Prest, Alan Richmond, 1919-1984, economist

Alan Richmond Prest, 1919-1985, was educated at Archbishop Holgate School York and Cambridge University. He worked in the Department of Applied Economics at Cambridge, 1945-1948, became a Rockefeller Fellow, USA, 1948-1949 and was a lecturer at Cambridge, 1949-1964. He was a Fellow of Christ's College, Cambridge, 1950-1964, a Tutor, 1954-1955, and Bursar 1955-1964. In 1964, he moved to Manchester University where he held the post of Professor of Economics and Public Finance, 1964-1968, and Stanley Jevons Professorship of Political Economy, 1968-1970. In 1970, he moved to the London School of Economics, where he was Professor of Economics (with special reference to the Public Sector), 1970-1984. During the post war period, Prest became interested in the problems of developing countries. This led him towards the field of national income accounting, and in the early 1950s these interests came together in his work on the national income of Nigeria. He also became interested in public finance both in the UK and in developing countries. This culminated in the work for which he is best known, "Public Finance in Theory and Practice".