David Newbery


David Michael Garrood Newbery, CBE, FBA, is a British economist who has been Professor of Applied Economics at the University of Cambridge since 1988. He specialises in the field of energy economics, and he writes on the regulation of electricity markets. His interests also include climate change mitigation and environmental policy, privatisation, and risk.

Early life

Newbery was born on 1 June 1943 at Fulmer Chase, Fulmer, Buckinghamshire. He studied at Portsmouth Grammar School from 1954 till 1961, where he won Best Science Candidate in Cambridge GCE A&S Level. He read Mathematics and Economics at Trinity College, Cambridge, obtaining a B.A. in 1964, M.A. (Cantab.) in 1968 and a Ph.D. degree in 1976.

Career

In 1965 he was pre-elected to a Churchill Teaching Fellowship. In 1966 he gained the position of University Assistant Lecturer at the Faculty of Economics. He was the Director of the Department of Applied Economics from 1988 until 2003. He also served as a Professor II at Tromso University, Norway from 2011 until 2013.
In 1981 Newbery co-authored a book and several articles with the Nobel-laureate Joseph Stiglitz.
Besides his role as Professor of Applied Economics at Cambridge, he serves as Vice-Chairman of Cambridge Economic Policy Associates, Director of the Cambridge Electricity Policy Research Group and an occasional consultant to the World Bank. He was a member of the Competition Commission in 1996–2002, and chairman of the Dutch electricity market surveillance committee. He was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 1991. He is a member of the Academic Panel of DEFRA. Since 1966 he has been a fellow of Churchill College, and was President of its Senior Combination Room in from 2010 to 2019.

Honours

Books