About our staff
Professor Martin Chick
Ph.D, M.A.
Professor of Economic History
- Tel: +44 (0)131 650 3842
- Email: Martin.Chick@ed.ac.uk
- Room 01M.11, William Robertson Wing, Old Medical School, Teviot Place
Office hours
Biography
I did my undergraduate degree in history at the University of Cambridge, after which I spent two years as a schoolteacher before escaping to the LSE to do Ph.D research for two years. Ever since I have been in Edinburgh, with occasional voyages to Paris where I have taught and researched.
Useful Links
Summary of research interests
Places:- Britain & Ireland
- Economic History
- Twentieth Century & After
Research interests
For a long time my main research interests concerned the interaction between U.K governments and , often, nationalised industries. Within this broad area I wrote about such topics as economic planning, utility pricing, investment in the iron and steel industry, and the economic history of nationalisation, privatisation and regulation. Part of these interests were reflected in my book on post-war eceonomic planning and indutrial policy, 1945-51.
Since the end of the 20th century, I have become increasingly interested in the development of economic thought. I wrote a study of electricity and energy policy in Britain, France and the United States since 1945, and the main purpose of that book was to explore the comparative development of marginalist approaches to pricing and investment. After finishing that book, I began to explore the philosophical underpinnings of the economic use of such concepts as utilitarianism, ownership, normativity and choice. These preoccupations informed my subsequent book on the political economy of Britain since 1951.
Current research activities
I am currently researching the definintion, assertion and allocation of property rights on, in and under the sea since 1945. The main areas of research concern: the Deep SeaBed; the Continental Shelf; the Exclusive Economic Zone; the distribution of fishing licences; and the approaches to the protection of sea species and areas.
Research projects
Watch a short video of Professor Chick speaking about his research interests - Media Hopper
Undergraduate teaching
- British Economic and Environmental History since 1900
- Time, Economics and the Allocation of Resources in Britain 1930-1970
Current Students:
| Name | Degree | Thesis topic | Supervision type | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Books - Authored
Chick, M. (2019) Changing Times: Economics, Policies, and Resource Allocation in Britain since 1951. Oxford: Oxford University Press
Chick, M. (2007) Electricity And Energy Policy in Britain, France and The United States since 1945. Edward Elgar
Chick, M. (1998) Industrial Policy in Britain, 1945-51: Economic Planning, Nationalisation and the Labour Governments. Cambridge University Press
Books - Edited
Chick, M. (ed.) (1990) Governments, Industries and Markets: Aspects of Government-Industry Relations in the UK, Japan, West Germany and the USA since 1945. Edward Elgar Publishing
Articles
Chick, M. (2019) Incentives, inequality and taxation: The Meade Committee Report on the Structure and Reform of Direct Taxation (1978). Business History, 61(7), pp. 1222-1235DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00076791.2018.1456531
Chick, M. (2017) Industrial policy in Britain since 1970: Changing values, assumptions and mechanisms. Jahrbuch fuer Wirtschaftsgeschichte , 58(1), pp. 35-57DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/jbwg-2017-0003
Chick, M. (2015) The changing role of space and time in British environmental policy since 1945. Revue Francaise D'Histoire Economique, 3(1), pp. 72-88DOI: https://doi.org/10.3917/rfhe.003.0072
Chick, M. (2011) The 3 Rs: Regulation, risk and responsibility in British utilities since 1945. Business History, 53(5), pp. 747-760DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00076791.2011.599593
Chick, M. (2009) Time, water and capital: The unintended contribution of the North of Scotland Hydo-Electric Board to the application of welfare economics in Britain, 1943-1967. Scottish Business and Industrial History, 25, pp. 29-55
Chick, M. (2007) Ownership, markets and the scope for introducing competition into the electricity supply industry. Révue Economique, 58 (1), pp. 277-293
Chick, M. (2006) The marginalist approach and the making of fuel policy in France and Britain 1945 - 72. The Economic History Review, 59 (1), pp. 143- 167DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0289.2005.00333.x
Chick, M. (2004) Clin d'oeil; Take the S out of State. Enterprises et Histoire, 37, pp. 182-184
Chick, M. (2004) Listing potential candidates for nationalisation: Britain, 1948. Enterprises et Histoire, 37, pp. 167-171
Chick, M. (2004) The international experience of nationalization and denationalizations. Enterprises et Histoire, 37, pp. 006-008
Chick, M. (2002) Le Tarif Vert Retrouve: The marginal cost concept and the pricing of electrcity in Britain and France, 1945-1970. The Energy Journal, 23(1), pp. 97-116
Chick, M. (1999) Reconstruction, modernisation et production dans une economie planifiee: le Royaume-Uni, 1945-1951. Histoire, économie et société, 18, pp. 303-24
Chick, M. (1987) Privatisation:the triumph of past practice over current requirements. Business History, 29 (4), pp. 104-116
Chapters
Chick, M. (2019) Discounting time. In: Hoppit , J., Needham , D. and Leonard , A. (eds.) Money and Markets. Woodbridge: Economic History Society and The Boydell Press, pp. 251-262
Chick, M. (2018) Countershock or Aftershock? North Sea Oil and Economics as Politics in the UK, 1973-1986. In: Basosi, D., Garavini, G. and Trentin, M. (eds.) Counter-Shock: The Oil Counter-Revolution of the 1980s. London; New York: I.B. Tauris
Chick, M. (2017) The state, public finance and the changing response to investing in the future: The case of the United Kingdom since the 1970s. In: Buggeln, M., Daunton, M. and Nützenadel, A. (eds.) The Political Economy of Public Finance: Taxation, State Spending and Debt since the 1970s. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 199-220DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316498958.009
Chick, M. (2014) The state and industrial policy in Britain, 1950-1974. In: Grabas, C. and Nützenadel, A. (eds.) Industrial Policy in Europe after 1945: Wealth, Power and Economic Development in the Cold War. Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 48-66
Chick, M. (2011) Property rights, economic rents, BNOC and North Sea Oil. In: Amatori, F., Toninelli, P. and Millward, R. (eds.) Reappraising State-Owned Enterprise: A comparison of the UK and Italy. New York: Routledge, pp. 145-163
Chick, M. (2011) The risks, costs and benefits of importing oil: Fuel import policy in Britain, France and the United States since 1945. In: Oil-Producing Countires and Oil Companies. Brussels: PIE-Peter Lang, pp. 65-83
Chick, M. (2010) Network Utilities: Technological Development, Market Structure, and Forms of Ownership. In: Coen, D., Grant, W. and Wilson, G. (eds.) The Oxford Handbook of Business and Government. Oxford University Press, pp. 684-702
Chick, M. (2010) Oil, National Security and Fuel Policy in France and the United Kingdom, 1945-1972. In: Beltran, A. (ed.) Oil Companies and the International Oil Market. PIE-Peter Lang, pp. 181-196
Chick, M. (2009) De la macro a la micro: l`economie, les economistes et les questions relatives a la politique energetique en Grande-Bretagne, en France et aux etats-unis depuis 1945. In: Kharaba, I., Dalmasso, A., Mioche, P., Raulin, P. and Woronoff, D. (eds.) Politiques industrielles d`hier et d`aujourd`hui en France et en Europe. Dijon: Universitaires de Dijon, pp. 73-86
Chick, M. (2009) Privatisation déréglementation et liberalization du secteur de la distribution d' électricité en Grande-Bretagne, en France et aux États-Unis. In: Beltran, A., Bouneau, C., Bouvier, Y., Varaschin, D. and Williot, J. (eds.) Etat et énergie. Paris: Comite pour l'histoire economique et financiere de la France, pp. 473-486
Chick, M. (2006) La sécurité nationale à quel prix? Considérations sur la politique énergétique et la sécurité nationale en France, en Grande-Bretagne et aux États-Unis pendant et aprés la Seconde Guerre mondiale. In: Chick, M., Beltran, A. and Varaschin, H. (eds.) Les entreprises du secteur de l'énergie sous l'Occupation. CNRS, Artois Presses Université, pp. 235-248
Chick, M. (2006) Nationalisation. In: McCusker, J. (ed.) Encyclopaedia of World Trade since 1450. New York: New York: Macmillan Reference USA
Chick, M. (2004) Lord Piercy. In: Matthew, C. (ed.) New Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press
Chick, M. (2004) The Power of Networks: Defining the Boundaries of the Natural Monopoly Network and the Implications for the Restructuring of Electricity Supply Industries. In: Annales historiques de l'électricité. Victoires-editions, pp. 30-56
Chick, M. (2003) Privatisation. In: Rowett, J. (ed.) Oxford Dictionary of Politics. Oxford University Press, pp. 533-4
Chick, M. (2003) Productivité, tarification et investissements dans les industries électriques nationalisées en France et en Grande Bretagne, 1945-1973. In: Annales historiques de l'électricité. Editions Victoires, pp. 71-102
Chick, M. (2001) What economic history means to me. In: Hudson, P. (ed.) Living Economic and Social History. EHS, pp. 38-41
Chick, M. (2000) Le charbon, la securite et la politique energetique dans l'Europe des annees 1950 et 1960: la perspective britannique. In: R Girault, R. (ed.) Le role des ministeres des finances et des ministeres de l'economie dans la construction europeenne, 1957-1978. CHEFF, Presses Universitaires des France
Chick, M. (2000) Les logiques industrielles et economiques de l'industrie electrique au Royaume -Uni entre 1895 et 1945. In: Coeure, S. (ed.) Strategies, gestion, management: les companies electriques et leurs patrons, 1895-1945. Pressess Universitaires de France
Chick, M. (1996) Political economy, economies of scale and the nationalisation of the electricity industry in Britain. In: Badel, L. (ed.) La nationalisation de l'electricite en France: Necessite technique ou logique politique. Presses Universitaires de France, pp. 485-95
Chick, M. (1995) The political economy of nationalisation: The electricity industry. In: Millward, R. and Singleton, J. (eds.) The political economy of nationalisation in Britain 1920-1950. Cambridge University Press, pp. 257-274DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511721076.013
Chick, M. (1994) Nationalisation, privatisation and regulation. In: Rose, M. (ed.) Business Enterprise in Modern Britain. Routledge, pp. 315-338
Chick, M. (1993) Nationalisation and the background to recent regulatory issues. In: Sugden, R. (ed.) Industrial Economic Regulation. Routledge, pp. 63-84
Chick, M. (1992) Private industrial investment. In: Mercer, H., Rollings, N. and Tomlinson, J. (eds.) Labour Governments and Private Industry. Edward Elgar Publishing, pp. 74-90
Chick, M. (1991) Competition, competitiveness and nationalisation, 1945-1951. In: G Jones, M. (ed.) Competitiveness and the State. Manchester University Press, pp. 60-77