Alongside the delivery of key materials, we had devised a number of social events to help build a strong community too. This is often absent in the distance learning setting but our organisers made the most of having everyone in the same place!<\/p>\n
On Tuesday the 6th<\/sup>, we launched our Inaugural Keynote Event with two guest speakers, Professor Jagjit Chadha<\/a> and Mark Preston, giving engaging and timely presentations to the apprentices. Jagjit, previously Professor of Economics at Kent, currently the Director of the National Institute of Economic and Social Research<\/a> (NIESR), delivered his thoughts on Central Bank independence with a particular focus on the UK, in a frank, entertaining but informative 30 mins based on his new book The Money Minders: The Parables, Trade-offs and Lags of Central Banking<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n His central message formed an impassioned call to the next generation to defend both the independence and unity of purpose of central banks. Mark, a successful banker with extensive experience in trading for Barclays, J.P Morgan and others, followed this with his personal reflections on the impact that the rapid rise of computing power has had in shaping the commercial financial sector. In particular, he highlighted the impact on the rise of financial derivatives markets, the computing arms-race between banks and regulators, and the eventual burst of the balloon in 2008.<\/p>\n Reflecting on both his talk and the extensive engagement from the audience which followed, Jagjit said:<\/p>\n ‘The previous day I had sat on a panel with Mervyn King and Paul Tucker talking about our reflections on 25 years of central bank independence. And people like us \u2013 those well over 50 – remember the arguments and the nature of that victory of economics over politics very well.\u00a0 So much so that our arguments can seem like rather obvious received wisdom when we get together.\u00a0 But when one gets a chance to speak to the next generation \u2013 such as the apprentice economists \u2013 one realises how important it is to pass on reflections and arguments from the past to the next generation so they can make up their own minds and drive policy in the direction that best suits their views.\u00a0 This is a really fine group of economists who are clearly being well taught on principles, my hope is that they can persuade our political masters better practice.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/economics\/files\/2022\/09\/DAP-Pizza-pool-.jpg\")
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