitherto widely disputed but crucial details about how banks actually operate and fund their loan extensions. It turns out that no prior savings are needed for banks to fuel business investment through their lending. Moreover, in my latest empirical research, published in a top-rated peer-reviewed journal, I demonstrate that foreign investment, including FDI, does not actually boost economic growth of the receiver country. Instead, domestic bank credit policies determine and can significantly enhance economic growth and deliver sustainable and stable prosperity for all.

As participants, you too will play an important role in the success of the programme. Contextualising the programme material in the day-to-day experiences of participants is an integral ingredient of the 2023 Summer Programme in Oxford. Active participation and discussion, where participants can draw on each other’s experiences, will be encouraged and facilitated by lecturers.

You can find out more about the Summer School in Oxford by following this page. 

I look forward to seeing you in early September up at Oxford.

Warm Regards

Professor Richard A. Werner, Programme Director