SBE Membership

Membership

The Society of Business Economists (SBE) is the leading organisation serving business economists in the UK. As a member you will gain access to a network of more than 600 professional economists.

The Society offers a programme of evening and lunchtime meetings at which guest speakers discuss and debate current economic issues, with ample time for questions and discussion (and normally, after evening meetings, the opportunity to dine with the speaker).
Other activities include an annual dinner, seminars and a summer conference; and the Society also offers an annual essay prize. Members receive the Society's journal three times a year, a monthly newsletter, and a yearbook containing a full listing of the Society's members.

SBE members represent a broad spectrum of business life, spanning the City, commerce and industry, consultancies, the public sector, business schools and universities.
The Society welcomes both established economists and younger members, including recent graduates and students intending to follow a career in economics. Most professional economists will join as full members; there is a reduced subscription rate for students undertaking an undergraduate or master's degree with substantial economics content.

Full members are expected to have either a degree with a substantial economics content and evidence of a continuing professional interest in economics, or a degree in another subject together with professional experience of economics (normally including current employment). If you would find it helpful to discuss your own qualifications before applying, please contact the Secretariat, who will be happy to help.

Membership is normally individual and non-transferable. As a professional body, subscriptions paid by members working in or using economics in their work, can be claimed against tax.

The SBE is administered by a Secretariat under the direction of the Secretary, Katie Abberton

Activities

Membership of the Society of Business Economists through its wide range of activities, provides an ideal way of keeping up with economic developments, current issues and advances in economic research. The SBE provides a point of contact for economists in business to air their views and to hear those of others. Activities include:

Monthly Meetings

The core of the SBE’s activities is a programme of monthly meetings from September to June. Distinguished guest speakers from the UK and abroad address the Society on a wide range of issues. At every meeting there is ample time for questions and discussion. After each meeting there is the opportunity to dine with the speaker together with other Members.

Conferences

Conferences are periodically arranged for the consideration of the broader domestic and international issues affecting the business environment with the help of expert speakers.

Annual Dinner

The highlight of the year, the Annual Dinner is an excellent opportunity to meet informally with fellow economists, and to hear leading after-dinner speakers addressing topical issues. A former Director General of GATT, the Director-General of the CBI and the Governor of the Bank of England have been key-note speakers in recent years.

Seminars

The Society regularly organises seminars on topical issues and new developments and techniques led by recognised experts in their own field.

Study Groups

The number and nature of these groups alters in line with issues of topical interest to members. Groups may hold meetings or simply maintain contact registers and have recently covered areas such as forecasting, statistics, industrial economics and European economies.

Background

The Society of Business Economists (SBE) is the leading organisation serving business economists in the UK.

The Society exists to help all those who use economics in a business environment - whether in industry, commerce, finance, consultancy or public service. Its activities aim to advance the use of economic analysis as a tool to support business decision-making and to enhance the standing of the professional economist working outside academia. It provides a forum for its members to discuss and debate economic issues and helps them keep in touch with practical and theoretical developments within the discipline.

The membership of the Society is drawn from a broad spectrum of business life, spanning the City, commerce and industry, public and private sectors, large businesses and small. By becoming a member you will gain access to a wide network of professional economists, providing an excellent means of establishing contact with other leading economists in your own field and in other areas. This network is not confined to the UK; the Society has overseas members and links with similar associations in other countries in Western Europe and in North America.

The Society organises a comprehensive and varied programme of meetings, study groups, seminars and conferences to enable you to keep up with key developments in British and international business economics. Through these meetings you can enhance your own professional status and standing.

The Society of Business Economists is an association of business economists for business economists. Participation has been a guiding principle of the Society’s long and successful history. If you are a business economist; if you use economic analysis in your work; you should join us.

History

The Society of Business Economists was established as The Business Economists Group in 1953 and grew rapidly, adopting its present name in 1969. Members are drawn from all areas of the profession including finance and commerce, industry, government departments and private sector consultants.

Organisation

The SBE is governed by a Council of 12 elected members, with all Full Members and Fellows eligible for election. The Chairman is elected by Council members. The Society has a President and Vice Presidents, also elected by the Council.

International

The SBE maintains close links with business economists’ groups in many countries in western Europe and North America and keeps Members informed of events such as International Conferences.

Publications

The Business Economist

The Society’s well respected journal is published three times a year and is free to Members. It features articles on practical research, recent theoretical advances and contains an extensive book review section. Articles include contributions from Members and other economists. Members are encouraged to submit their own articles.

The Newsletter

The monthly newsletter keeps Members informed of all the Society’s activities. There is regular news of related groups and developments of interest to the business economist. Recruitment advertisements are often circulated.

Surveys

Regular surveys are carried out, assessing Members’ views of important issues such as the Budget and the economic outlook. There is also an annual salary survey.

Yearbook

The SBE Yearbook contains a full listing of the over 600 Members, by name and by organisation. This is distributed only to Members.

The Society Year 2006 - 2007

The highlight of our activities this year was Bank of England Governor Mervyn King’s lecture on Ten Years of Independence of the Bank of England. The Society is very grateful to Andrew McLaughlin and his team at the Royal Bank of Scotland for hosting the event and the reception afterwards, attended by 200 Members.

April brought the sad news that Sir Campbell Fraser, the founder of the Society, had died (on April 27), shortly before his 84th birthday. The growth in size and status of the Society was a source of much satisfaction to him, and in his later years as an elder statesman he gave the Society’s officers and secretariat much constructive support.

John Calverley, 12th Chairman of the Society, Acting Chairman after David Walton’s death and driving force behind the 50th anniversary celebrations, has relocated to Canada and relinquished his Council responsibilities. He made an outstanding contribution over many years.

Jill Leyland handed over to David Owen as Honorary Treasurer, stepping down from the Council after 15 years working enthusiastically in a number of roles.

Council elected three new Fellows in recognition of their exceptional contributions to Business Economics and their long-standing support of the Society; Kate Barker, Member of the Monetary Policy Committee, Bank of England; Charles Burton, Managing Director, Experian Business Strategies and Jill Leyland, Economics Consultant, World Gold Council.

John Llewellyn, David Owen and Thomas Mayer were elected to Council and Adam Chester was re-elected. David Owen, as Honorary Treasurer, has been ably assisted by Tudor Marshall and the investment team led by Andrew Milligan. Marian Marshall’s knowledge and guidance in her role as Secretary to the Council has been invaluable. We are very grateful to Katie Abberton and her team at PXL for their continuing service to the Society’s good administration.

The Society’s strength over the past year has been reflected in a growing membership, and increased breadth. SBE Members are drawn from across the private and public sectors, and from industry, commerce, finance, the media and academia. Around 20 new organisations have joined the extensive range of those represented by our Members over past year alone. We thank our Membership Secretary, Alison Cottrell, for her continued work in this respect.

Meetings

The successful formula of high calibre speakers addressing a range of subjects, and a combination of lunch-time and evening meetings, has been maintained.

The Annual Dinner at the Institute of Directors, attended by over 200 Members and guests, was addressed by Mario Draghi, Governor of Banca d’Italia and member of the Governing Council of the European Central Bank. He gave insights into monetary policy in Europe and answered some challenging questions. Lord Burns presided over the evening and presented the Rybczynski prize, once again sponsored by KPMG. The winner, Kevin Daly of Goldman Sachs, remembered David Walton as an inspiring example, and donated £1000 of his prize money to the David Walton Memorial Fund.

Evan Davis chaired June’s Annual Conference on How Long will the World Upswing Last?, the first part of which considered the challenges for monetary policy. In a tribute to David Walton, Gavyn Davies gave a keynote speech on how the Fed and ECB should set monetary policy. Jorgen Elmeskov then discussed how low unemployment could safely go, and Avinash Persaud, Robin Niblett and Martin Weale spoke on the risks to financial stability, the political order and the UK economy. This was the first SBE conference at which a speaker had specifically addressed geopolitical risks, and the event, coordinated by John Calverley and John Llewellyn, received very positive feedback.

In the regular meetings programme, Members heard from Willem Buiter on global imbalances, Edward Luce on the strange rise of modern India, and Peter Hayes on whether commercial real estate matters to the UK economy. Speakers on more technical topics included David Hendry on recent advances in forecasting; Michael Grubb on the business economics of climate change; Norbert Walter on the impact of demography on the labour market; and John Davies of the Competition Commission on competition and productivity. The regular post-Budget briefing for Members was given this year by Dave Ramsden, Head of Macroeconomics and Fiscal Policy at HM Treasury.

Standard Life Investments sponsored the Annual Dinner for the fourth year, and Royal Bank of Scotland, Dresdner Kleinwort, Lloyds TSB and the Competition Commission all generously provided venues and refreshments for Speaker meetings. We are again grateful to Rosemary Connell for organising the drinks after evening meetings.

Journal

The popularity and success of the Society’s Journal, The Business Economist, were maintained, with a wide range of interesting articles and book reviews on many of the economic issues of the day, including demographic change, competition, asset prices, energy markets, technology and structural reform. Also included was the winning entry of this year’s Rybczynski Prize, Kevin Daly’s illuminating article: Gender Inequality, Growth and Global Ageing. The quality of entries to last year’s Prize competition was such that all the shortlisted essays were also published. As usual, the Annual Salary Survey was reported. The Journal would have not have been complete without the highly-regarded Book Reviews, and ‘Speakers’ Corner’ reports of monthly meetings.

The Council extends its thanks to all those who submitted contributions and, in particular, to Jim Hirst (Editor), Diane Coyle (Book Reviews Editor), Marian Marshall (Publication Manager) and Adam Chester (Managing Editor) for their commitment and dedication in putting the publication together.

Finances

The Society’s finances held up well despite some exceptional expenses resulting from the sad death of David Walton, including a donation to the MPhil/DPhil Degree Scholarship fund established by Oxford University in his memory. Other expenses were mostly in line with budget, but taxation came back into the equation following abolition of the lower Corporation Tax limit. Income streams (Subscriptions, Advertising, Conference, Annual Dinner and Investments) remained healthy, and Membership Subscriptions rose. The Conference and Annual Dinner (including sponsorship) contributed to the Society’s net income, as did income from Interest and Investments, while the Journal deficit was below that of previous years.

The Year Ahead

We are looking at the ways in which we communicate with Members, and our new website – still a work in progress, but very much up and running – is a first step in this direction. We intend to make this website the focus for many of our activities. We are developing a ‘Members only’ section giving access to papers and presentations as well as Journal articles and other important information. It will also make it easier, for those Members who prefer it, to receive newsletters and timely reminders of events by email. The Society is in good health and we intend it to remain that way, and we hope the changes in progress will help keep it relevant to, and focused on, the most important people of all – its Members.

Title		Modified Date
Membership Brochure	Download	26/07/2010
Membership Application	Download	04/07/2010