RIP Nicholas Crafts (1949-2023)
23 October 2023
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The Institute of Economic Affairs was saddened to hear of the death of Professor Nick Crafts, the distinguished economic historian.
At the time of his death Nick Crafts was Professor of Economic History at the University of Sussex, though he had also held posts at Oxford, the LSE, Leeds and Warwick. A graduate of Trinity College, Cambridge, he was a Fellow of the British Academy, a former President of both the Economic History Society and the Royal Economic Society, and was made CBE for his services to economics in 2014. He was a governor of the National Institute of Economic and Social Research and had served as a consultant for HM Treasury, the IMF and the World Bank.
Professor Crafts was a prolific writer on a wide range of topics, though probably best known for his research on the sources of long-run economic growth in Britain, and his data-based reassessment of the early stages of the Industrial Revolution.
Nick Crafts was a long-time member of the Academic Advisory Council of the IEA, for which he wrote Can De-Industrialisation Seriously Damage Your Wealth?, The Conservative Government’s Economic Record: An End of Term Report, and Britain’s Relative Economic Performance, 1870-1999.
He was also a member of the editorial board of Economic Affairs, the journal published by the IEA and the University of Buckingham. He contributed articles to the journal and assisted with refereeing. At the time he was hospitalised he was writing an article for us assessing the economics of the brief Truss administration.
We offer our sympathy to Nick’s family and friends.
Photo: MeJudice
At the time of his death Nick Crafts was Professor of Economic History at the University of Sussex, though he had also held posts at Oxford, the LSE, Leeds and Warwick. A graduate of Trinity College, Cambridge, he was a Fellow of the British Academy, a former President of both the Economic History Society and the Royal Economic Society, and was made CBE for his services to economics in 2014. He was a governor of the National Institute of Economic and Social Research and had served as a consultant for HM Treasury, the IMF and the World Bank.
Professor Crafts was a prolific writer on a wide range of topics, though probably best known for his research on the sources of long-run economic growth in Britain, and his data-based reassessment of the early stages of the Industrial Revolution.
Nick Crafts was a long-time member of the Academic Advisory Council of the IEA, for which he wrote Can De-Industrialisation Seriously Damage Your Wealth?, The Conservative Government’s Economic Record: An End of Term Report, and Britain’s Relative Economic Performance, 1870-1999.
He was also a member of the editorial board of Economic Affairs, the journal published by the IEA and the University of Buckingham. He contributed articles to the journal and assisted with refereeing. At the time he was hospitalised he was writing an article for us assessing the economics of the brief Truss administration.
We offer our sympathy to Nick’s family and friends.
Photo: MeJudice
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Very sad to hear the news. Nick Crafts was a very good economic historian and a practitioner of thorough, incisive research that is loosing traction in many learned institutions.