He obtained first-class honours, and opted to pursue a career initially as an academic economist.

Initially my goal was to become a physicist, and later an academic economist.

Though he remained a leading academic economist, his prestige had diminished.

He adds that many academic economists in business schools had said very clearly that there were problems but nobody listened to them.

Realists will recognise this as, at best, a very long-term and uncertain prospect indeed and, at worst, a much-parroted political expedient put about by academic economists and inexperienced advisers.