11 Facts About Richard Layard

Peter Richard Grenville Layard, Baron Layard FBA was born on 15 March 1934 and is a British labour economist, currently working as programme director of the Centre for Economic Performance at the London School of Economics.

Richard Layard was Senior Research Officer for the Robbins Committee on Higher Education.

Richard Layard was educated at Eton College, where he was a King's scholar; at King's College, Cambridge; and at the London School of Economics.

Richard Layard assisted Claus Moser on the Robbins enquiry, and later developed a reputation in the economics of education, and labour economics .

Richard Layard advocated many of the policies which characterised the New Labour government, particularly the New Deal, partly by founding the Centre for Economic Performance at the London School of Economics.

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Richard Layard became active in the study of what has since come to be known as happiness economics.

In 2005 Richard Layard published the book Happiness: Lessons from a New Science, in which he emphasised the importance of non-income variables on aggregate happiness.

Richard Layard co-founded Action for Happiness in 2010, and continues on the board.

Richard Layard has shown that mental illness is the main cause of unhappiness.

Richard Layard was made a Labour life peer in the House of Lords on 3 May 2000 as Baron Richard Layard, of Highgate in the London Borough of Haringey.

Richard Layard has said he was strongly Christian at school, lost his faith at university, and in his later years 'has to be believe there is some purpose in the universe.