David Henderson (economist)

This article is about a British economist. For the American economist, see David R. Henderson.

David Henderson (born 1927) is a British economist. He was the Head of the Economics and Statistics Department at the OECD in 1984–1992. Before that he worked as an academic economist in Britain, first at Oxford (Fellow of Lincoln College) and later at University College London (Professor of Economics, 1975–1983); as a British civil servant (first as an Economic Advisor in HM Treasury, and later as Chief Economist in the Ministry of Aviation); and as a staff member of the World Bank (1969–1975). In 1985 he gave the BBC Reith Lectures, which were published in the book Innocence and Design: The Influence of Economic Ideas on Policy (Blackwell, 1986).

Since leaving the OECD, Henderson has been an independent author and consultant, and has acted as Visiting Fellow or Professor at the OECD Development Centre (Paris), the Centre for European Policy Studies (Brussels), Monash University, the Fondation Nationale des Sciences Politiques, the University of Melbourne, the Royal Institute of International Affairs, the New Zealand Business Roundtable, the Melbourne Business School, and Westminster Business School. He is currently a Fellow of the Institute of Economic Affairs.

In 1992, Henderson was appointed to the Order of St Michael and St George as a Companion (CMG).

Henderson has suggested about climate change that the science is not settled, and has been critical of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, particularly the Special Report on Emissions Scenarios, and the Stern Review of the economics of global warming. He has also published books that strongly criticize "corporate social responsibility".

As of 2013 he is chairman of the Academic Advisory Council of the Global Warming Policy Foundation.

Books (selected)

• Henderson, David (2001). The Changing Fortunes of Economic Liberalism (IEA).
• Henderson, David (2001). Misguided Virtue: False Notions of Corporate Social Responsibility (IEA).
• Henderson, David (2001). Anti-Liberalism 2000 (IEA).
• Henderson, David (2004). The Role of Business in the Modern World (IEA). [Gli Affari Sono Affari, Italian translation published in Milan: Istituto Bruno Leoni, 2009.] (Page 8 contains much of the above-quoted bibliographic information.)