Charles Albert Eric Goodhart, CBE, FBA (born 23 October 1936) is a British economist. His career can be divided into two sections: his term with the Bank of England and its *ociated public policy; and his academic work with the London School of Economics. Charles Goodhart’s work focuses on central bank governance practices and monetary frameworks. He also conducted academic research into foreign exchange markets. He is the founder of Goodhart’s Law, which states: ‘When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure.’

Contents

• 1 Early life and education
  • 1.1 Cambridge (1957 - 1965)
  • 1.2 London School of Economics (1966 - 1968)
• 2 Career
• 3 Selected works
• 4 References
• 5 External links

Early life and education

Charles Goodhart was born on 23 October 1936 to an American Jew, Arthur Lehman Goodhart, and his English wife, Cecily Carter, in Oxford, England.: Arthur Lehman Goodhart studied law at Trinity College, Cambridge, eventually becoming a law don at Corpus Christi College. Following the family’s move to Oxford, Charles’ father became the professor of jurisprudence in 1936 and the master of university college (1951-1963). Cecily Carter brought her three sons (Phillip Goodhart, William Goodhart and Charles Goodhart) up as members of the Church of England. During WWII, Arthur Goodhart’s outspoken opposition to National Socialist German Workers' Partysm led to Charles (aged 2) being evacuated alongside his two elder brothers to the United States. Upon their return, Charles joined his brother William Goodhart at the St Leonards branch of the (Oxford) Summerfields School. Charles was then accepted to Eton College where he focused on the study of history and languages.: After he finished school, he completed two years of compulsory national military service (1955 – 1956) in which he was involved with the Hungarian Revoluton and the Suez Crisis and earned the *le of 2nd Lieutenant in the Kings Royal Rifle Corps.

Cambridge (1957 - 1965)

In October of 1957, Goodhart started studying economics at Cambridge University. In his first year, he came 1st in his course. He learnt under economists such as Nicky Kaldor, Richard Kahn, Joan Robinson, Michael Farrell, Frank Hahn and Robin Matthews. In his final year of study, he was paired in tutorials with Sir James Mirrless. He completed his undergraduate course with First Cl* Honours. After completing his undergraduate degree at Cambridge, Charles moved to the United States in 1960 to begin research at Harvard University studying trade cycles. In June 1962, following the completion of his PhD thesis, which *ysed United States monetary history (specifically why the economy rebounded in 1907 but not in 1929), Charles and his new wife travelled back to Cambridge. Charles took up a Prize Fellowship at Trinity College and became an *istant lecturer in economics (1963 – 1964). He spent the next two years interpreting English monetary history by *ulating and *ysing the monthly reports of the London Joint Stock Banks, which were published after the Barings crisis of 1890.

London School of Economics (1966 - 1968)

In 1964, Goodhart briefly joined the Department of Economic Affairs. During this time, he worked on White Papers, planning the growth of the energy, construction and housing sectors in England. Goodhart left the Department of Economic Affairs in 1966 when he joined the London School of Economics as a lecturer on monetary policy. During this time, he contributed to a study on English monetary policy ‘Monetary Policy in Twelve Industrial Countries’ which was commissioned by the federal Reserve Bank of Boston. He also co-aut*d an article in the field of political economy alongside R.J. Bhansali, which featured in the journal ‘Political Studies’. He stayed at the London School of Economics until 1968.

Career

He was an adviser at the Bank of England from 1969 to 1980, with particular reference to monetary policy. He was subsequently a chief adviser from 1980 to 1985. In 1997, he became an External Member of the Monetary Policy Committee in 1997, staying in the role until 2000.

From 1990 to 1997, Goodhart was a member of the Advisory Committee at the Hong Kong Exchange Fund. Meanwhile, he was Norman Sosnow Professor of Banking and Finance at the London School of Economics from 1985 to 2002, and has been an Emeritus Professor since then. He has also been a member of the Financial Markets Group at the LSE since 1987.

He is a Fellow of the British Academy.

Selected works

• Goodhart, Charles (1988) The Evolution of Central Banks
• Ferran, Eilís; Goodhart, Charles A. E., eds. (2001). Regulating Financial Services and Markets in the 21st Century. Oxford: Hart Publishing. ISBN:978-1841132792.
• Goodhart, Charles (2001) "What Weight Should Be Given to *et Prices in the Measurement of Inflation?" Economic Journal 111 (June): F335–56.
• Goodhart, Charles (2010) "Is a less pro-cyclical financial system an achievable goal?" National Ins*ute Economic Review 211, pp.:81–90
• Goodhart, Charles (2010) "The Regulatory Response to the Financial Crisis"
• Goodhart, Charles & Pradhan, Manoj (2020) "The Great Demographic Reversal: Ageing Societies, Waning Inequality, and an Inflation Revival"

References

External links

• "Charles Goodhart & Manoj Pradhan: The Future Of Ageing Societies Will Be Nothing Like The Past" on YouTube