Chris Waller

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"My interest in economics was first aroused in 1972 when Britain was plunged into darkness by the miner's strike. A state of emergency had been declared in the February of that year and power-stations were on reduced output to conserve coal. Barely had that been resolved when towards the end of 1973 the oil shock hit us and prices quadrupled in 3 months. Within a month of that the miners were on strike again, precipitating the 3-day week and the general election of February 1974 in which Labour came to power.

In 1974 I was working in research and development in manufacturing industry. I later moved up to technical management in manufacturing but by the early 1980s I could see that the writing was on the wall for manufacturing in Britain and so decided to move into business systems analysis and computer systems design in financial services, latterly moving into the design of systems for international financial services for a company based in the City. It was here that I first saw the inner workings of financial services and began to wonder if and how this could sustain us into the future. It was during this period that I became more acutely interested in economics and in particular in the nature of money. I spent several years reading the major writers on economics, beginning with Adam Smith's magnum opus 'The Wealth of Nations'.

I began writing on economics in 1992 and have continued ever since. I describe myself as an economic synchretist, seeking to reconcile differing systems of economic thought but always with particular reference to that bane of modern life - money."

 

Chris Waller - Permission granted to freely distribute this article for non-commercial purposes if attributed to Chris Waller, unedited and copied in full, including this notice.

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