The Queen's College Record 2023

The news of the deaths of Old Members comes to the notice of the College through
a variety of channels. The College is unable to verify all these reports and there may
be some omissions and occasional inaccuracies.
Credit: Veronika Vernier
ALAN PETER BUDD
At one time or another, most of you will have read or sung
the words from Ecclesiasticus, “Let us now praise famous
men, and our fathers that begat us”. Sir Alan Peter Budd
GBE was a famous man. He was a very good economist
and an outstanding public servant. He belonged, as
Ecclesiasticus reminds us, to that group of men “giving
counsel by their understanding, and declaring prophecies.
Leaders of the people by their counsels”. As an economist, Alan declared many
prophecies. And his counsel was always wise, from which I and many others
benefited greatly.
Obituaries
But above all Alan was a great man. He set the standard to which all of us aspired.
His contribution was measured not just by his own achievements, but by the fact that
he made everyone around him better – a better economist, better student, better
teacher, better civil servant, a better person. He was that rare person, someone
you always looked forward to meeting because you knew that you would learn
something, laugh together, share frustrations at the idiocies in the world, and find
answers to your questions, whether about high economic theory, which books to
read or how to grow potatoes. Was there a limit to his wisdom and knowledge?
I never found it.
For three decades, Alan was central to British economic policy. In the 1970s, he
was in and out of the Treasury, and in the 1980s, whether in the Treasury or at the
London Business School, Alan formed a partnership with Terry Burns, now Lord
Burns, which helped to transform Britain’s economic fortunes. After the inflation
and economic disasters of the 1970s, the decade of the 1980s was the period in
which Britain turned the corner. The Burns-Budd combination, together with Nigel
Lawson, produced a revolution in British macroeconomic policy. Fiscal policy was
put on a sustainable path and monetary policy was used to control inflation. Growth
would be promoted by microeconomic reforms. No major political party today plans
to reverse that revolution.
In 1991, I joined the Bank of England as its Chief Economist, and a few months
later Alan returned to the Treasury as its Chief Economic Advisor and Head of the
Government Economic Service, succeeding Terry Burns who became Permanent
Secretary. I was immensely fortunate to have Alan as my opposite number, and later
colleague, for almost a decade. We worked closely together during an extraordinary
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