Adam Smith Chair of Political Economy - History

History

The first occupant of the Chair was William Smart. He had previously been lecturer in Political Economy at Queen Margaret College and the University's first official lecturer in Political Economy. He remained in the Chair until his death in 1915, and was succeeded the same year by William Scott. Scott, originally from Northern Ireland, was a political economy lecturer at the University of St Andrews when appointed, and an authority on Adam Smith. He served as President of the Royal Philosophical Society of Glasgow from 1931 to 1934 and of the Royal Economic Society from 1935 to 1937. Scott also remained in the Chair until his death, in 1940. He was succeeded by Alec Macfie in 1945. He had a distinguished career, retiring in 1958, and was Dean of Faculties from 1974 to 1978. In 1990, the James Bonar Chair of Political Economy was renamed the Bonar-Macfie Chair.

In 1958, Thomas Wilson was appointed to the Chair from Oxford. Originally from Northern Ireland, Wilson had studied at Queen's University Belfast and the London School of Economics, and worked during the War in the Ministries of Economic Warfare and Aircraft Production and the Prime Minister's Statistical Branch, being awarded an OBE in the 1945 Prime Minister's Resignation Honours. He retired in 1985 and was succeeded that year by David Vines. Vines was appointed shortly after completing his Ph.D. at the University of Cambridge, and left Glasgow in 1992 to become a Fellow in Economics at Balliol College, Oxford, becoming a Professor of Economics at Oxford in 2000.

In 1994, Andrew Skinner, the University's Daniel Jack Professor of Economics, was appointed to the Adam Smith Chair. He was succeeded in the Daniel Jack Chair by Anton Muscatelli, now Principal of the University. Skinner was a graduate of the University and served as Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences, Clerk of Senate and Vice-Principal, retiring in 2000. He was succeeded by Gary Koop.

In 2005, Ronald MacDonald, Professor of International Finance at the University of Strathclyde, was appointed to the Chair. MacDonald is an internationally respected economist and an authority on exchange rates. Alongside his consulting work, he holds the Chair on a part-time basis.