GES PROFILES

Student Profiles

Imran Razvi  
Assistant Economist, DWP 
BScEcon, London School of Economics 

It’s very satisfying to know that there’s a direct link between what I do and what happens at the top levels of government. 

After I graduated I wanted a career where I could use my expertise in economics but also get involved with politics. That’s why I applied to the Fast Stream.

My first job in the Department for Work and Pensions involved providing forecasts on housing and council tax benefits to the Treasury and in my second role, at The National Employment Panel, one of my projects involved improving the performance of the London Jobcentre Plus region.

Now I work within the Child Poverty Strategy and Analysis Team where my current position provides a good mix of both policy and analysis. It has even taken me to Downing Street, which was definitely a highlight. Information supplied by my team led directly to the government’s target to halve child poverty by the year 2010, on the way to eradicating it by 2020. We are now helping to shape the strategy to meet this target. This involves working closely with other colleagues across Government, as our research has shown that increases in employment and levels of financial support have the biggest impact on reducing the amount of child poverty in Britain. 

There are high expectations of the people who work in this department, but you are given the support you need in order to meet them, and over time you learn to demand more of yourself. I have also learnt a huge amount by being able to draw on the expertise of my colleagues. The quality of people here is excellent. My next challenge will be to complete my MSc in Economics — which is being funded by the department.

Peter Mumford
Economic Advisor for East Asia, Foreign Office
MA Economics, Edinburgh University, MSc Economics, SOAS. 

When you assess the economic influence of a country like China, you need hands-on knowledge as well as a nuanced and well-informed political perspective.

It is my job to input political economic advice into Foreign Office decisions. The Foreign Office has economists based in embassies all around the world and I collate the information from the economists in East Asia. I also have to task them to do certain work and look at specific situations. The rest of the time I am focused particularly on China, looking at its economic rise and what that means for the rest of the world. Our work influences other global systems of economic government such as the IMF and G8, so it’s pretty large-scale stuff.

Another thing I do is help administer a fund aimed at creating economic reform in emerging markets. We give grants to try and promote corporate responsibility, for example, or to train judges and combat corruption. But perhaps one of the most rewarding aspects of my job is organising high-level workshops. Sometimes this can create unique challenges, such as in 2003, when I had to find a way to get a group of Iraqi businessmen to an economic policy training after all commercial airlines out of their country had suspended operations.

The other major perk is obviously the travel. I have been to nine Asian countries so far, to attend meetings with key government officials. It’s exciting and it also presents a chance to network and make contacts, which is a large part of what this job is about.

Madeleine Clegg
Assistant Statistician Economist, DCMS
BScA. MathsEconomics, Durham University

I was closely involved in the production of a study about the economic impact of the London 2012 Olympic Games.

When I first joined the Fast Stream I spent two years working in Customs and Excise on tax issues, but then I jumped at the chance to work in the Department of Culture, Media and Sport.

In my current position I perform economic analysis on a wide array of arts, heritage, creative industries and sports issues, and I have been involved in some really fascinating projects. For instance, I worked on London’s Olympic bid, helping to assess the economic impact that the games would have on the whole country. It was behind the scenes work, sure, but I still had the satisfaction of knowing that I contributed to the overall success.

I’m based in London, but in this department you are out and about all the time. I never feel as though I am stuck behind a desk, as we have to liaise all the time with the various bodies that we work with. There is plenty of variety, which keeps me interested and stimulated.

I have also been fortunate to have had some overseas travel opportunities as part of my job, including one trip to a conference in Canada where I presented a paper about the methodology used in the Olympics economic research.  Things like that highlight the international relevance of the issues I work on — and I know this also contributes to my own professional development.

Richard Stead
Economic Adviser DTI
BSc (Econ) London School of Economics, M. Ed and M.A. Economics, University of Leeds.

I came to London and joined Government Economic Service after teaching economics for a quarter of a century at Leeds Metropolitan University.  I was then 56.

Why change? What grabbed my attention was the phrase in the advertisement ‘Use your economics at the heart of policy-making’.  The advert has not disappointed. Economic advisers have to deal with real issues using recent data.  The strategy in our part of DTI is to analyse the causes of Britain’s economic performance in various industrial sectors and to formulate advice for ministers on how to improve it.  I have undertaken projects on speciality chemicals, plastics and electronics and have moved on to information technology and software. While it would of course be an exaggeration to say that every economist has the ear of the Secretary of State, we do nevertheless contribute to the debate on the formulation of policy.  I have also written sections of speeches for the Secretary of State and drafted replies to Parliamentary Questions.

Other factors were of course at work in my decision to come to G.E.S.  It was the chance to make a change (though working as an economist was not completely novel – I’d had three jobs in the profession before going into higher education.)  Then there was the money: even though there was little extra real income at first, the move will raise my pension.  Youthful assistant economists scoff at this of course, but in your fifties you tend to have a slightly different perspective on the topic.

How was moving to London? All I can say is that London is so different from the rest of the country that it might as well be located on a different planet.  You do, however, learn their ways.

Student Profiles