| Editorial |
| This is a crowded edition of the Journal, and I shall not trespass too much on it with my remarks. |
| First, we publish a richly-deserved memorial to Sir Campbell Fraser who sadly died in April this year. Campbell was the founder of the Society; he was actively engaged in its development and gave it his generous support throughout his life. We owe him much. |
| As promised, we publish Ajit Singh’s short-listed entry for last year’s Rybzcynski Prize. Singh examines the hypothesis that the Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s had its roots not in failings in the international financial system, but in the Asian way of business, a way characterised by an emphasis on non-market relationships. He concludes that, while there appears to be a distinctive Asian ‘model’, there is little evidence that this caused the weaknesses from which crisis was precipitated. |
| Next, Ben Gardiner considers how the growing use of the internet has changed the ways in which economics consultancies operate. He finds the most interesting developments in the opportunities it gives for clients to shape their own projects through a consultancy-provided resource base. |
Perhaps this lies behind the lower salaries and bonuses reported in this year’s Salary Survey for the consulting sector. But these were the exception.
The survey, compiled by Simon Mansfield, mostly shows a stronger than usual rise in salaries and includes the first report of a total compensation in excess of £1,000,000. |
| In Speakers’ Corner there are reports of the Society’s meetings, and in our Book Reviews we notice twelve interesting books – one title that catches the eye is The Reluctant Economist, by Richard Easterlin. We have all sometimes felt like that. |
| Jim Hirst, Editor |