James Meade was a British economist who won the Nobel Prize in 1977 for his “pathbreaking contribution to the theory of international trade and international capital movements”. His interest in economics sprouted from his postgraduate years at Cambridge, where he had the opportunity to engage in discussions with such figures as John Maynard Keynes and Dennis Robertson. He later worked for the League of Nations, the Cabinet Office and the Attlee ministry, before beginning a career as a professor. His writings and ideas concerned the determinants of economic growth and whether free trade had a positive versus a negative impact on countries as a whole. Meade felt that although the ideal is the elimination of all trade barriers, in specific scenarios where that is unfeasible a small dose of protectionism in certain industries could be the next best option. Later in life, Meade acted as chairman of a committee within the Institute for Fiscal Studies to look at direct taxation policy in the UK.

UK, Commonwealth and Common Market: A Reappraisal (1962)

Wages and Prices in a Mixed Economy (1971)

An Effective Social Contract (1975)

Wage Fixing Revisited (1985)