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John Toye (economist)

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British development economist (1942–2021)
John Toye
John Toye
Born7 October 1942
Died12 November 2021 (aged 79)
SpouseJanet Toye
ChildrenRichard Toye, Eleanor Toye Scott
Academic career
FieldDevelopment economics
Institutions

John Francis Joseph Toye (7 October 1942 – 12 November 2021) was a British development economist and political economist who served as a director at the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex and at the Centre for the Study of African Economies at the University of Oxford. As a development economist, he studied the impact of multinational agencies like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund on developing economies. Toye is credited with the shaping of development studies as a discipline including serving as the president of UK's Development Studies Association.

Some of Toye's prominent works included Dilemmas of Development (1987) and Aid and Power (1991).

Early life

Toye was born on 7 October 1942 in Wisbech in Cambridgeshire in the United Kingdom, to Adele (née Francis) and Jack Toye. His mother was a teacher while his father was an engineer. Toye studied at the Christ's College, Finchley in North London, and went on to study history at the University of Cambridge.

Career

He started his career as a civil servant with the UK Treasury between 1965 and 1968 before going on to being a development specialist with the University of Cambridge at Wolfson College between 1972 and 1980, and then at the University of Swansea between 1982 and 1987, where he was the director at the Centre for Development Studies. He also served as a director at the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex between 1987 and 1997, and as the head of the Centre for the Study of African Economies at the University of Oxford between 2000 and 2003.He was a member of the UNCTAD's Globalisation and Development Directorate between 1998 and 2000, and was the chair of Oxford's International Development Advisory Council from 2009 to 2015.

Toye's work focused on development economics, studying the economies of developing economies. He did this by studying the impact of multinational agencies like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund on developing economies. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, he focused his studies on agencies like World Bank and their role in pushing for free-market economics principles on developing economies. This was the basis of his book Aid and Power (1991) which he co-wrote with economists Jane Harrigan and Paul Mosley. The book also studied the conditionality expressed as a part of grants and loans from these agencies. Earlier, in the 1980s, he wrote Dilemmas of Development (1987) in which he countered the prevailing thinking of free-market economists. In a critique against free-market advocates of the time, he wrote that they "first turn liberty against equality and fraternity, then overthrow liberty itself". In the book, he tracked the early days of neoliberalism and the impact of the philosophy on international development.

Toye is credited with shaping development studies as a discipline, serving as the president of the Development Studies Association, driving research on the topic, and being a member of the editorial boards of European Journal of Development Studies, Journal of Development Studies, Journal of International Development, Oxford Development Studies, and World Development. Toye was also amongst the first social scientists to identify the importance of growing economic linkages between Africa and China. The field would develop into a significant development research area in subsequent years.

Personal life

Toye married Janet (née Reason) in 1967. The couple had two children, Eleanor and Richard. He died on 12 November 2021 at the age of 79. In addition to his research, his colleagues recounted his knowledge of wine lists, sense of humour, and his 'dram of whisky'.

Select works

References

  1. ^ Mosley, Paul (28 December 2021). "John Toye obituary". the Guardian. Retrieved 29 December 2021.
  2. ^ "In Memoriam: John Toye (7 October 1942 - 12 November 2021)". Development Studies Association. 30 November 2021. Retrieved 29 December 2021.
  3. Wolfson College Cambridge. "Wolfson Review 2021-2022" (PDF).
  4. ^ "Professor John Toye, 1942–2021 | Oxford Department of International Development". www.qeh.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 29 December 2021.
  5. "In Memoriam: John Toye (7 October 1942 - 12 November 2021)". Development Studies Association. 30 November 2021. Retrieved 29 December 2021.
  6. Cypher, James M. (1990). "Review of Dilemmas of Development". Journal of Economic Issues. 24 (3): 929–933. doi:10.1080/00213624.1990.11505088. ISSN 0021-3624. JSTOR 4226330.
  7. Oliver Morrissey (14 September 2022). "In Memoriam: John Toye 1942–2021". Journal of Development Studies. doi:10.1080/00220388.2022.2121062.
  8. "In memory of John Toye". Institute of Development Studies. Retrieved 29 December 2021.
  9. "John Toye (7 October 1942 - 12 November 2021) – An Appreciation". Global Development Institute Blog. 24 November 2021. Retrieved 29 December 2021.
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