science

James Meade

James Meade is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand James Meade rather than just read about it. In short: James Edward Meade FBA (23 June 1907 – 22 December 1995) was a British economist who made major contributions to the theory of international trade and welfare economics. Along with Richard Kahn, James Meade helped develop the concept of the Keynesian multiplier while participating in the Cambridge circus.

Key takeaways

James Meade belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect James Meade to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of James Meade from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

James Edward Meade FBA (23 June 1907 – 22 December 1995) was a British economist who made major contributions to the theory of international trade and welfare economics. Along with Richard Kahn, James Meade helped develop the concept of the Keynesian multiplier while participating in the Cambridge circus. In the 1930s, he served as specialist adviser on behalf of the British government at the Economic and Financial Organization of the League of Nations.

Biography Born in Swanage, Meade was brought up in Bath, and educated at Lambrook prep school, Malvern College, and Oriel College, Oxford, where he initially read classics, before switching (in 1928) to the newly-established course in philosophy, politics, and economics. He was elected a Fellow of Hertford College, Oxford in 1930, and was a lecturer in economics at Oxford from 1931 to 1937. During the Second World War, he was recalled to the Economic Section of the Secretariat of the War Cabinet, which he chaired from 1946 to 1947. He was appointed CB in 1946, and served as President of the Royal Economic Society from 1964 to 1966. While his work was not confined by political boundaries, he advised the Labour Party in the 1930s, and was a member of the Social Democratic Party during the 1980s. He once said that he had "my heart to the left, and my brain to the right". In 1976 he received an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Bath. Along with the Swedish economist Bertil Ohlin, he received the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 1977 "for their pathbreaking contribution to the theory of international trade and international capital movements". In 1981 he attracted attention as one of the 364 economists who signed a letter to The Times questioning Margaret Thatcher's economic policies, warning that it would only result in deepening the prevailing depression.

References

External links Atkinson, A.B; Weale, Martin (2000). "James Meade (1907–1995) – Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the British Academy, 105, 473–500" (PDF). The British Academy. Retrieved 21 April 2025. Layard, Richard; Weale, Martin (29 December 1995). "Obituary: Professor James Meade". The Independent. Retrieved 23 September 2014. Corden, W. Max (October 1996). "James E. Meade 1907–95". Review of International Economics: 382–386. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9396.1996.tb00112.x. Stevenson, Richard W. (29 December 1995). "James E. Meade, Nobel Economist, Dies at 88". The New York Times. Retrieved 23 September 2014. King, Mervyn (1 December 2017). "James Meade, Nobel Laureate 1977". London School of Economics and Political Science History Blog. Retrieved 24 September 2024. Works by or about James Meade at the Internet Archive Portraits of James Meade at the National Portrait Gallery, London

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with James Meade

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what James Meade claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to James Meade before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about James Meade ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of James Meade

In research: James Meade appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses James Meade in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: James Meade is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1907 births, 1995 deaths, British Nobel laureates, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for James Meade outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study James Meade in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what James Meade means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain James Meade out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is James Meade in simple terms?

Why does James Meade matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study James Meade?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on James Meade.