Professor Carol Propper appointed to Emmanuel Macron’s economic commission

The commission will recommend how to tackle climate change, inequality and ageing populations 

Carol Propper, Professor of Economics, has been appointed to French President Emmanuel Macron’s expert commission on major post-coronavirus economic challenges. 

The commission will deliver recommendations on how to tackle three of the biggest long-term challenges facing the world’s economies: climate change, inequality and ageing populations.

Headed by two French economists (Nobel Prize winner Jean Tirole and former IMF chief economist Olivier Blanchard), the commission is made up of experts from several countries including France, the UK, Germany and the US. Tirole and Blanchard were given freedom to choose their team, which will, according to an advisor to President Macron, operate with complete independence. 

Professor Propper is a leading expert in health economics. As well as her work at Imperial, she is President of the Royal Economic Society, a Fellow of the British Academy and an International Fellow of the National Academy of Medicine. She was appointed a Commander of the British Empire in 2014 for her services to social science.  

She has warned the recent emergency could be just the beginning of a longer-term healthcare crisis

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Professor Propper has been sought out by media, research institutes and government for her expertise. She has warned the recent emergency could be just the beginning of a longer-term healthcare crisis, and earlier this month appeared before the UK Parliament’s Science & Technology Committee to discuss the health outcomes of the Government’s economic decisions relating to the pandemic. 

As noted by Le Monde, the commission reflects President Macron’s wider commitment to revising his economic doctrine. He has hinted the global pandemic could serve as an opportunity to reset the country’s economic policies and place a greater emphasis on environmental and social welfare concerns. 

The committee is expected to deliver its recommendations in December.