Diane Coyle

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Dr Diane Coyle (born in Lancashire^[1]), is a freelance economist, and a former advisor to the UK Treasury.

She is a member of the UK Competition Commission, and a trustee of the BBC

1 Biography
2 Personal life
3 Published works
4 Quotations
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Biography

Coyle attended a grammar school, where a teacher engaged her "very sceptical and mathematical" mind with the logical way of thinking required in economics ^[2]. She attended the University of Oxford, and later gained a Phd in Economics from Harvard University, graduating in 1985 ^[3].

She was an advisor to the UK Treasury from 1985 to 1986, and then became economics editor of The Independent and the European Editor of Investors Chronicle between 1993 and 2001, stated to be for reasons of communicating economics^[4].

She has since written a series of books focused on both educating people about, as well as different aspects of economics. Coyle is Managing Director of Enlightenment Economics^[5], an economic consultancy to large corporate clients and international organisations, specialising in new technologies and globalisation. Coyle is also visiting Professor at the University of Manchester's Institute for Political and Economic Governance ^[6].

Coyle is: a board member of the UK's Competition Commission; on the Executive Committee of the Centre for Economic Policy Research; the Royal Economic Society; the Council of the Royal Society of Arts; and is a member of the BBC Trust^[7]

[edit] Personal life

Coyle is married to BBC journalist Rory Cellan-Jones, who commentates on economic and business affairs for BBC One ^[8]

[edit] Published works

1997 - The Weightless World - summarised by Mervyn King, executive director of the Bank Of England, as: "In sophisticated economies, output weighs less and is worth more than in the past – just like the people who make it."’^[9]
2001 - Paradoxes of Prosperity
2002 - Sex, Drugs and Economics - One chapter, "Sex: can you have too much of a good thing?", reaches the miserable conclusion, "apparently, people think sex is fun" ^[10]

[edit] Quotations

Coyle on America: I think for any European spending some time in America is incredibly interesting and useful. It’s a hugely flawed country filled with a tacky pop culture but it’s also a profoundly vibrant and democratic country. I mean, it does look tacky to us – if you look at the present situation and all the flag waving stuff you kind of want to cringe – but I still think that it’s a pretty valuable process – all those people feeling strongly and patriotically looks naff to cynical Europeans – but all those voices get fed into the political process. Now that’s something that we need to value and celebrate. It is democratic. After all, they’re citizens and so why shouldn’t their voices count? Europeans might like to feel superior – it doesn’t look particularly stylish - but I think we’ve a lot to learn about including people in the political process. Let everyone’s voice count. Americans seem to do that better than Europeans.^[11]