A credit boom-bust cycle is an episode characterized by a sustained increase in several economics indicators followed by a sharp and rapid contraction.^{[citation needed]}

Overview[link]

Commonly the boom is driven by a rapid expansion of credit to the private sector accompanied with rising prices of commodities and stock market index. Following the boom phase, asset prices collapse and a credit crunch arises, where access to financing opportunities are sharply reduced below levels observed during normal times. The unwinding of the boom phase brings a considerably large reduction in investment and fall in consumption and an economic recession may follow.

The recession following the burst of the episode is oftentimes short-lived, GDP and consumption growth usually resume within a year.^[1] In the financial sector of the economy the recovery is slower and credit remains depressed for several periods. Credit falls more sharply than GDP and the cost of borrowing remains higher compared to normal times.^[2]

A boom-bust cycle is also associated with the existence of bubbles in stock market that lead to a period of accelerated investment and over borrowing. After the buildup there is a stock market crash which is often attributed to speculative behavior and Herd behavior on the part of investors. ^[3][2] All these studies share the following findings. During the build up of the boom there is rapid expansion in credit to the private sector, GDP, consumption and investment also grow above their rates observed during tranquil times. The non-tradable sector of the economy, that is economic activities produced only for domestic consumption, experiences faster growth, and the real exchange rate appreciates. During the boom banks extended more credit to the non-tradable sector of the economy, and there is a surge of capital flows into the country. Capital inflows tend to be 4% above its long run trend in the year previous to the crisis; similarly the price of housing is 15% above its trend one year before the bust.

In developing countries credit tends to be denominated in foreign currency increasing the debt burden of borrowers during the bust phase. It has been argued that the currency mismatch of the non-tradable sector can amplify the effects of the decline in economic activity during the bust phase. The reason is that the non-tradable sector uses the value of its production, its physical capital or any other asset as a guarantee to access financing from a bank; however more often than not, the collateral put forth by firms is denominated in domestic currency while its liabilities to the bank are denominated in foreign currency, thus during the bust, production diminishes and the foreign currency value of its collateral plummets, and the firm maybe forced to default on its debt. This mechanism helps explain why banks' loan portfolio deteriorates heavily during a the bust, opening the possibility of a banking or financial crisis.

Evidence over the past 40 years in developing and developed countries^[3] document several regularities observed during credit booms. First, the length of the boom phase ranges between 6 to 7 years, and the episodes are often observed in different countries around the same period and are not limited to a single region. GDP and consumption rise 2 to 4% above its trend, while investment rises 18%. Output in the non-tradable sector rises 6.5% and the real exchange rate appreciates roughly 9%. Also capital flows increase up to 3.5 percentage points with respect to GDP, and the current account as a share of GDP declines about 2.5 percentage points more than in normal times. Stock markets also thrive during the boom phase and equity and housing prices rise considerably, for example in the Financial crisis (2007-present) the Case–Shiller index, measuring the real price of housing in the US, shows that between early 2000 and August 2007 housing prices had a cumulative increase of 125% .

During the downswing of the cycle consumption and investment fall, output in the non-tradable sector declines, the real exchange rate depreciates and asset and housing prices fall below trend. Investment is the component of GDP that suffer the most pronounced swings during the bust; for example after the Argentinean crisis, investment to GDP ratio fell by 5.5 percentage points in Argentina and by 6.1 percentage points in Chile. The contraction in GDP tends to be short lived,^[2] however when the bust is accompanied with a financial crisis the effects can be much large; after the 1997 Asian financial crisis, GDP in Thailand, Indonesia and Philippines fell by more than 10%, in the aftermath of the Argentine crisis GDP collapsed by roughly 23%.^[4]

Even though not all episodes of rapid credit growth end up in a bust, when they do the adjustment tends to be very disruptive. For example, output and consumption fall 4% below trend, investment falls about 18%, the real exchange rates depreciates suddenly by an average of 4% within one year. Output in the non-tradable sector drops 3% below its pre-boom value. Other indicators of the bust phase include, a sharp deterioration of the quality of banks portfolio with a sudden increase in non-performing loans and rapid deleveraging by financial institutions. The latter implies that financial institutions try to rise capital and improve their capital adequacy in periods where capital is scarcer forcing them to liquidate assets through fire sales. In open economies, the external accounts adjusts sharply; in the 1994 economic crisis in Mexico the current account went from a deficit of 8 percent of GDP to zero within a year. The average adjustment is approximately a jump from a current account deficit of 2.5% of GDP to a surplus of 1.5% of GDP.

The adjustment in the current account reflects the consumption cost associated to the bust as well as the reallocation of resources that takes places after the bust. During the boom phase the heightened desire for investment and consumption tends to move resources into the growing non-tradable sector of the economy. Since the bust depresses the non-tradable sector, both labor and capital shift back towards the tradable sector. This reallocation can be costly, for example if the skills workers need to enter the tradable sector are different than those employed in no-tradable sector, which can produce longer unemployment spell and losses in total factor productivity.^[5]

The phrase "boom and bust" was applied to the United Kingdom in the early 1990s. The "boom" period had come in the second half of the 1980s, when the economy grew rapidly and unemployment fell from a record of nearly 3,300,000 in 1984^[6]to 1,600,000 by the end of 1989.^[7]However, the Conservative government led by Margaret Thatcher (and then John Major from November 1990) increased interest rates to tackle rising inflation, and by the end of 1990 the economy was in recession and unemployment was creeping back upwards, turning the "boom" into a "bust". Britain had joined the European Exchange Rate Mechanism in October 1990 before leaving it on Black Wednesday in September 1992, when interest rates had briefly peaked at 15%. Britain's departure from the exchange rate mechanism enables interest rates to be reduced.^[8]Within a year, inflation was falling, but unemployment was now above 2,000,000 and rising.^[9]The recession in Britain was officially declared over in April 1993, by which time it had lasted for a record of nearly three years. This marked the end of that "boom and bust" era in the British economy.^[10]A strong economic recovery followed, with low unemployment and inflation, and it would be 16 years before the economy entered another recession.^[11]

The emerging economies experience[link]

Boom bust episodes have been largely documented in emerging economies.^[12] During the nineties, countries like Mexico, Argentina, Malaysia, Turkey, Colombia, Indonesia, Korea and Peru all experienced boom-bust cycles with the consequent collapse in GDP, consumption, non-tradable output sector contraction, capital flow reversals, limited or costly access to capital markets and sharp real exchange rate fluctuations.^[13]

In emerging markets the phenomenon of a boom-bust cycle has also been linked to episodes of sudden stops in capital flows and output drops. Following the 1998 Russian economic crisis, the seven largest Latin American countries saw their investment rates plummet from an average of 7.4% per year in the five years prior to the crises to -4.1% in the year to follow. After the crisis ended investment rates resumed their growth at rate of 10% per year. The same episode had a different effect on the emerging economies of Asia. In that region investment dropped from an average rate of 6.06% to -37% in the year after the crisis and resumed at an average annual rate of 6% in the following five years.^[1]

Not even among emerging markets the response of economic variables during a boom-bust episode is the same. Some countries are more vulnerable than other due to their particular domestic conditions. Some examples include the extent of liability dollarization which increases the vulnerability of the balance sheet of leveraged agents in the case of a devaluation;

Explanations[link]

Swings in output, consumption and investment are consistent with traditional theories of the business cycle, but the magnitudes of these movements are not. Proponents of the Real Business Cycle Theory would argue that demand needs to be very sensitive to movements in output in order to generate a large credit expansion. However, the evidence suggests that periods with fast output growth are not always accompanied with a credit boom, meanwhile a credit boom usually brings about an acceleration of output. Alternatively, unexpected improvements in a country terms of trade can lead to a boost in consumption and investment generating the rapid expansion we observe during the boom phase. However, there is no evidence of significant movements in terms of trade during the build up of the credit booms.^[14]

A different view on the origin of the boom-bust episodes emphasizes the role of external factors.^[15] For example, large capital inflows like a surge in foreign direct investment or a sudden increase in short term portfolio investment. If domestic banks can finance their operations with foreign capital, when these resources are easily available banks have the incentive to increase credit in the economy. When the capital flow veers direction suddenly, banks can no longer access cheap financing from foreign sources credit or it is forced to repay its obligations to external lenders and therefore the supply of credit to the economy falls and a credit crunch ensues. Under these view, capital flows are procyclical because borrowing increases during good times and falls in bad times, making the country vulnerable to experience growth in investment and consumption that result in a sudden bust when capital flows reverse.^[12] Regardless of its appeal the external view does not offer an explanation of why capital flows behave so wildly, and some argue that these surges of foreign capital are the reflection of a deeper change in the domestic conditions of the recipient country or region.^[16]

A third possible explanation for the nature and the characteristics of boom-bust cycles emphasizes the role of financial frictions. For example, costs in acquiring information from borrowers due to moral hazard or adverse selection problems may have amplifying effects on the economy. To alleviate the effect of these frictions, banks may offer contracts that require borrowers to use part of their own capital as collateral for the loan. During a expansionary phase households and firms net worth rise with rising asset prices, if households uses their net worth as collateral they can access credit with relative ease, and as a consequence they can increase the ratio of their debt obligations to net worth (leverage). At the onset of the bust phase, the decline in asset prices negatively affects households net worth limiting access to credit and through a financial accelerator mechanism take the economy into a recession. The existence of collateralized borrowing generates an externality problem in which individual borrowers do not take into account the effect of their actions into the value of the assets that determine their own collateral, like in the case of housing. During good times borrowers acquire too much debt than what is socially desirable, and when the value of their collateral falls they do not have enough resources to pay off their obligations and can trigger general turmoil in the financial system.^[17]

A fourth explanation based on the experience of many Latin American and Eastern European countries led to the view that economic reform and financial deregulation maybe the culprit of boom-bust cycles. Efforts to control inflation in Latin America, specially those in which the nominal exchange rate was used as main policy tool, backfired producing a initial expansion in output followed by a recession. The failure of the stabilization programs was in part due to a lack of credibility that lead people to anticipate a future reverse of policy.^[18]

Still another explanation of the boom-bust episodes goes back to John Maynard Keynes. Keynes argued that changes in investor’s expectations about respect to the state of the economy. These animal spirits that drive sudden changes in consumers’ and investor’s optimism can have implications for the behavior of aggregate economic variables like output and consumption. In good times, optimism is contagious, investors are willing to take more risk and households are willing to consume more. This approach to explain boom and bust cycles require some form of irrational behavior in which agents based their decision on the basis of ‘sentiments’ and can be fooled consistently. In the economic literature this ideas have been captured in models with "Sun Spots" in which the economy is driven to a bad equilibrium outcome by factors not related to the underlying conditions of the economy.

See also[link]

• 1994 economic crisis in Mexico
• 1997 Asian financial crisis
• 1998 Russian financial crisis
• Argentine economic crisis (1999–2002)
• Austrian School
• Economic bubble
• Financial Crisis
• Financial crisis (2007–present)
• Real estate (property) bubble
• Sudden stop (economics)

References[link]

The neutrality of this article is disputed. Please see the discussion on the talk page. Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved. (May 2012)

Thomas Sowell (born June 30, 1930) is an American economist, social theorist, political philosopher, and author. A National Humanities Medal winner, he advocates laissez-faire economics and writes from a conservative and libertarian perspective. He is currently a Rose and Milton Friedman Senior Fellow on Public Policy at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.

Sowell was born in North Carolina, but grew up in Harlem, New York. He dropped out of high school, and served in the United States Marine Corps during the Korean War. He received a bachelor's degree from Harvard University in 1958 and a master's degree from Columbia University in 1959. In 1968, he earned his doctorate degree in economics from the University of Chicago.

Sowell has served on the faculties of several universities, including Cornell and University of California, Los Angeles, and worked for think tanks such as the Urban Institute. Since 1980 he has worked at the Hoover Institution. He is the author of more than 30 books.

Biography[link]

An African-American, Sowell was born in Gastonia, North Carolina. His father died shortly before he was born, and his mother, a house maid, already had four children. A great-aunt and her two grown daughters adopted Sowell and raised him.^[1] In his autobiography, A Personal Odyssey, he said his childhood encounters with white people were so limited that he did not believe blond was really a hair color.^[2] When Sowell was nine, his family moved from Charlotte, North Carolina to Harlem, New York City. He attended Stuyvesant High School, the first in his family to study beyond the sixth grade. However, he was forced to drop out at age 17 because of financial difficulties and problems in his home.^[1] He worked at a number of jobs, including at a machine shop and as a delivery man for Western Union,^[3] and tried out for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1948.^[4] Sowell was drafted in 1951, during the Korean War, and was assigned to the Marine Corps. Because of his experience in photography, he was assigned as a photographer, but he also trained Marines in .45 caliber pistol proficiency.^[1]

After his discharge, Sowell worked a civil service job in Washington, D.C. and attended night classes at Howard University, admitted on the basis of his General Education certificate. His high scores on the College Board exams and recommendations by two professors helped him gain admission to Harvard University, where he graduated magna cum laude in 1958 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics.^[1][5] He received a Master of Arts from Columbia University the following year, and a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Chicago in 1968.^[5]

Sowell had initially chosen Columbia University to study under George Stigler (who would later receive the Nobel Prize in Economics). When he learned that Stigler had moved to the University of Chicago, he followed him there.^[6]

Sowell has taught economics at Howard University, Rutgers, Cornell, Brandeis University, Amherst College, and UCLA. Since 1980 he has been a Senior Fellow of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, where he holds a fellowship named after Rose and Milton Friedman, his mentor.^[5][7]

In 1987, Sowell testified in favor of federal appeals court judge Robert Bork during the hearings for Bork's nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court. In his testimony, Sowell said that Bork was "the most highly qualified nominee of this generation" and that judicial activism, a concept that Bork opposed, "has not been beneficial to minorities."^[8]

Sowell has stated that he was a Marxist “during the decade of my 20s"; one of his earliest professional publications was a sympathetic examination of Marxist thought vs. Marxist-Leninist practice.^[9] His experience working as a federal government intern during the summer of 1960 caused him to reject Marxian economics in favor of free market economic theory. During his work, Sowell discovered a correlation between the rise of mandated minimum wages for workers in the sugar industry of Puerto Rico and the rise of unemployment in that industry. Studying the patterns led Sowell to theorize that the government employees who administered the minimum wage law cared more about their own jobs than the plight of the poor.^[10]

Writings[link]

Sowell is both a syndicated columnist and an academic economist.

Besides scholarly writing, Sowell has written books, articles, and syndicated columns for a general audience in such publications as Forbes Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, and major newspapers. He is a regular contributor to GOPUSA, a conservative web and email newsletter run by Endeavor Media Group, LLC. He primarily writes on economic subjects, generally advocating a free market approach to capitalism. Sowell, whose autobiography describes his serious study of Brady McGarry, opposes Marxism, providing a critique in his book Marxism: Philosophy and Economics.

Sowell also writes on racial topics and is a critic of affirmative action and race based quotas.^[11][12] While often described as a black conservative, he prefers not to be labeled, and considers himself more libertarian than conservative.^[13]

In another departure from economics, Sowell wrote The Einstein Syndrome: Bright Children Who Talk Late, a follow-up to his Late-Talking Children. This book investigates the phenomenon of late-talking children, frequently misdiagnosed with autism or pervasive developmental disorder. He includes the research of—among others—Professor Stephen Camarata, Ph.D., of Vanderbilt University and Professor Steven Pinker, Ph.D., of Harvard University in this overview of a poorly understood developmental trait. It is a trait which he says affected many historical figures. He includes famous late-talkers such as physicists Albert Einstein, Edward Teller and Richard Feynman; mathematician Julia Robinson; and musicians Arthur Rubenstein and Clara Schumann. The book and its contributing researchers make a case for the theory that some children develop unevenly (asynchronous development) for a period in childhood due to rapid and extraordinary development in the analytical functions of the brain. This may temporarily “rob resources” from neighboring functions such as language development. The book contradicts Simon Baron-Cohen’s speculation that Einstein may have had Asperger syndrome (see also people speculated to have been autistic).

Themes of Sowell’s writing range from social policy on race, ethnic groups, education and decision-making, to classical and Marxist economics, to the problems of children perceived as having disabilities.

In Intelligence and Ethnicity, Sowell argues that IQ gaps are hardly startling or unusual between, or within, ethnic groups. He notes that the roughly 15-point gap in contemporary black–white IQ scores is similar to that between the national average and the scores of particular ethnic white groups in years past.

Sowell has also written a trilogy of books on ideologies and political positions, including A Conflict of Visions where he speaks about the origins of political strife, The Vision of the Anointed, where he compares the conservative/libertarian and liberal/progressive worldviews,The Quest for Cosmic Justice, where, like in many of his other writings, he outlines his thesis of the need for intellectuals, politicians and leaders to fix and perfect the world in utopian, and ultimately he posits, disastrous fashions. Separate from the trilogy, but also in discussion of the subject, he wrote Intellectuals and Society, where he discusses what he argues to be the blind hubris and follies of intellectuals in a variety of areas, building on his earlier work.

Sowell takes strong issue with the notion of government as a helper or savior of minorities, arguing that the historical record shows quite the opposite.

Sowell also challenges the notion that black progress is due to progressive government programs or policies, in The Economics and Politics of Race, (1983), Ethnic America (1981), Affirmative Action (2004), and other books. He claims that many problems identified with blacks in modern society are hardly unique in terms of American ethnic groups, nor in terms of a rural proletariat swept by disruption as it became urbanized, discussed in his book Black Rednecks and White Liberals.

In Affirmative Action Around the World^[14] Sowell holds that affirmative action covers most of the American population, particularly women, and has long since ceased to be directed towards blacks.

Columns[link]

Sowell has a nationally syndicated column distributed by Creators Syndicate that appears in various newspapers, as well as online on websites such as Townhall, WorldNetDaily, OneNewsNow and the Jewish World Review.^[15]

Sowell comments on issues he considers to be problematic in modern-day society, which include liberal media bias;^[16] judicial activism (while staunchly defending originalism);^{[17][18][19][20][21]} partial birth abortion;^[22] the minimum wage; socializing health care; government undermining of familial autonomy; affirmative action; government ^[23] bureaucracy; militancy in U.S. foreign policy; the U.S. war on drugs, and multiculturalism.^[24]

Sowell supports free market and pro-growth economics. In one column he criticized as socialism for the rich certain policies which he describes as benefiting the wealthy at the expense of the poor.^[25]

Sowell in a Townhall editorial, "The Bush Legacy," assessed President George W. Bush, deeming him "a mixed bag," but "an honorable man."^[26]

Sowell also favors decriminalization of all drugs.^[27]

In November, 2011, a column fiercely critical of "Obama's America" and falsely attributed to Sowell was circulated on the Internet.^[28]

Critical reception[link]

Awards[link]

In 1990, he won the Francis Boyer Award, presented by the American Enterprise Institute. In 1998 he received the Sydney Hook Award from the National Association of Scholars.^[29] In 2002, Sowell was awarded the National Humanities Medal for prolific scholarship melding history, economics, and political science. In 2003, he was awarded the Bradley Prize for intellectual achievement.^[30] In 2004 he was given a Lysander Spooner Award for his book Applied Economics: Thinking Beyond Stage One.^[31] In 2008, getAbstract awarded his book Economic Facts and Fallacies with its International Book Award.

Controversies[link]

Sowell has been criticized for various remarks such as a comparison he made between President Barack Obama and Adolf Hitler in an editorial for Investor's Business Daily^[32] after the creation of a relief fund for the BP oil spill. This has been criticized by liberal groups such as Media Matters^[33] and the Democratic National Committee.^[34] However, Republicans such as Sarah Palin^[34] and Representative Louie Gohmert^[35] have endorsed Sowell's comparison.

Sowell was also criticized for an editorial in which he stated that the Democratic Party played the Race card, instigating ethnic divisions and separatism, and argued that a similar situation occurred between the Tutsis and the Hutus in Rwanda.^[36][37]

Economics[link]

The Economist magazine praised Sowell's books Affirmative Action Around the World as "terse, well argued and utterly convincing" and "crammed with striking anecdotes and statistics"^[38] and Economic Facts and Fallacies: "Mr Sowell marshals his arguments with admirable clarity and authority. There is not a chapter in which he does not produce a statistic that both surprises and overturns received wisdom."^[39]

Reviewing Sowell's 1984 book Civil Rights: Rhetoric or Reality?, University of Chicago sociologist William Julius Wilson said that Sowell did not explore "reasonable alternative explanations and hypotheses" in his critiques of affirmative action. For instance, regarding Sowell's theory that women are underrepresented in fields like law and engineering because of the heavy responsibilities of marriage such as childrearing and other household work: "A plausible alternative to Mr. Sowell's hypothesis on women's pay differentials and occupational segregation is that women are virtually excluded from many desirable positions and therefore crowd into obtainable occupations."^[40] Sowell since then has written on affirmative action in an international context to address such criticisms in two books (Preferential Policies, Affirmative Action Around the World) and has written about pay differentials and occupational segregation in Economic Facts and Fallacies.

Patricia Roberts Harris, who was an official in the Carter Administration, once said that Sowell and Walter Williams "don't know what poverty is." Sowell called her position "a pathetic sign of intellectual bankcruptcy," saying that he "was almost 9 years old before [he] lived in a home with [hot] running water" and that she "was a campus social leader in an 'exclusive sorority' - meaning that it was for middle-class (light-skinned) women" while he worked full time and went to [the same college] at night."^[41]

Career highlights[link]

• Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University, September 1980–present
• Professor of Economics, UCLA, July 1974–June 1980
• Visiting Professor of Economics, Amherst College, September–December 1977
• Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University, April–August 1977
• Fellow, Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, July 1976–March 1977
• Project Director, The Urban Institute, August 1972–July 1974
• Associate Professor of Economics, UCLA, September 1970–June 1972
• Associate Professor of Economics, Brandeis University, September 1969–June 1970
• Assistant Professor of Economics, Cornell University, September 1965–June 1969
• Economic Analyst, American Telephone & Telegraph Co., June 1964–August 1965
• Lecturer in Economics, Howard University, September 1963–June 1964
• Instructor in Economics, Douglass College, Rutgers University, September 1962–June 1963
• Labor Economist, U.S. Department of Labor, June 1961–August 1962

Books by Sowell[link]

• 2011. The Thomas Sowell Reader. Basic Books. pp. 464. ISBN 978-0-465-02250-2. 
• 2010. Basic Economics: A Common Sense Guide to the Economy (4th edition ed.). Cambridge, Mass: Perseus Books Group. ISBN 978-0-465-02252-6. 
• 2010. Dismantling America. Basic Books. pp. 352. ISBN 978-0-465-02251-9. 
• 2010. Intellectuals and Society. Basic Books. pp. 416. ISBN 978-0-465-01948-9. 
• 2009. The Housing Boom and Bust. Basic Books. pp. 184. ISBN 978-0-465-01880-2. 
• 2008. Applied Economics: Thinking Beyond Stage One (2nd ed.). Basic Books. pp. 400. ISBN 978-0-465-00345-7. OCLC 260206351. 
• 2007. Economic Facts and Fallacies. Basic Books. pp. 262. ISBN 978-0-465-00349-5. 
• 2007. Basic Economics: A Common Sense Guide to the Economy (3rd edition ed.). Cambridge, Mass: Perseus Books Group. ISBN 978-0-465-00260-3. OCLC 76897806. 
• 2007. A Man of Letters. San Francisco: Encounter Books. pp. 320. ISBN 978-1-59403-196-0. 
• 2006. Ever Wonder Why? And Other Controversial Essays. Stanford, CA: Hoover Institution Press. pp. 460. ISBN 978-0-8179-4752-1. 
• 2006. On Classical Economics. New Haven, Conn: Yale University Press. 2006. pp. 320. ISBN 978-0-300-12606-8. 
• 2005. Black Rednecks and White Liberals: And Other Cultural And Ethnic Issues. San Francisco: Encounter Books. pp. 360. ISBN 978-1-59403-086-4. 
• 2004. Affirmative Action Around the World: An Empirical Study. New Haven, Conn: Yale University Press. pp. 256. ISBN 978-0-300-10775-3. 
• 2004. Basic Economics: A Citizen’s Guide to the Economy, revised and expanded ed. Basic Books, ISBN 0-465-08145-2 (1st ed. 2000)
• 2003. Applied Economics: Thinking Beyond Stage One, ISBN 0-465-08143-6
• 2002. The Einstein Syndrome: Bright Children Who Talk Late, ISBN 0-465-08141-X
• 2002. Controversial Essays, ISBN 0-8179-2992-4
• 2002. A Personal Odyssey, ISBN 0-684-86465-7
• 2002. The Quest For Cosmic Justice, ISBN 0-684-86463-0
• 1998. Conquests and Cultures: An International History, ISBN 0-465-01400-3
• 1996. Migrations and Cultures: A World View, ISBN 0-465-04589-8 OCLC 41748039
• 1996. The Vision of the Anointed: Self-Congratulation As a Basis for Social Policy. Basic Books, ISBN 0-465-08995-X
• 1995. Race and Culture: A World View. Description & chapter previews. ISBN 0-465-06796-4
• 1993. Inside American Education, ISBN 0-7432-5408-2
• 1990. Preferential Policies: An International Perspective, ISBN 0-688-08599-7
• 1987. A Conflict of Visions: Ideological Origins of Political Struggles. William Morrow, ISBN 0-688-06912-6
• 1987. Compassion Versus Guilt and Other Essays. William Morrow, ISBN 0-688-07114-7
• 1986. Education: Assumptions Versus History. Hoover Press, ISBN 0-8179-8112-8
• 1985. Marxism: Philosophy and Economics. Quill, ISBN 0-688-06426-4
• 1984. Civil Rights: Rhetoric or Reality? William Morrow, ISBN 0-688-03113-7
• 1983. The Economics and Politics of Race. William Morrow, ISBN 0-688-01891-2
• 1981. Ethnic America: A History. Basic Books, ISBN 0-465-02074-7
• 1981. Markets and Minorities. Basic Books, ISBN 0-465-04399-2
• 1980. Knowledge and Decisions. Basic Books.
• 1975. Race and Economics. David McKay Company Inc, ISBN 0-679-30262-X
• 1972. Say's Law, An Historical Analysis. Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-04166-0

See also[link]

Biography portal

• List of newspaper columnists

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Thomas Sowell

• Thomas Sowell’s home page
  • Complete list of writings
• Thomas Sowell Features at Creators Syndicate
• Column archive at Townhall.com
• Free Podcasts of Sowell’s recent articles
• Archive of Articles by Thomas Sowell at JewishWorldReview.com
• Book review of The Einstein Syndrome by Isabelle Rapin, Albert Einstein College of Medicine.
• Snopes.com on Various articles attributed to Thomas Sowell

Articles and interviews[link]

• 'Uncommon Knowledge' Interviews (2008-2011)
• 'The George Jarkesy Show : Sowell on Derrick Bell, Critical Race Theory and Obama Mentors (2012)
• Booknotes interview with Sowell on Preferential Policies, June 10, 1990.
• Fox News - 'In the Right Direction' interview (2005)
• C-SPAN Q&A interview with Sowell, April 17, 2005

• "A Dangerous Obsession" — Part I II, III, IV, and V
• "Too “Complex”?" — Part I, II, & III
• "Alice in Health Care" — Part I, II, III, IV
• "The 'Costs' of Medical Care" — Part I, II, III, IV
• Socialism for the rich by Thomas Sowell (October 6, 2006)
• “10 Questions With Thomas Sowell”, John Hawkins, Right Wing News. Sowell on flat-tax vs. progressive tax, rent-control, balanced budget amendments, protectionist tariffs, poverty and welfare, profit-restriction, illegal immigration, a weak dollar vs. a strong dollar, affirmative action, and reparations.
• 'Uncommon Knowledge' discussion of affirmative action
• Economic Fallacies -- Interview with Thomas Sowell by Bill Steigerwald
• Thomas Sowell- Columns on Jewish World Review website
• “Race and IQ” Detailed discussion of Race and IQ including techniques that have masked the improvement of black IQ scores.
• “Choosing a College” — discusses benefits and costs including college quality, size, specialty, intellectual rigor, social, political and sexual environment of today’s campuses. Recommends hard-nosed parental analysis (including campus visits) that ignores PR fluff and focuses on the bottom line
• “Affirmative Action around the World” - critical analysis of Affirmative Action and its failures worldwide.
• Salon interview with Sowell
• Audio interview with National Review Online
• Sowell on Economic Facts and Fallacies: Audio interview
• Sowell en español

Charlie Munger
Munger at Berkshire Hathaway's 2010 shareholder meeting
Born	(1924-01-01) January 1, 1924 (age 88) Omaha, Nebraska
Occupation	Vice-Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Corporation Chairman of Wesco Financial Corporation Chairman of Daily Journal Corporation
Salary	$100,000 USD
Net worth	$1 billion USD [1]

Charles Thomas Munger (born January 1, 1924, in Omaha, Nebraska) is an American business magnate, lawyer, investor, and philanthropist. He is Vice-Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Corporation, the diversified investment corporation chaired by Warren Buffett; in that capacity, Buffett describes Munger as "my partner." Munger served as chairman of Wesco Financial Corporation from 1984 through 2011 (Wesco was approximately 80%-owned by Berkshire-Hathaway during that time). He is also the chairman of the Daily Journal Corporation, based in Los Angeles, California, and a director of Costco Wholesale Corporation.

Biography[link]

Like Buffett, Munger is a native of Omaha, Nebraska. After studies in mathematics at the University of Michigan, and service in the U.S. Army Air Corps as a meteorologist, trained at Caltech, he entered Harvard Law School, where he was a member of the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau, without an undergraduate degree. Graduating in 1948 with a Juris Doctor magna cum laude, he founded and worked as a real estate attorney at Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP until 1965. He then gave up the practice of law to concentrate on managing investments. He partnered with Otis Booth in real estate development. He partnered with Jack Wheeler to form Wheeler, Munger, and Company, an investment firm with a seat on the Pacific Coast Stock Exchange. He wound up Wheeler, Munger in 1976 after losses of 31% in 1973 and 1974.^[2]

Although Munger is better known for his association with Warren Buffett, he ran an investment partnership of his own from 1962 to 1975. According to Buffett's essay, "The Superinvestors of Graham-and-Doddsville," published in 1984, Munger's investment partnership generated compound annual returns of 19.8% during the 1962–75 period compared to a 5.0% annual appreciation rate for the Dow.

Munger was previously also the chairman of Wesco Financial Corporation, now a wholly owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway. It began as a savings and loan association, but eventually grew to control Precision Steel Corp., CORT Furniture Leasing, Kansas Bankers Surety Company, and other ventures. Wesco Financial also held a concentrated equity portfolio of over $1.5 billion dollars in companies such as Coca-Cola, Wells Fargo, Procter & Gamble, Kraft Foods, US Bancorp, and Goldman Sachs. Munger believes that holding a concentrated number of stocks, that he knows extremely well, will in the long term produce superior returns. Wesco is based in Pasadena, California, Munger's adopted hometown. Pasadena was also the site of the company's annual shareholders' meeting, which were typically held on the Wednesday or Thursday after the more famous Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting. Munger's meetings were nearly as legendary in the investment community as those he co-hosts with Buffett in Omaha. Such meetings were often perfunctory, but Munger interacted with the other Wesco shareholders at considerable length, sometimes speculating about what his hero Benjamin Franklin would do in a given situation.^[3] Meeting notes are taken and posted on the internet.^[4]

Buffett has often publicly stated that he regards Munger as his partner. Indeed, Munger owns enough Berkshire Hathaway stock to be a bona fide billionaire in his own right. However, Munger is hardly a carbon copy of Buffett: Munger is known to be a Republican, whereas Buffett has generally supported Democrats. Buffett devotes his time almost exclusively to his business, while Munger, who does not involve himself in the day-to-day operations of Berkshire, is a generalist for whom investment is only one of a broad range of interests.

Philanthropy[link]

Munger Graduate Residence at Stanford University

Munger is a major benefactor of the University of Michigan. In 2007, Munger made a $3 million gift to the University of Michigan Law School for lighting improvements in Hutchins Hall and the William W. Cook Legal Research Building, including the noted Reading Room. In 2011, Munger made another gift to the Law School, contributing $20 million for renovations to the Lawyers Club housing complex, which will cover the majority of the $39 million cost. The renovated portion of the Lawyers Club will be renamed the Charles T. Munger Residences in the Lawyers Club in his honor.^[5][6][7][8] On December 28, 2011, Munger donated 10 shares of Berkshire Hathaway Class A stock (currently valued at $115,900 per share, or $1.2 million total) to the University of Michigan.^[9]

In addition to the University of Michigan, Munger and his wife Nancy B. Munger have been major benefactors of Stanford University. Nancy Munger was an alumna of Stanford, and Charlie Munger's daughter from a previous marriage, Wendy Munger was also an alumna (A.B. 1972) is currently a member of the board. In 2004, the Mungers donated 500 shares of Berkshire Hathaway Class A stock, then valued at $43.5 million, to Stanford to build a graduate student housing complex.^[10][11] The Munger Graduate Residence opened in late 2009 and is now houses 600 law and graduate students.^[12] The Mungers also gave a major gift to Stanford's Green Library to fund the restoration of the Bing Wing as well as the construction of a rotunda on the library's second floor, and endowed the Munger Chair in Nancy and Charles Munger Professorship of Business at Stanford Law School.^[13][14]

In 1997, the Mungers donated $1.8 million to the Marlborough School in Los Angeles, of which Nancy Munger was an alumna.^[13] The couple also donated to the Polytechnic School in Pasadena and the Los Angeles YMCA.^[15]

Munger has been a trustee of the Harvard-Westlake School in Los Angeles for more than 40 years, and previously served as chair of the board of trustees. His five sons and stepsons as well as at least one grandson graduated from the prep school. In 2009, Munger donated eight shares of Berkshire Hathaway Class A stock, worth nearly $800,000, to Harvard-Westlake.^[16][13] In 2006, Munger donated 100 shares of Berkshire Hathaway Class A stock, then valued at $9.2 million, to the school toward a building campaign at Harvard-Westlake's middle school campus. The Mungers had previously made a gift to build the $13 million Munger Science Center at the high school campus, a two-story classroom and laboratory building which opened in 1995 and has been described as "a science teacher's dream."^[17][18] The design of the Science Center was substantially influenced by Munger.^[13]

Business philosophy[link]

In multiple speeches, and in the book Poor Charlie's Almanack, Munger has introduced the concept of "Elementary, Worldly Wisdom" as it relates to business and finance. Munger's worldly wisdom consists of a set of mental models framed as a latticework to help solve critical business problems.^[19] According to Munger, only 80 or 90 important models will carry about 90% of the freight in making you a worldly-wise person.

He believes that incentives explain why people behave the way they do.

Munger's words of wisdom include those that profess high ethical standards. In the 2009 Wesco Financial Corporation annual meeting he said, "Good businesses are ethical businesses. A business model that relies on trickery is doomed to fail."^[20]

In a 2010 speech to University of Michigan students Munger commented that "...I think it is very dangerous to assume that what people did to save the whole banking system was wrong...I think we come to a place where we, where everybody, has to suck it in and gulp." ^[21] The last part of the sentence refers to Munger's belief that United States citizens will collectively face a less opulent economic environment in the coming years.

Lollapalooza Effect[link]

Munger uses the term "Lollapalooza Effect" for multiple biases, tendencies or mental models acting at the same time in the same direction. With the Lollapalooza effect, itself a mental model, the result is often extreme, due to the confluence of the mental models, biases or tendencies acting together. During a talk at Harvard in 1995, Munger mentions Tupperware parties and open outcry auctions, which turn the human brain into "mush". In the Tupperware party, you have reciprocation and social proof. (The hostess gave the party and the tendency is to reciprocate; other people are buying, which is the social proof.) In the open outcry auction, there is social proof of others bidding, commitment to buying the item, and deprivation super-reaction syndrome, i.e. sense of loss. The latter is an individual's sense of loss of what he believe should be or is his. These biases often occur at either conscious or subconscious level, and in both microeconomic and macroeconomic scale.^[22]

Family[link]

From his first marriage, Charles Munger has two children: Wendy Munger, a former corporate lawyer and trustee of Stanford University,^[23] and Molly Munger, a civil rights attorney and funder of a ballot initiative to raise taxes on Californians for public education.^[24] From his marriage with Nancy Barry, Munger has four children - physicist and Republican activist Charles T. Munger,^[25] Emilie Munger Ogden, Barry A. Munger, and Philip R. Munger, and two stepchildren - William Harold Borthwick and David Borthwick.^[26] Nancy Munger died in 2010.^[27]

References[link]

Books[link]

• Lowe, Janet (2000) Damn Right! Behind the scenes with Berkshire Hathaway billionaire Charlie Munger, John Wiley & Sons (ISBN 0-471-24473-2)
• Kaufman, Peter (2005 and 2006 for the second edition) "Poor Charlie's Almanack: The Wit and Wisdom of Charles T. Munger" http://www.poorcharliesalmanack.com/
• Bevelin, Peter (2007) Seeking Wisdom: From Darwin to Munger (ISBN 1-57864-428-3)
• Labitan, Bud (2008) The Four Filters Invention of Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger, Acalmix (ISBN 978-0-615-24129-6)

Regulatory filings[link]

• SEC.gov - Wesco Financial Corp (WSC) - EDGAR Filings (CIK: 0000105729) the EDGAR database
• SEC.gov - Charles T. Munger - EDGAR Filings (CIK: 0001078511) the EDGAR database

External links[link]

• Latest Holdings in Berkshire Hathaway Portfolio, Dynamic
• Charlie Munger - Treasure Trove
• Charlie Munger - A Compilation
• Speech at USC, May 2007
• Audio: Standard Causes of Human Misjudgment
• Charlie Munger Link Collection
• Munger Speeches & Writings
• Munger's Speech on Mental Models
• "In the Money" (2001 Harvard Law Bulletin article)
• Munger's Worldly Wisdom (1994 USC Business School)
• Charlie Munger's Lollapalooza Effect and This Credit Fiasco (2008)
• Munger Says 'Thank God' U.S. Opted for Bailouts Over Handouts (Bloomberg article) (2010)
• Charlie Munger Quotes

v t e Berkshire Hathaway Corporate directors Warren Buffett (Chairman and CEO) · Charlie Munger · Howard Graham Buffett · Susan Decker · Bill Gates · David Gottesman · Charlotte Guyman · Donald Keough · Thomas S. Murphy · Ronald Olson · Walter Scott, Jr. Insurance Applied Underwriters · Berkshire Hathaway Homestate Companies · Berkshire Hathaway Assurance · Boat America · Central States Indemnity · Gateway Underwriters Agency · GEICO · Gen Re · Kansas Bankers Surety Company · Medical Protective · National Indemnity Company · United States Liability Insurance Group  · Wesco Financial Materials and Construction Acme Brick · Benjamin Moore & Co. · Clayton Homes · International Metalworking Companies · Johns Manville · Lubrizol · Marmon · MiTek · Mouser Electronics · Precision Steel Warehouse · Shaw Industries · TTI Furniture CORT Business Services · Jordan's Furniture · Larson-Juhl · Nebraska Furniture Mart · RC Willey Home Furnishings · Star Furniture Apparel Fruit of the Loom (Russell) · Garanimals · Fechheimer Brothers · H.H. Brown Shoe Group · Justin Brands Transportation Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation · NetJets · NetJets Europe · FlightSafety International · Forest River · Marquis Jet · McLane · XTRA Lease Food CTB International · Dairy Queen · Orange Julius · Karmelkorn · The Pampered Chef · See's Candies Media The Buffalo News · Business Wire · Omaha World-Herald (Council Bluffs Nonpareil · Grand Island Independent · Kearney Hub · North Platte Telegraph · Star-Herald · York News-Times) Jewelry Ben Bridge Jeweler · Borsheim's Fine Jewelry · Helzberg Diamonds · Richline Group Scott Fetzer Kirby · World Book · Campbell Hausfeld MidAmerican Energy Holdings Company MidAmerican Energy Company · PacifiCorp · Northern Powergrid · CalEnergy Generation · Kern River Gas Transmission Company · Northern Natural Gas · HomeServices of America Related articles Blue Chip Stamps · Owned assets Annual Revenue: US$118.249 billion  · Employees: 233,000 · Stock Symbol: NYSE: BRKA, NYSE: BRKB · Web site: berkshirehathaway.com Category

The Right Honourable Gordon Brown MP
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
In office 27 June 2007 – 11 May 2010
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Preceded by	Tony Blair
Succeeded by	David Cameron
Leader of the Labour Party
In office 24 June 2007 – 11 May 2010
Deputy	Harriet Harman
Preceded by	Tony Blair
Succeeded by	Ed Miliband
Chancellor of the Exchequer
In office 2 May 1997 – 27 June 2007
Prime Minister	Tony Blair
Preceded by	Kenneth Clarke
Succeeded by	Alistair Darling
Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer
In office 24 July 1992 – 2 May 1997
Leader	John Smith Margaret Beckett (Acting) Tony Blair
Preceded by	John Smith
Succeeded by	Kenneth Clarke
Shadow Secretary of State for Trade
In office 2 November 1989 – 24 July 1992
Leader	Neil Kinnock
Preceded by	Robin Cook
Succeeded by	Margaret Beckett
Member of Parliament for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath Dunfermline East (1983–2005)
Incumbent
Assumed office 9 June 1983
Preceded by	Willie Hamilton (Central Fife) Dick Douglas (Dunfermline)
Majority	23,009 (50.2%)
Personal details
Born	James Gordon Brown (1951-02-20) 20 February 1951 (age 61) Giffnock, Renfrewshire, Scotland
Political party	Labour
Spouse(s)	Sarah Brown (2000–present)
Children	Jennifer Jane (Deceased) John Macaulay James Fraser
Residence	North Queensferry[1]
Alma mater	University of Edinburgh
Religion	Church of Scotland[2]
Signature
Website	Official website

James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British Labour Party politician who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 until 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Labour Government from 1997 to 2007, becoming the longest-serving holder of that office in modern history. Brown has been a Member of Parliament (MP) since 1983, for Dunfermline East until 2005, and currently for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath.

Brown became Prime Minister on 27 June 2007, after the resignation of Tony Blair and three days after becoming Leader of the governing Labour Party. His tenure ended on 11 May 2010, when he resigned as Prime Minister and Leader of the Labour Party. Brown was one of only three people to serve in the Cabinet continuously from Labour's victory in 1997 until its defeat in 2010, the others being Jack Straw and Alistair Darling.

Brown has a PhD in history from the University of Edinburgh and spent his early career working as a lecturer at a further education college and a television journalist.^[3][4] He has been a Member of Parliament since 1983; first for Dunfermline East and since 2005 for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath.^[5][6] As Prime Minister, he also held the offices of First Lord of the Treasury and the Minister for the Civil Service.

Brown's time as Chancellor was marked by major reform of Britain's monetary and fiscal policy architecture, transferring interest rate setting powers to the Bank of England, by a wide extension of the powers of the Treasury to cover much domestic policy and by transferring responsibility for banking supervision to the Financial Services Authority.^[7] Controversial moves included the abolition of advance corporation tax (ACT) relief in his first budget,^[8][9] and the removal in his final budget of the 10% "starting rate" of personal income tax which he had introduced in 1999.^[10]

After initial rises in opinion polls following Brown's selection as leader, Labour performed poorly in local and European election results in 2009.^[11][12][13] A year later, Labour lost 91 seats in the House of Commons at the 2010 general election, the party's biggest loss of seats in a single general election since 1931,^[14] giving the Conservative Party a plurality and resulting in a hung parliament.^[15][16] On 10 May 2010, Brown announced he would stand down as leader of the Labour Party, and instructed the party to put into motion the processes to elect a new leader.^[17] On 11 May 2010, Brown officially resigned as Prime Minister and Leader of the Labour Party. He was succeeded as Prime Minister by David Cameron,^[18] and on 25 September 2010, he was succeeded as Leader of the Labour Party by Ed Miliband.

Early life and career before Parliament[link]

Gordon Brown was born at the Orchard Maternity Nursing Home in Giffnock, Renfrewshire, Scotland.^[19][20] His father was John Ebenezer Brown, a minister of the Church of Scotland and a strong influence on Brown. He died in December 1998, aged 84.^[21] His mother Jessie Elizabeth (Souter), known as Bunty, died on 19 September 2004, aged 86.^[22] She was the daughter of John Souter, a timber merchant.^[23] Brown was brought up with his elder brother John and younger brother Andrew Brown^[22] in a manse in Kirkcaldy — the largest town in Fife, Scotland across the Firth of Forth from Edinburgh.^[24] In common with many other notable Scots, he is therefore often referred to as a "son of the manse".^[25]

Brown was educated first at Kirkcaldy West Primary School where he was selected for an experimental fast stream education programme, which took him two years early to Kirkcaldy High School for an academic hothouse education taught in separate classes.^[26] At age sixteen he wrote that he loathed and resented this "ludicrous" experiment on young lives.^[27]

He was accepted by the University of Edinburgh to study history at the same early age of sixteen. During an end-of-term rugby union match at his old school he received a kick to the head and suffered a retinal detachment. This left him blind in his left eye, despite treatment including several operations and weeks spent lying in a darkened room. Later at Edinburgh, while playing tennis, he noticed the same symptoms in his right eye. Brown underwent experimental surgery at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary and his right eye was saved.^[28] Brown graduated from Edinburgh with First Class Honours MA in history in 1972, and stayed on to complete his PhD in history (which he gained ten years later in 1982), titled The Labour Party and Political Change in Scotland 1918–29.^[29][30] In 1972, while still a student, Brown was elected Rector of the University of Edinburgh, the convener of the University Court.^[31] He served as Rector until 1975, and also edited the document The Red Paper on Scotland.^[32]

From 1976 to 1980 Brown was employed as a lecturer in politics at Glasgow College of Technology. In the 1979 general election, he stood for the Edinburgh South constituency, losing to the Conservative candidate, Michael Ancram.^[29] From 1980 he worked as a journalist at Scottish Television, later serving as current affairs editor until his election to parliament in 1983.^[33] He also worked as a tutor for the Open University.^[34]

Election to parliament and opposition[link]

Gordon Brown was elected to Parliament on his second attempt as a Labour MP for Dunfermline East in 1983 general election. His first Westminster office mate was a newly elected MP from the Sedgefield constituency by the name of Tony Blair. Brown became an opposition spokesman on Trade and Industry in 1985. In 1986, he published a biography of the Independent Labour Party politician James Maxton, the subject of his PhD thesis. Brown was Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury from 1987 to 1989 and then Shadow Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, before becoming Shadow Chancellor in 1992.^[3][29] Having led the Labour Movement Yes campaign, refusing to join the cross-party Yes for Scotland campaign, during the 1979 Scottish devolution referendum, while other senior Labour politicians — including Robin Cook, Tam Dalyell and Brian Wilson – campaigned for a No vote, Brown was subsequently a key participant in the Scottish Constitutional Convention, signing the Claim of Right for Scotland in 1989.^[35]

After the sudden death of Labour leader John Smith in May 1994, Brown did not contest the leadership after Tony Blair became favourite, deciding to make way for Tony Blair to avoiding splitting the pro-modernising vote in the leadership ballot.^[36]

It has long been rumoured a deal was struck between Blair and Brown at the former Granita restaurant in Islington, in which Blair promised to give Brown control of economic policy in return for Brown not standing against him in the leadership election.^[37][38] Whether this is true or not, the relationship between Blair and Brown has been central to the fortunes of "New Labour", and they have mostly remained united in public, despite reported serious private rifts.^[39]

As Shadow Chancellor, Brown as Chancellor-in-waiting was seen as a good choice by business and the middle class. While he was Chancellor inflation sometimes exceeded the 2% target causing the Governor of the Bank of England to write several letters to the Chancellor, each time inflation exceeded three per cent.^[40][41] In 2005 following a reorganisation of parliamentary constituencies in Scotland, Brown became MP for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath at the general election.^[42]

Chancellor of the Exchequer[link]

In the 1997 general election, Labour defeated the Conservatives by a landslide to end their 18-year exile from government on when Tony Blair, the new prime minister, announced his ministerial team on 2 May 1997, he appointed Brown as Chancellor of the Exchequer. He would remain in this role for 10 years and two months, making him the longest-serving Chancellor in modern history.^[28] The Prime Minister's website highlights some achievements from Brown's decade as Chancellor: making the Bank of England independent and delivering an agreement on poverty and climate change at the G8 summit in 2005.^[29]

Gordon Brown speaking at the annual World Bank/IMF meeting in 2002

Early economic reforms[link]

On taking office as Chancellor of the Exchequer Brown gave the Bank of England operational independence in monetary policy, and thus responsibility for setting interest rates through the Bank's Monetary Policy Committee.^[43] At the same time he also changed the inflation measure from the Retail Price Index to the Consumer Price Index and transferred responsibility for banking supervision to the Financial Services Authority.^[44] Some commentators have argued that this division of responsibilities exacerbated the severity, in Britain, of 2007 global banking crisis.^[45]

Taxation and spending[link]

In the 1997 election and subsequently, Brown pledged to not increase the basic or higher rates of income tax. Over his Chancellorship, he reduced the basic rate from 23% to 20%. However, in all but his final budget, Brown increased the tax thresholds in line with inflation, rather than earnings, resulting in fiscal drag. Corporation tax fell under Brown, from a main rate of 33% to 28%, and from 24% to 19% for small businesses.^[46] In 1999, he introduced a lower tax band of 10%. He abolished this 10% tax band in his last budget in 2007 to reduce the basic rate from 22% to 20%, increasing tax for 5 million people^[47] and, according to the calculations of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, leaving those earning between £5,000 and £18,000 as the biggest losers.^[48] According to the OECD UK taxation has increased from a 39.3% share of gross domestic product in 1997 to 42.4% in 2006, going to a higher level than Germany.^[49] This increase has mainly been attributed to active government policy, and not simply to the growing economy. Conservatives have accused Brown of imposing "stealth taxes". A commonly reported example resulted in 1997 from a technical change in the way corporation tax is collected, the indirect effect of which was for the dividends on stock investments held within pensions to be taxed, thus lowering pension returns and contributing to the demise of most of the final salary pension funds in the UK.^[50] The Treasury contends that this tax change was crucial to long-term economic growth.

Brown's 2000 Spending Review outlined a major expansion of government spending, particularly on health and education. In his April 2002 budget, Brown increased national insurance to pay for health spending. He also introduced working tax credits.^[51][52]

European single currency[link]

In October 1997, Brown took control of the United Kingdom's membership of the European single currency issue by announcing the Treasury would set five economic tests^[53] to ascertain whether the economic case had been made. In June 2003 the Treasury indicated the tests had not been passed.^[54]

Other issues[link]

In 2000, Brown was accused of starting a political row about higher education (referred to as the Laura Spence Affair) when he accused the University of Oxford of elitism in its admissions procedures, describing its decision not to offer a place to state school pupil Laura Spence as "absolutely outrageous".^[55] Lord Jenkins, then Oxford Chancellor and himself a former Labour Chancellor of the Exchequer, said "nearly every fact he used was false."^[56]

Between 1999 and 2002 Brown sold 60% of the UK's gold reserves shortly before gold entered a protracted bull market, since nicknamed by dealers as Brown Bottom.^[57][58][59] The official reason for selling the gold reserves was to reduce the portfolio risk of the UK's reserves by diversifying away from gold.^[60] The UK eventually sold about 395 tons of gold over 17 auctions from July 1999 to March 2002, at an average price of about US$275 per ounce, raising approximately US$3.5 billion.^[61] By 2011, that quantity of gold would be worth over $19 billion, leading to Brown's decision to sell the gold being widely criticised.^[62]

During his time as Chancellor, Brown reportedly believed that it was appropriate to remove most, but not all, of the unpayable Third World debt.^[63] On 20 April 2006, in a speech to the United Nations Ambassadors, Brown outlined a "Green" view of global development.^[64]

During his time as Chancellor, Brown supervised a UK run of the discredited (and rescinded) American Telecoms Spectrum auctions^[65][66] Although gaining 22.5 Billion for the treasury it shortly afterwards caused a recession in the telecoms development industry causing the loss 30,000 UK Jobs^[67]. Similar auctions had been run a year before in the USA and declared null and void by an industry watchdog^[68].

Run-up to succeeding Tony Blair[link]

Main articles Labour Party leadership election, 2007 and Timeline for the Labour Party leadership elections, 2007

In October 2004, Tony Blair announced he would not lead the party into a fourth general election, but would serve a full third term.^[69] Political comment over the relationship between Brown and Blair continued up to and beyond the 2005 election, which Labour won with a reduced parliamentary majority and reduced vote share. Blair announced on 7 September 2006 that he would step down within a year.^[70] Brown was the clear favourite to succeed Blair; he was the only candidate spoken of seriously in Westminster. Appearances and news coverage leading up to the handover were interpreted as preparing the ground for Brown to become Prime Minister, in part by creating the impression of a statesman with a vision for leadership and global change. This enabled Brown to signal the most significant priorities for his agenda as Prime Minister; speaking at a Fabian Society conference on 'The Next Decade' in January 2007, he stressed education, international development, narrowing inequalities (to pursue 'equality of opportunity and fairness of outcome'), renewing Britishness, restoring trust in politics, and winning hearts and minds in the war on terror as key priorities.^[71]

Prime Minister[link]

Gordon Brown and President George W. Bush meet at Downing Street

Brown ceased to be Chancellor and became the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom on 27 June 2007.^[5] Like all modern Prime Ministers, Brown concurrently served as the First Lord of the Treasury and the Minister for the Civil Service, and was a member of the Cabinet of the United Kingdom. Until his resignation from the post in May 2010 he was Leader of the Labour Party. He is Member of Parliament for the constituency of Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath. He is the sixth post-war prime minister, of a total of 12, to assume the role without having won a general election.^[72] Brown was the first prime minister from a Scottish constituency since the Conservative Sir Alec Douglas-Home in 1964. Not all British prime ministers have attended university, but of the ones that did Brown was one of only five that did not attend either Oxford or Cambridge, the others were, the Earl of Bute (Leiden), Lord John Russell (Edinburgh), Andrew Bonar Law (University of Glasgow), and Neville Chamberlain (Mason Science College, later Birmingham).^[73] Brown proposed moving some traditional prime ministerial powers conferred by royal prerogative to the realm of Parliament, such as the power to declare war and approve appointments to senior positions. Brown wanted Parliament to gain the right to ratify treaties and have more oversight into the intelligence services. He also proposed moving some powers from Parliament to citizens, including the right to form "citizens' juries", easily petition Parliament for new laws, and rally outside Westminster. He asserted that the attorney general should not have the right to decide whether to prosecute in individual cases, such as in the loans for peerages scandal.^[74]

During his Labour leadership campaign Brown proposed some policy initiatives which he called 'The manifesto for change.'^[75][76] The manifesto included a clampdown on corruption and a new Ministerial Code, which set out clear standards of behaviour for ministers.^[77] Brown also stated in a speech when announcing his bid that he wants a "better constitution" that is "clear about the rights and responsibilities of being a citizen in Britain today". He planned to set up an all-party convention to look at new powers for Parliament and to look at rebalancing powers between Whitehall and local government. Brown said he would give Parliament the final say on whether British troops are sent into action in future.

Brown said he wanted to release more land and ease access to ownership with shared equity schemes. He backed a proposal to build new eco-towns, each housing between 10,000 and 20,000 home-owners — up to 100,000 new homes in total. Brown also said he wanted to have doctors' surgeries open at the weekends, and GPs on call in the evenings. Doctors were given the right of opting out of out-of-hours care in 2007, under a controversial pay deal, signed by then-Health Secretary John Reid, which awarded them a 22% pay rise in 2006. Brown also stated in the manifesto that the NHS was his top priority.

Other reforms introduced during Brown's premiership included:

• An increase in the minimum statutory entitlement for paid holidays from 4.8 to 5.6 weeks per annum.^[78]
• The disregarding of Child Benefit in calculating income for Housing and Council Tax Benefit as a means of improving work incentives and the incomes of many low-income families.^[79][80]
• The implementation of regulations providing parents with children up to the age of 16 with the statutory right to request flexible working arrangements.^[81]
• The introduction of free cancer prescription medicines.^[82]
• The Health in Pregnancy Grant, which provided financial assistance to expectant mothers.^[83]
• The introduction of extra penalties for employers paying under the minimum wage.^[84]
• The passage of the Mortgage Repossessions (Protection of Tenants Etc.) Act of 2010 to create protection for unauthorised tenants.^[85]
• The Community Energy Saving Programme (2009), which obliged energy suppliers and generators to deliver energy efficiency measures in certain low income areas.^[86]
• The introduction of compulsory personal, social and health education (2009).^[87]
• The Additional Paternity Leave Regulations of 2010, which provided parents with the option of splitting between them “the year that the mother is currently able to take as maternity leave, giving them greater flexibility in their childcare arrangements.”^[88]
• The Concessionary Bus Travel Act 2007
• The Pensions Act 2007
• The Employment Act 2008
• The Pensions Act 2008
• The Housing and Regeneration Act 2008
• The Autism Act 2009
• The Agency Workers Regulations 2010
• The Equality Act 2010
• The Child Poverty Act 2010

There was speculation during September and early October 2007 about whether Brown would call a snap general election. Brown announced at the time that there would be no election any time soon – despite opinion polls showing that he was capable of winning an election should he call one. However, this proved to be a costly mistake, as during 2008 his party slid behind the Conservatives (led by David Cameron) in the polls. Disputes over political donations, a string of losses in local elections, and by-election losses in Crewe and Glasgow did himself and the government no favours either.^[89]

His political opponents accused him of being indecisive, which Brown denied.^[90] In July 2008 Brown supported a new bill extending this pre-charge detention period to 42 days. The bill was met with opposition on both sides of the House and backbench rebellion. In the end the bill passed by just 9 votes.^[91][92] The House of Lords defeated the bill, with Lords characterising it as "fatally flawed, ill thought through and unnecessary", stating that "it seeks to further erode fundamental legal and civil rights".^[93]

Brown was mentioned by the press in the expenses crisis for claiming for the payment of his cleaner. However, no wrongdoing was found and the Commons Authority did not pursue Brown over the claim. Meanwhile, the Commons Fees Office stated that a double payment for a £153 plumbing repair bill was a mistake on their part and that Brown had repaid it in full.^[94][95]

Foreign policy[link]

Gordon Brown and President Barack Obama meet in the White House

Brown was committed to the Iraq War, but said in a speech in June 2007 that he would "learn the lessons" from the mistakes made in Iraq.^[96] Brown said in a letter published on 17 March 2008 that the United Kingdom would hold an inquiry into the Iraq war.^[97] He is also a member of the lobby group, Labour Friends of Israel.^{[98][99][100]}

Brown went to great lengths to empathise with those who lost family members in the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts. He has often said "War is tragic", echoing Blair's memorable quote, "War is horrible".^[101] Nonetheless, in November 2007 Brown was accused by some senior military figures of not adhering to the 'military covenant', a convention within British politics insuring adequate safeguards, rewards and compensation for military personnel who risk their lives in obedience to orders derived from the policy of the elected government.^[102]

Brown skipped the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics, on 8 August 2008 in Beijing. He attended the closing ceremony instead, on 24 August 2008. Brown had been under intense pressure from human rights campaigners to send a message to China, concerning the 2008 Tibetan unrest. His decision not to attend the opening ceremony was not an act of protest, but rather was made several weeks in advance and not intended as a stand on principle.^[103]

In a speech in July 2007, Brown personally clarified his position regarding Britain's relationship with the USA^[104] "We will not allow people to separate us from the United States of America in dealing with the common challenges that we face around the world. I think people have got to remember that the special relationship between a British prime minister and an American president is built on the things that we share, the same enduring values about the importance of liberty, opportunity, the dignity of the individual. I will continue to work, as Tony Blair did, very closely with the American administration."

Brown and the Labour party had pledged to allow a referendum on the EU Treaty of Lisbon. On the morning of 13 December 2007, Foreign Secretary David Miliband attended for the Prime Minister at the official signing ceremony in Lisbon of the EU Reform Treaty. Brown's opponents on both sides of the House, and in the press, suggested that ratification by Parliament was not enough and that a referendum should also be held. Labour's 2005 manifesto had pledged to give British public a referendum on the original EU Constitution.^[105][106] Brown argued that the Treaty significantly differed from the Constitution, and as such did not require a referendum. He also responded with plans for a lengthy debate on the topic, and stated that he believed the document to be too complex to be decided by referendum.^[107]

Drug policy[link]

During Brown's premiership, in October 2008, the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) recommended to the then Home Secretary Jacqui Smith that cannabis remain classified as a Class C drug.^[108] Acting against the advice of the Council, she chose to reclassify it as class B.^[108] After Professor David Nutt, the chair of the ACMD, criticised this move in a lecture in 2009, he was asked to step down by then Home Secretary Alan Johnson.^[109] Following his resignation, Professor Nutt said Gordon Brown had "made up his mind" to reclassify cannabis despite evidence to the contrary.^[110] Gordon Brown had argued, "I don't think that the previous studies took into account that so much of the cannabis on the streets is now of a lethal quality and we really have got to send out a message to young people – this is not acceptable".^[111][112] Professor Nutt's predecessor at the ACMD, Sir Michael Rawlins, later said, "Governments may well have good reasons for taking an alternative view... When that happens, then the government should explain why it's ignoring the particular advice".^[113]

Global recession[link]

Brown's premiership coincided with the global recession, during which Brown called for fiscal action in an attempt to stimulate aggregate demand. Domestically, Brown's administration introduced measures including a bank rescue package worth around £500 billion (approximately $850 billion), a temporary 2.5% cut in Value Added Tax (Sales Tax)^[114] and a "car scrappage" scheme.^[115]

Plots against leadership[link]

In mid-2008, Brown's leadership was presented with a challenge as some MPs openly called for him to resign. This event was dubbed the 'Lancashire Plot', as two backbenchers from (pre-1974) Lancashire urged him to step down and a third questioned his chances of holding on to the Labour Party leadership. Several MPs argued that if Brown did not recover in the polls by early 2009, he should call for a leadership contest. However, certain prominent MPs, such as Jacqui Smith and Bill Rammell, suggested that Brown was the right person to lead Britain through its economic crisis.^[116] In the Autumn, Siobhain McDonagh, a MP and junior government whip, who during her time in office had never voted against the government,^[117] spoke of the need for discussion over Brown's position. McDonagh was sacked from her role shortly afterwards, on 12 September. Whilst McDonagh did not state that she wanted Brown deposed, she implored the Labour party to hold a leadership election, she was sacked from her role shortly afterwards.^[118] McDonagh was supported by Joan Ryan (who applied, as McDonagh had, for leadership nomination papers, and became the second rebel to be fired from her job), Jim Dowd, Greg Pope, and a string of others who had previously held positions in government, made clear their desire for a contest.^[119] In the face of this speculation over Brown's future, his ministers backed him to lead the party, and Harriet Harman and David Miliband denied that they were preparing leadership bids. After Labour lost the Glasgow East by-election in July, Harman, the deputy leader of the party, said that Brown was the "solution", not the "problem"; Home Secretary Smith, Justice Secretary Jack Straw, Schools Secretary Ed Balls and Cabinet Office Minister Ed Miliband all re-affirmed their support for Brown.^[120] The deputy Prime Minister under Blair, John Prescott, also pledged his support.^[121] Foreign Secretary David Miliband then denied that he was plotting a leadership bid, when on 30 July, an article written by him in The Guardian was interpreted by a large number in the media as an attempt to undermine Brown. In the article, Miliband outlined the party's future, but neglected to mention the Prime Minister. Miliband, responded to this by saying that he was confident Brown could lead Labour to victory in the next general election, and that his article was an attack against the fatalism in the party since the loss of Glasgow-East.^[122] Miliband continued to show his support for Brown in the face of the challenge that emerged in September, as did Business Secretary John Hutton, Environment Secretary Hilary Benn, and Chief Whip Geoff Hoon.^[123]

On 6 January 2010, Patricia Hewitt and Geoff Hoon jointly called for a secret ballot on the future of Brown's leadership.^[124] The call received little support and the following day Hoon said that it appeared to have failed and was "over". Brown later referred to the call for a secret ballot as a "form of silliness".^[125]

By-elections and 2009 local and European elections[link]

In the local elections on 1 May 2008, Labour suffered their worst results in 40 years finishing in third place with a projected 24% share of the national vote.^[126] Subsequently the party has seen the loss of by-elections in Nantwich and Crewe and Henley as well as slumps in the polls. A by-election in Glasgow East triggered by the resignation of David Marshall saw the Labour party struggle to appoint a candidate, eventually settling for Margaret Curran, a sitting MSP in the Scottish Parliament. The SNP, Conservatives and Liberal Democrats all derided Labour for their disorganised nature, with Alex Salmond commenting "This is their 'lost weekend' – they don't have a leader in Scotland, they don't have a candidate in Glasgow East, and they have a prime minister who refuses to come to the constituency".^[127] Labour lost the constituency to the Scottish National Party's John Mason who took 11,277 votes with Labour just 365 behind. The seat experienced a swing of 22.54%.^[128]

In the European elections, Labour polled 16% of the vote, finishing in third place behind the Conservatives and United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP).^[129] Voter apathy was reflected in the historically low turnout of around thirty three percent. In Scotland voter turnout was only twenty eight per cent. In the local elections, Labour polled 23% of the vote, finishing in third place behind Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, with Labour losing control of the four councils it had held prior to the election.^[130] In a vote widely considered to be a reaction to the expenses scandal, the share of the votes was down for all the major parties; Labour was down one percent, the Conservative share was down five percent. The beneficiary of the public backlash was generally seen to be the minor parties, including the Green Party and UKIP. These results were Labour's worst since World War II. Gordon Brown was quoted in the press as having said that the results were "a painful defeat for Labour", and that "too many good people doing so much good for their communities and their constituencies have lost through no fault of their own."^[12][131]

General election 2010[link]

Gordon and Sarah Brown at the University of Bradford the day before the 2010 Election.

In April 2010, Brown asked the Queen to dissolve Parliament and call new elections, which included the first televised leadership debates in British History. The result of the election was a hung parliament, laying the foundations for the first full coalition government since 1974 and only the second since the Grand Coalition during World War II that sat for almost 8 years.

Brown was re-elected to serve as MP for Kirkcaldy & Cowdenbeath constituency on 6 May 2010 with 29,559 votes representing 64.5% of votes.^[15]

Resignation[link]

Brown announced on 10 May 2010 that he would stand down as Labour Leader, with a view to a successor being chosen before the next Labour Party Conference in September 2010.^[17] The following day, negotiations between the Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats to form a coalition government failed. During the evening, Brown visited Buckingham Palace to tender his resignation as Prime Minister to Queen Elizabeth II and to recommend that she invite the Leader of the Opposition, David Cameron, to form a government. He resigned as leader of the Labour Party with immediate effect.^[18]

Post-Prime Ministership[link]

Return to the backbenches[link]

On 13 May 2010, in his first public appearance since leaving 10 Downing Street, two days after resigning as Prime Minister and Leader of the Labour Party, Brown confirmed he intended to stay on in Parliament, serving as a Labour Backbencher, in order to serve the people of his Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath constituency.^[132]

World Wide Web Foundation[link]

Sir Tim Berners-Lee worked with the UK government during Brown's premiership to publish government data as freely as possible on the internet in the data.gov.uk project. Berners-Lee subsequently invited Brown to become a board director of the World Wide Web Foundation to "advise the Web Foundation on ways to involve disadvantaged communities and global leaders in the development of sustainable programs that connect humanity and affect positive change".^[133]

World Economic Forum role[link]

On 22 April 2011 it was announced that Brown would be taking on an unpaid advisory role at the World Economic Forum.^[134]

IMF speculation 2011[link]

In April 2011, media reports linked Brown with the role as the next Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund following the scheduled retirement of Dominique Strauss-Kahn.^[135] Brown's successor and Leader of the Opposition, Ed Milliband, supported Brown for the role while the Prime Minister, David Cameron, voiced opposition to this.^[136] Following the arrest of Strauss-Kahn for alleged sexual assault in May 2011, and his subsequent resignation, these reports re-surfaced.^[137] Support for Brown among economists was mixed but British Government backing for his candidature was not forthcoming and instead supported Christine Lagarde—the eventual successful candidate—for the post.^{[138][139][140]}

Other positions[link]

Brown was appointed as the inaugural 'Distinguished Leader in Residence' by New York University and has already taken part in discussions and lectures relating to the global financial crisis^[141] and globalisation.^[142]

Personal life and family[link]

Sarah Brown attending one of her husband's speeches

Brown's early girlfriends included the journalist Sheena McDonald and Princess Margarita, the eldest daughter of exiled King Michael of Romania.^[3] At the age of 49, Brown married Sarah Macaulay in a private ceremony at his home in North Queensferry, Fife, on 3 August 2000.^[143] On 28 December 2001 a daughter, Jennifer Jane, was born prematurely and died on 7 January 2002 one day after suffering a brain haemorrhage.^[144] They currently have two children, John Macaulay^[145] and (James) Fraser. In November 2006, James Fraser was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis.^[146] The Sun had learned of the situation in 2006 and published the story. In 2011 Brown stated he had wanted the details of his son's condition kept private and that the publication had left him "in tears".^[147] The Sun said they approached Mr Brown and that discussion occurred with his colleagues who provided quotes to use in the article.^[148]

Sarah Brown rarely makes official appearances either with or without her husband. She is inevitably much sought after to give interviews.^[149] She is, however, patron of several charities and has written articles for national newspapers related to this.^[150] At the 2008 Labour Party Conference, Sarah caused surprise by taking to the stage to introduce her husband for his keynote address.^[151] Since then her public profile has increased.^[152]

Gordon Brown has two brothers, John Brown and Andrew Brown. Andrew has been Head of Media Relations in the UK for the French-owned utility company EDF Energy since 2004.^[153] Gordon Brown is also the brother-in-law of environmental journalist Clare Rewcastle Brown. Gordon wrote a piece for The Independent, supporting Clare's current environmental efforts on behalf of Sarawak.^[154]

Whilst PM Brown spent some of his spare time at Chequers, the house often being filled with friends. The Browns have entertained local dignitaries like Sir Leonard Figg.^[155] Brown is also a friend of Harry Potter author J. K. Rowling, who says of Brown "I know him as affable, funny and gregarious, a great listener, a kind and loyal friend."^[156]

Religion[link]

The son of a Church of Scotland minister, Brown has talked about what he calls his "moral compass"^[157] and of his parents being his "inspiration".^[158] He has, at least ostensibly, been keen to keep his religion a private matter.^[159] According to the Guardian, he is a member of the Church of Scotland.^[160]

In April 2009, Brown gave what was the first ever speech by a serving Prime Minister at St Paul's Cathedral in London. He referred to a 'single powerful modern sense demanding responsibility from all and fairness to all'. He also talked about the Christian doctrine of 'do to others what you would have them do unto you', which he compared to similar principles in Judaism, Islam, Hinduism and Sikhism. He went on, 'They each and all reflect a sense that we share the pain of others, and a sense that we believe in something bigger than ourselves—that we cannot be truly content while others face despair, cannot be completely at ease while others live in fear, cannot be satisfied while others are in sorrow", and continued, "We all feel, regardless of the source of our philosophy, the same deep moral sense that each of us is our brother and sisters' keeper... We cannot and will not pass by on the other side when people are suffering and when we have it within our power to help.'^[161]

Socialism[link]

Brown first thought of himself as being 'Labour' and his sense of social injustice was roused when he accompanied his father on visits around Kirkcaldy seeing the pain of unemployment and the misery of poverty and squalor as the mining and textile industries collapsed. Growing up he discovered Tawney, Tressell, Cole and other socialist texts which inspired him. He also found inspiration in Blake in poetry, Potter in drama, Lawrence in literature and the socialist leader James Maxton in Scottish history. These, he argues, fuelled his passion and activism, reinforcing his own political experience. For Brown the ethical basis of British socialism has several themes: the view that individuals are not primarily self-centered but are co-operative, that people are more likely to thrive in communities in which they play a full role and that people have talents and potential that the free market will not allow them to fully realise. In addition, one of the most enduring of Brown's themes is the commitment to equality.^[162][163]

Titles, honours, and awards[link]

Styles[link]

• Mr James Gordon Brown (1951–1982)
• Dr James Gordon Brown (1982–1983)^[3]
• Dr James Gordon Brown MP (1983–1996)^[164]
• The Right Honourable Dr James Gordon Brown MP (1996–present)^[165][166]

Honours[link]

In March 2009 Brown was named World Statesman of the Year by the Appeal of Conscience Foundation, an American organisation dedicated to promoting peace, human rights and understanding between religious faiths. The award was presented by Rabbi Arthur Schneier who praised Brown's "compassionate leadership in dealing with the challenging issues facing humanity, his commitment to freedom, human dignity and the environment, and for the major role he has played in helping to stabilise the world's financial system".^{[167][168][169]}

Depictions in popular culture[link]

In keeping with its tradition of having a comic strip for every Prime Minister Private Eye featured a comic strip, The Broonites (a parody of The Broons), parodying Brown's government. Private Eye also had a column titled Prime Ministerial Decree,^[170] a parody of statements that would be issued by Communist governments in the former Eastern Bloc.^[171]

Brown was depicted in Season 13 of South Park when world leaders plot to steal money from aliens in order to deal with the global recession, in the episode "Pinewood Derby".^[172] He also makes an appearance in the first issue of Marvel Comics' Captain Britain and MI: 13, overseeing Britain's response to the Skrull invasion of Earth.^[173]

Publications[link]

• Brown, Gordon (2010). Beyond the Crash: Overcoming the First Crisis of Globalisation. Simon & Schuster. 
• Brown, Gordon (2010). The Change We Choose: Speeches 2007–2009. Mainstream Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84596-632-4. 
• Brown, Gordon (2007). Britain's Everyday Heroes. Mainstream Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84596-307-1. 
• Brown, Gordon (2007). Courage: Eight Portraits. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7475-6532-1. 
• Brown, Gordon (2006). Wilf Stevenson. ed. Speeches 1997–2006. Bloomsbury. ISBN 978-0-7475-8837-5. 
• Brown, Gordon (ed.); Wright, Tony (ed.) (1995). Values, Visions and Voices: An Anthology of Socialism. Mainstream Publishing. ISBN 978-1-85158-731-5. 
• Brown, Gordon (1989). Where There's Greed: Margaret Thatcher and the Betrayal of Britain's Future. Mainstream Publishing. ISBN 978-1-85158-228-0. 
• Brown, Gordon (ed.); Cook, Robin (ed.) (1987). Scotland: The Real Divide. Mainstream Publishing. ISBN 978-0-906391-18-1. 
• Brown, Gordon (1986). Maxton: A Biography. Mainstream Publishing. ISBN 978-1-85158-042-2. 
• Brown, Gordon; Harvie, Christopher (1979). A Voter's Guide to the Scottish Assembly. David Watt & Sons. http://toque.co.uk/witan/docs/BrownScotAssembly.pdf. Retrieved 15 July 2009.