Professor Martin Ricketts is Professor of Economic Organisation at the University. He graduated from the University of Newcastle Upon Tyne (1970) and has a DPhil from the University of York (1980). He has published in professional journals on the theory of the firm, aspects of public finance, the new institutional economics and housing policy. He worked as a research economist at the Industrial Policy Group (1970-1972) under the direction of Professor John Jewkes and was Research Fellow at the Institute of Social and Economic Research at the University of York (1975-1977). He has been on the academic staff of The University of Buckingham since 1977, becoming successively Lecturer, Senior Lecturer, Reader and finally Professor (1987). He has held a number of visiting posts abroad, notably Visiting Professor at the Virginia Polytechnic and State University (VPI) in the USA, and has lectured widely in other countries. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts Manufactures and Commerce and was an Honorary Professor at Heriot-Watt University (1996-2006). He was Economic Director of the National Economic Development Office (UK) 1991-1992; Dean of the School of Business at The University of Buckingham (1993-1997) and Dean of Humanities (2001-2014). He is a managing trustee of the Institute of Economic Affairs and is chairman of its International Advisory Council. He is also a trustee of the Institute of International Monetary Research. He has a keen interest in music and is chairman of the Buckingham Summer Festival.
Publications
Articles and symposium contributions
Ricketts, M. & Alan T. Peacock. “International linkage models and the public sector”, Public Finance 30.3 (1975), 289-312.
Ricketts, M. “The economics of the rent allowance”, Scottish Journal of Political Economy 23.3 (1976), 235-260.
Ricketts, M. & Michael G. Webb. “Pricing and standards in the control of pollution”, Scandinavian Journal of Economics 80.1 (1978), 53-61.
Ricketts, M. & Alan T. Peacock. “The growth of the public sector and inflation”, in F. Hirsch & J.H. Goldthorpe (eds), The Political Economy of Inflation (London: Robertson, 1978), 117-136.
Ricketts, M. “Housing policy: towards a public choice perspective”, Journal of Public Policy 1.4 (1981), 501-22.
Ricketts, M. “Tax theory and tax policy”, in A.T. Peacock & F. Forte (eds), The Political Economy of Taxation (Oxford: Blackwell, 1981), 29-46.
Ricketts, M. & Alan T. Peacock. “The structure of public finances of the United Kingdom”, in Fritz Neumark (ed.), Handbuch der Finanzwissenschaft (3rd revised & enlarged ed., Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1981/2).
Ricketts, M. “A model of the furnished rented housing market under regulation”, Scottish Journal of Political Economy 29.1 (Feb. 1982), 1-21.
Ricketts, M. “A politico-financial model of local authority rents and rate fund contributions in the U.K.”, Public Choice 39.3 (1982), 399-414.
Ricketts, M. “Local authority housing investment and finance: A test of the theory of regulation”, Manchester School 51.1 (1983), 45-62.
Ricketts, M. “On the simple macroeconomics of tax evasion”, Public Finance 39.3 (1984), 420-424.
Ricketts, M. “The subsidy as a purely normative concept”, Journal of Public Policy 5.3 (1985), 401-411.
Ricketts, M. “The geometry of principal and agent: Yet another use for the Edgeworth Box”, Scottish Journal of Political Economy 33.3 (1986), 228-248.
Ricketts, M. & A.T. Peacock. “Bargaining and the regulatory system”, International Review of Law and Economics 6.1 (Autumn 1986), 3-16.
Ricketts, M. “Why do corporations distribute assets?: A comment on a paper by Lewis De Alessi and Raymond P.H. Fishe”, Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics 143.1 (1987), 52-57.
Ricketts, M. “Rent-seeking, entrepreneurship, subjectivism, and property rights”, Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics 143.3 (1987), 457-466.
Ricketts, M. “Rent-seeking, entrepreneurship, subjectivism and property rights: A reply”, Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics 144.5 (1988), 894-895.
Ricketts, M. & A.T. Peacock. “Economic analysis of problems of government selective aid”, in M. Neumann & K.W. Roskamp (eds), Public Finance and Performance of Enterprises (Proceedings of the 43rd Congress of the IIPF, Wayne State University Press, 1989), 197-210.
Ricketts, M. “The economic analysis of institutions”, Critical Review 4.1&2 (1990), 266-283.
Ricketts, M. “Mobility barriers and public policy”, The Cato Journal 10.1 (1990), 211-221.
Ricketts, M. & Edward Shoesmith. “British economic opinion: Positive science or normative judgement?”, American Economic Review 82.2 (1992), 210-215.
Ricketts, M. “Kirzner’s theory of entrepreneurship – a critique”, in S. Boehm & B. Caldwell (eds), Austrian Economics: Tensions and New Directions (Boston / Dordrecht / London: Kluwer, 1992), 67-84.
Ricketts, M., A. Bowen & A. Buxton. “The economics of innovation: Setting the scene”, in A. Bowen & M. Ricketts (eds), Stimulating Innovation in Industry (London: Cogan Page, 1992), 33-57.
Ricketts, M. “Environmental regulation in the United States and the European Community: An economist’s perspective”, Forum for the US – EC Legal-Economic Affairs, Issues in Restraint of Excessive Central Power (1993), 41-63.
Ricketts, M. & Martha Prevezer. “Corporate governance: the UK compared with Germany and Japan”, in N. Dimsdale & M. Prevezer (eds), Capital Markets and Corporate Governance (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1994), 237-256.
Ricketts, M. “Economic performance and profitability”, in T. Buxton, T., P. Chapman & P. Temple (eds), Britain’s Economic Performance (London & New York: Routledge, 1994), 176-190.
Ricketts, M. “The theory of economic organisation: Treasure chest or empty box?”, Paper presented to the International Conference on ‘Theories of Organisation and Public Intervention’, Panarea (Messina), 21-23 September 1992, in G. Sobbrio (ed.), Modelli Organizzativi e Intervento Pubblico (Milan: Giuffrè, 1995), 35-60.
Ricketts, M. “Bargaining with regulators”, in P. Newman (ed.), The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics and the Law (London: Macmillan, 1998), 149-153.
Ricketts, M. & R. Mudambi. “Economic organisation and the multinational firm”, in R. Mudambi & M. Ricketts (eds), The Organisation of the Firm: International Business Perspectives (Routledge Studies in Business Organisation and Networks, 1998), 1-18.
Ricketts, M. “Competitive processes and the evolution of governance structures”, Journal des Économistes et des Études Humaines 10.2&3 (2000), 235-252.
Ricketts, M. “Housing policy and public choice”, in K. Alec Chrystal & Rupert Pennant-Rea (eds), Public Choice Analysis of Economic Policy (London, Macmillan Press, 2000), 171-196.
Ricketts, M. “The institutions of capitalism: perspectives on corporate governance”, in R. Mudambi, P. Navarra & G. Sobbrio (eds), Economic Welfare, International Business and Global Institutional Change (Cheltenham: Locke Institute & Edward Elgar, 2003), 219-241.
Ricketts, M. “Alternative explanations for changes in ownership structures”, Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics 159.4 (2003), 688-697.
Ricketts, M. “Economic regulation: principles, history and methods”, in M. Crew & D. Parker (eds), International Handbook on Economic Regulation (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2006), 34-62.
Ricketts, M. “Theories of entrepreneurship: historical development and critical assessment”, in M. Casson et al. (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Entrepreneurship (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006), 33-58.
Ricketts, M. “Introduction”, in M. Ricketts (ed.), The Economics of Modern Business Enterprise (International Critical Writings in Economics 214, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2008), ix-xxxvii.
Ricketts, M. “Are we still on the road to serfdom?”, in M. James (ed.), Classical Liberalism in the 21st Century: Essays in Honour of Norman Barry (Buckingham: University of Buckingham Press, 2009), 5-17.
Ricketts, M. “The governance of financial transactions”, in S. Kates (ed.), Macroeconomic Theory and its Failings (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2010), 207-220.
Read more about this chapter in our Publications Finder (22 March 2010)
Ricketts, M. “Israel Kirzner on coordination and discovery: A comment”, Journal of Private Enterprise 25.2 (2010), 129-143.
Ricketts, M. “The new institutional economics and the global financial crisis”, in S. Kates (ed.), The Global Financial Crisis: What Have We Learnt? (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2011), 169-181.
Ricketts, M. “Hayek and economic theory in the 1930s”, in Roger W. Garrison & N. Barry (eds), The Elgar Companion to Hayekian Economics (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2014), 47-70.
Ricketts, M. & T. Kealey “Modelling science as a contribution good”, Research Policy 43.6 (2014), 1014-24.
Ricketts, M. “Peacock, Alan T. (1922–2014)”, in Steven N. Durlauf & Lawrence E. Blume (eds), The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, online ed., 2015)
Ricketts, M. “Welfare economics and public policy: A re-examination”, in Ilde Rizzo & Ruth Towse (eds), The Artful Economist (Springer International, 2016), 31-50.
Books, monographs, and research reports
Ricketts, M. & M.G. Webb. The Economics of Energy (London: Macmillan, 1980).
Ricketts, M., A.T. Peacock, G.K. Shaw et al. Structural Economic Policies in West Germany and the United Kingdom (Anglo-German Foundation for the Study of Industrial Society, 1980).
Ricketts, M. & A.T. Peacock. Too Many Town Hall Staff? ( London: Federation of Civil Engineering Contractors, 1982).
Ricketts, M., A.T. Peacock & J.R. Robinson (eds). The Regulation Game: How British and West German companies bargain with the government (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1984).
Ricketts, M. Lets into Leases: The political economy of rent deregulation centre for policy studies (London: Centre for Policy Studies, Policy Study No. 81, Nov 1986).
Ricketts, M. The Economics of Business Enterprise: New approaches to the firm (Brighton: Wheatsheaf Books, 1987).
Ricketts, M (ed.). Neo-classical Microeconomics (Schools of Thought in Economics 3, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 1988).
Ricketts, M. & E. Shoesmith. British Economic Opinion: A survey of a thousand economists (Research Monograph 45, London: Institute of Economic Affairs, 1990).
Ricketts, M. & A.T. Peacock. Government and Industry (A Distance Learning Study Programme, Heriot-Watt Business School MBA Series, Pitman Press, 1991).
Ricketts, M. & Alex Bowen (eds). Stimulating Innovation in Industry (National Economic Development Office Policy Issues Series, London: Cogan Page, 1992).
Ricketts, M. The Economics of Business Enterprise: An introduction to economic organisation and the theory of the firm (2nd ed., New York: Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1994; 3rd ed., Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2002).
Ricketts, M. & A.T. Peacock. Government, Industry and Privatization (2nd ed., Edinburgh Business School, The Graduate School of Business, Heriot-Watt University, 1995; 3rd ed., 2003).
Ricketts, M. & Ram Mudambi (eds). The Organisation of the Firm: International business perspectives (Routledge Studies in Business Organisation and Networks, 1997).
Ricketts, M. The Many Ways of Governance: Perspectives on the control of the firm (Research Report No.31, London: Social Affairs Unit, 1999).
Ricketts, M. (ed.). The Economics of Modern Business Enterprise (3 vols, International Library of Critical Writings in Economics 214, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2008).
Institute of Economic Affairs and Other Publications
Ricketts, M. “Adam Smith and the economics of bureaucracy”, in The Economics of Politics (I.E.A. Readings No.18, 1978), 172-182. Winner of an IEA essay competition to mark the 200th anniversary of the publication of The Wealth of Nations.
Ricketts, M. Comment on a paper by Mr John Burton in Trade Unions, Public Goods or Public Bads? (I.E.A. Readings No.17, 1978).
Ricketts, M. “Housing and hidden subsidies”, Journal of Economic Affairs 1.4 (1981), 239-241.
Ricketts, M. “Blacking coal”, Public Money 1.2 (1981), 10.
Ricketts, M. “Rent control and the private rented sector”, The Economic Review 2.3 (1985), 33-38.
Ricketts, M. “Supply-side economics and budgetary policy”, Economic Affairs 6.6 (1986), 22-24.
Ricketts, M. “The politics of housing unmasked”, Economic Affairs 7.1 (1986), 40-43.
Ricketts, M. “Radical reform, not piecemeal progress”, A contribution to a symposium on funding education, Economic Affairs 7.4 (1987), 41.
Ricketts, M. “Public policy and the private rented sector of the housing market”, Property Management 5.2 (1987), 108-113.
Ricketts, M. “The new institutional economics and the structure of the firm”, Economic Affairs 9.4 (1989), 23-26.
Ricketts, M. “Property market rigidities and the north-south divide”, Economic Affairs 10.4 (1990), 12-18. Paper initially presented at the Institute of Economic Affairs Conference on the North-South Divide, 20 May 1987.
Ricketts, M., W. Eltis & D. Fraser. “The lessons for Britain from the superior economic performance of Germany and Japan”, National Westminster Bank Quarterly Review (Feb. 1992), 2-22.
Ricketts, M. “Profits and economic performance”, Britain and Overseas 23.2 (1993), 15-22.
Ricketts, M. “Verdict on a White Paper”, Parliamentary Brief 2.9 (June / July 1994), 18-19.
Ricketts, M. “Public choice issues in social regulation”, Economic Affairs 14.4 (June 1994), 12-17.
Ricketts, M. “Housing without the state”, Economic Affairs 14.5 (October 1994), 22-23.
Ricketts, M. “R.H. Coase”, in International Encyclopaedia of Business and Management (Vol.1, Thomson Business Press, 1996), 625-630.
Ricketts, M. “Housing without the State”, in A. Seldon (ed.), Re-Privatising Welfare: After The Lost Century (IEA Readings 45, Institute of Economic Affairs, 1996), 39-49.
Ricketts, M. “Market theory, competition and the stakeholder society”, in Stakeholding and its Critics (Choice in Welfare No.36, Institute of Economic Affairs, 1997), 56-69.
Ricketts, M. “Privatisation and Regulation”, Chapter 6 of Open University Course (D319) Understanding Economic Behaviour: Firms, Households and Markets – Firms (Open University, 1998), 175-210.
Ricketts, M. “ Coase, Ronald (1910-)”, in M. Warner (ed.), The Handbook of Management Thinking. International Thompson Business Press, 1998, 134-139. Reprinted in William Lazonick (ed.), The Handbook of Economics (London: Thomson, 2002), 721-725.
Ricketts, M. Foreword to J. Blundell & C. Robinson, Regulation without the State (Occasional Paper 109, Institute of Economic Affairs, 1999), 5-8.
Ricketts, M. “The role of the state in making a market economy: Comment on a paper by Victor Nee”, Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics 156.1 (2000), 95-98.
Ricketts, M. “Trust and economic organisation”, Economic Affairs 21.1 (2001), 18-22.
Ricketts, M. Contribution to “Corporate diversity and the provision of financial services”, British Actuarial Journal 8.IV (2002), 692-694 and 702-703.
Ricketts, M. “John Jewkes”, in D. Rutherford et al. (eds), Biographical Dictionary of British Economists (Bristol: Thoemmes Continuum, 2004), 600-7.
Ricketts, M. “Economic analysis and inter-jurisdictional competition”, Economic Affairs 24.1 (2004), 28-33.
Ricketts, M. “Further lessons from privatisation”, Economic Affairs 24.3 (2004), 9-14.
Ricketts, M. “Property rights, incentives and privatisation”, in J. Clarke & S. Roy (eds), Margaret Thatcher’s Revolution (London: Continuum, 2005).
Ricketts, M. & G. Wood. “Prohibitions and economics: an overview”, in J. Meadowcroft (ed.), Prohibitions (London: IEA, 2008), 37-53.
Ricketts, M. “The economic analysis of institutions”, editorial introduction to a Symposium on the Economic Analysis of Institutions, Economic Affairs 28.3 (2008), 2-6.
Ricketts, M. “The use of contract by government and its agents”, Economic Affairs 29.1 (2009), 7-12.
Ricketts, M. “The contribution and intellectual legacy of Ronald Coase 1910 – 2013”, Economic Affairs 34.1 (2014), 46-58.
Ricketts, M. “Ownership, governance and the Coasian firm”, in C. Veljanovski (ed.), Forever Contemporary: The Economics of Ronald Coase (London: Institute of Economic Affairs, 2015), 46-69.
Ricketts, M. “Adverse selection, moral hazard and state regulation”, Economic Affairs 35.1 (2015), 109-122.
Ricketts, M. “Assigning responsibilities in a federal system”, in P. Minford & L. Shackleton (eds), Breaking Up is Hard to Do: Britain and Europe’s dysfunctional relationship (London: Institute of Economic Affairs, 2016), 23-39.
Unpublished
Ricketts, M. “Sunk costs and economies of scale: a clarification” (September 1990), Buckingham Discussion Paper in Economics No.60/1990.
Ricketts, M. “Corporate governance and capital markets in the two capitalisms” (1995), Wincott Discussion Paper 04/95, University of Buckingham.
Ricketts, M. “The failure of regulation: a commentary on North” (1997), drafted for the Institute of Economic Affairs.
Ricketts, M. “The simple macroeconomics of tax evasion revisited: a review and clarification” (1999), Wincott Discussion Paper No. 02/99.
Ricketts, M. “Tax evasion and tax revenue loss: a comment on the Bhattacharyya Model” (1999). Available on request.
Ricketts, M. “The assignment of responsibilities in a federal system” (forthcoming, 2016).
Book reviews and other short pieces
Ricketts, M. “Gardiner C. Means”, The Independent, 23 Feb 1988. (An obituary).
Ricketts, M. Principles of Group Solidarity by Michael Hechter. Journal of Economic Literature 27.2 (June 1989), 601-603.
Ricketts, M. “How important is the discovery element?”, a review of Discovery, Capitalism and Distributive Justice by Israel Kirzner, Journal des Économistes et des Études Humaines 1.2 (1990), 179-182.
Ricketts, M. Tax Evasion and the Black Economy by David. J. Pyle. The Manchester School 53.1 (March 1990), 97-8.
Ricketts, M. “Europe’s early money markets”, a review of The Rise of Financial Capitalism by Larry Neal. The Times Literary Supplement, 12 April 1991, 25.
Ricketts, M. The Economics of Special Privilege and Rent Seeking by Gordon Tullock. Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics 147.3 (Sep 1991), 591-2.
Ricketts, M. The Excluded Americans – Homelessness and Housing Policies by William Tucker. Policy 8.3 (Spring 1992), 42-3, Centre for Independent Studies, St Leonards NSW, Australia.
Ricketts, M. Aesthetics and Economics by Gianfranco Mossetto. Journal of Cultural Economics 18.2 (1994), 163-4.
Ricketts, M. “Eulogy to an economic subversive”, a review of Ronald H. Coase by Stephen Medema. The Times Higher Education Supplement no.1177, 26 May 1995.
Ricketts, M. Incentives – Motivation and the Economics of Information by Donald E. Campbell. Zeitschrift fur Nationalokonomie, 65.2 (1997), 230-2.
Ricketts, M. Cultural Economics: The Arts, the Heritage and the Media Industries, Volumes I and II, edited by R. Towse. The Economic Journal 108.450 (September 1998), 1584-6.
Ricketts, M. Capitalism: a treatise on economics by G. Reisman. The Economic Journal 108.451 (November 1998), 1892-3.
Ricketts, M. “In honour of Arthur Seldon”, Economic Affairs 19.3 (1999), 39.
Ricketts, M. “Public”, in Dictionary of Dangerous Words (London: Social Affairs Unit, 2000).
Ricketts, M. Information and Organization: A New Perspective on the Theory of the Firm by Mark Casson. Economic Affairs 22.2 (2002), 61-62.
Ricketts, M. “Poverty, institutions and economics: Hernando de Soto on property rights and economic development”. Economic Affairs 25.2 (2005), 49-51.
Ricketts, M. “The public sector: Permanent revolution or continual evolution?”, Public Sector Training Newsletter, March 2007.
Ricketts, M. “Nicolaus Tideman: Collective decisions and voting: The potential for public choice”, Public Choice 133.3-4 (2007), 503-505.
Ricketts, M. By the People: Rebuilding Liberty without Permission by Charles Murray. Economic Affairs (forthcoming).
Selected Publications
- “The governance of financial transactions”, in S. Kates (ed.) Macroeconomic theory and its failings (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2010), 207-220
- Terry Arthur & Philip Booth, Does Britain Need a Financial Regulator? Statutory Regulation, Private Regulation and Financial Markets (Hobart Paper 169, London: IEA, 2010)