Bridget Rosewell

Bridget Clare Rosewell OBE (b. 18 Sept 1951)^[1] is a British economist. Her expertise includes economic development, transport and agglomeration economics, development evaluation, infrastructure, forecasting, industry dynamics and competition as well as policy analysis related to these areas.

Early life and education

Born in Wimbledon, England, she was educated at Wimbledon High School (1958–69) and St Hugh's College, Oxford (BA in Politics and Economics, 1974; M.Phil. in Economics, 1976. She did not achieve the higher D.Phil. doctorate award). She was a Lecturer in economics at St Hilda's College, Oxford (1976–78), and at Somerville College, Oxford (1978–81), then a Tutor in economics at Oriel College, Oxford (1981–84). She was concurrently a research officer in the Department of Economics and Statistics, Oxford University (1976–81).

Career

She was Deputy Director, Economics at the Confederation of British Industry, then left to found a number of consultancies, including Business Strategies Ltd, now part of Experian.

Rosewell is senior partner of Volterra Partners,^[2][3] which she founded in 1998 with Paul Ormerod. She also serves as a non-executive director of the Ulster Bank and Network Rail and is Chair of Governors, Wimbledon High School. She has previously sat on the boards of Britannia Building Society and the Department of Work and Pensions.

Bridget was the Chief Economist and Chief Economic Adviser to the Greater London Authority between 2002 and 2012. She has previously founded and developed three successful consultancies. She has also given evidence as an expert witness in a number of major competition cases as well as at several planning Inquiries.^[4]

She speaks fluent French and some German. She is divorced, with two adult children. Her hobbies include painting, walking, and picture-framing.

Contributions to the field

Rosewell is interested in the concept of agglomeration, which quantifies the positive effects of the increases in economic density brought about by new infrastructure such as bridges and rail links.

Her work includes studies on risk and risk management, infrastructure and its funding, public and private sector co-operation, planning policy, and corporate management. She publishes and presents in these areas as well as working with clients.

Other work includes studies of the evolution of market structures, including in the market for pollution permits; urban systems; and statistical model validation.

Rosewell was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2013 Birthday Honours for services to the economy.^[5]

Research interests

Her research interests focus on the economic performance of local economies, the role of infrastructure, the performance of markets, and business organisations. She is especially interested in the application of the tools of complex systems analysis to these issues.^[6]

References