Dr Richard Povey

Hertford College
Catte St.
Oxford
OX1 3BW

About me:

I am a Lecturer in Economics at Hertford College, Oxford and at St Hilda's College, Oxford. I hold a D.Phil in Economics from Oxford University, which I completed in 2011. Before this, I read for the Oxford M.Phil in Economics from 2003-2005 and for the B.A. in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from 2000-2003, both at St Edmund Hall. I was also a College Lecturer in Economics at St. Edmund Hall from 2004-2007, at Keble College from 2007-2008, at St Hilda's College from 2008-2009, at Wadham College from 2009-2012, at New College from 2010-2013, at Brasenose College from 2013-14, at Balliol College in 2013, at Lincoln College from 2014-15 and at Pembroke College from 2015-16. I teach the Introductory Economics Prelims paper, the Final Examination papers in Microeconomics, Macroeconomics and Quantitative Economics, and the Public Economics and Game Theory option papers.

The aspect of economic theory that excites me the most is its ability to inform specific solutions and recommendations in many areas of public policy. I am also particularly interested in applying the normative analytic techniques of economics to the area of altruism and other issues of social morality.

My D.Phil thesis is entitled "The Socially Optimal Level of Altruism", and in it I explore situations in which too much altruism can be socially counterproductive. The sequential punishment model I develop for this purpose requires game theoretic solution concepts such as optimal penal codes. I am also interested in evolutionary game theory and optimal taxation theory.