Adair Turner

Involvement Social

Lord Turner chairs the Energy Transitions Commission, a global coalition of major power and industrial companies, investors, environmental NGOs and experts working out achievable pathways to limit global warming to well below 2˚C by 2040 while stimulating economic development and social progress.

He was chairman of the Institute for New Economic Thinking until January 2019, where he remains a Senior Fellow. He is Chairman of Chubb Europe and on the Advisory Board of Envision Energy, a Shanghai-based group focussed on renewable energy, batteries and digital systems.

From 2008-2013, Lord Turner chaired the UK’s Financial Services Authority, and played a leading role in the post crisis redesign of global banking and shadow banking regulation.

Lord Turner has held high profile roles in public policy: he was Director General of the Confederation of British Industry (1995-2000); chairman of the UK Low Pay Commission (2002-2006); chairman of the Pensions Commision (2003-2006); he was the first chairman of the Climate Change Committee (2008-2012) an independent body to advise the UK Government on tackling climate change. The recommendations set out in their first report “Building a low-carbon economy” were adopted in 2009.

He became a cross bench member of the House of Lords in 2006.

Amongst his business roles, Lord Turner was at McKinsey&Co (1982-1995); was Vice-Chairman of Merrill Lynch Europe (2000-2006) and a Non-Executive Director of a number of companies, including Standard Chartered plc (2006-2008).

He is Senior Fellow at the Centre for Financial Studies (Frankfurt) and a Visiting Fellow at the People’s Bank of China School of Finance, Tsinghua University (Beijing). He writes regularly for Project Syndicate, and has published “Between Debt and the Devil” (Princeton 2015), and Economics after the Crisis (MIT 2012).

He is a Trustee Emeritus of the British Museum, honorary fellow of The Royal Society, and received an Honorary Degree from Cambridge University in 2017.

By this expert

We’ll Always Need Paris

Article | Jun 29, 2017

Faced with rapid cost reductions for clean electricity generation, some commentators suggest that we no longer need the Paris agreement or other policy interventions, because technology alone can solve all problems.

Pathways & Obstacles to a Low-carbon Economy

Article | Apr 27, 2017

The energy transition is happening. But the pace of change depends on a range of technical, business, and societal factors.

A Socialist Market Economy With Chinese Contradictions

Article | Jan 3, 2017

Beijing’s leaders face a critical dilemma over a credit boom that imperils China’s prospects for a smooth transition to a sustainable economic path

Trump Election and the Future of U.S. Global Leadership

Article | Nov 28, 2016

Surviving the geopolitical and economic challenges of the coming years requires a world order less vulnerable to the vagaries of U.S. elections

Featuring this expert

Is Slow Growth the “New Normal”?

If So, What Are the Policy Solutions?

Event Conference | Hosted by Secular Stagnation | Dec 15, 2017

Distinguished Scholars Including Larry Summers and Adair Turner Present Evidence of the Trend and Policy Solutions

Euractiv: Champion of ‘helicopter money’ questions universal basic income

News Nov 14, 2017

“As chair of Britain’s Financial Services Authority, Adair Turner saw the collapse of the financial system firsthand. In the aftermath of the crisis, he became one of the main advocates of helicopter money – but today he doubts if universal basic income is the best way to address growing inequality. Adair Turner spoke with EURACTIV’s Jorge Valero during INET’s conference held in Edinburgh (Scotland”

Redefining Inequality

Video | Nov 8, 2017

As the old lines continue to blur, what does inequality mean in the modern global economy? And, how does the economy need to evolve to address these changes?

Commission on Global Economic Transformation Announcement

Video | Nov 6, 2017

Several founding CGET members announce the ambitious project and respond to questions from the press.

Offsite links

Instability in a Monetary Economy

May 12, 2016 Chicago Booth School

"There are no riskless ways out"

Jan 24, 2016 Bilanz

Lord Turner on finance and inclusive economic transformation

Nov 24, 2015 Overseas Development Institute

Debt Déjà Vu

Oct 5, 2015 Project Syndicate

The Debt Business

Aug 25, 2015 BBC Radio 4

The Real Demographic Challenge

Aug 14, 2015 Project Syndicate

Greece for Grownups

Jul 12, 2015 Project Syndicate

China’s Real Reform Challenge

Jun 11, 2015 Project Syndicate

The Debt Dilemma

Apr 16, 2015 Project Syndicate

Caught in a Debt Trap

Mar 24, 2015 Cass Business School

Japan’s Accounting Problem

Mar 15, 2015 Project Syndicate

The Global Economy’s Chinese Headwinds

Feb 11, 2015 Project Syndicate

Progress and Monetisation

Feb 3, 2015 Berfrois

Have We Become Too Flexible?

Jan 21, 2015 Project Syndicate

Please Steal Our Fossil Fuels

Dec 22, 2014 Project Syndicate

Germany’s Secret Credit Addiction

Nov 9, 2014 Project Syndicate

China’s Balancing Act

Oct 7, 2014 Project Syndicate

Facing Reality in the Eurozone

Sep 7, 2014 Project Syndicate

When Fewer Is Better

Aug 12, 2014 Project Syndicate

The Trade Delusion

Jul 17, 2014 Project Syndicate

The Great Credit Mistake

Jun 5, 2014 Project Syndicate

The Perils of Financial Freedom

May 8, 2014 Project Syndicate

The High-Tech, High-Touch Economy

Apr 15, 2014 Project Syndicate

Rethinking the Monetization Taboo

Mar 17, 2015 Project Syndicate

In Praise of Fragmentation

Feb 17, 2014 Project Syndicate

Debt and Demand

Jan 9, 2014 Project Syndicate

Inequality by the Click

Jan 7, 2014 Project Syndicate

The Failure of Free-Market Finance

Sep 3, 2013 Project Syndicate

Overt Monetary Finance and Crisis Management

Aug 9, 2013 Project Syndicate

Too Much “Too Big to Fail”?

Sep 1, 2010 Project Syndicate

The Uses and Abuses of Economic Ideology

Jul 14, 2010 Project Syndicate