Economics – research themes

Their work in these areas has been funded by national and international bodies and is regularly published in internationally recognised peer-reviewed journals. They also work collaboratively within these themes with other academic groups and research centres across the University and further afield, with members holding visiting positions at other prestigious institutions.

Monetary economics and macroeconomics

The monetary and macroeconomics research theme focuses on different aspects of macroeconomic policy. The academic interests of members of this group are diverse, and recent research has explored issues relating to:

• fiscal policy in a theoretical DSGE framework
• the distributional consequences of fiscal policy
• financial contagion, external imbalances and twin deficits
• capital and housing markets
• stock market dynamics and yield curve co-movements
• exchange rate regimes, exchange market pressure and fear of floating
• labour markets and unemployment
• central bank independence
• monetary policy formulation.

Our research has been published in internationally recognised peer review journals that include: American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics; Economic History Review; Economic Inquiry; Economica; Economics Letters; European Journal of Finance; International Journal of Financial Markets, Institutions and Money; International Review of Financial Analysis; Journal of International Finance and Economics; Journal of Business and Economic Statistics; Journal of Money, Credit and Banking; Macroeconomic Dynamics; Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics; Oxford Economic Papers; Public Choice; Scandinavian Journal of Economics; The World Economy; and World Development.

The research activities of group members have also been funded by bodies and institutions that include the Royal Economic Society (RES), the UK Department for International Development (DFID), and the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). In addition to this, its members have held visiting positions at international institutions such as Claremont Graduate University, the Development Bank of Japan, the University of Naples, and Hitotsubashi University.

Members working within the monetary and macroeconomics theme are:

• Dr Ahmad Hassan Ahmad
• Dr Vitor Castro
• Dr Simeon Coleman
• Dr Ali Moghaddasi-Kelishomi
• Professor Eric Pentecost
• Dr Christopher Spencer
• Dr Dawid Trzeciakiewicz
• Dr Justine Wood

Microeconomics

Our research work deals with the processes and outcomes of imperfectly competitive markets. Our theoretical and empirical research is applied to competition policy, consumer and health policy, efficiency, and regulation issues.

The current theoretical research of the group members relates to the areas of advertising, pricing, consumer behaviour, collusion, mergers and research and development. On the empirical side, our research has analysed energy markets, the water, transport and banking industries, the pharmaceutical sector and environmental policies.

Members of the group have published in some of the leading academic journals in the field, such as the Economic Journal, Journal of Business and Economic Statistics, Management Science, Rand Journal of Economics, Review of Economics and Statistics, European Economic Review, American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, Journal of Industrial Economics, International Journal of Industrial Organization, European Journal of Operational Research, Oxford Economic Papers, Economics Letters, Economica, Research Policy, Journal of Banking and Finance, Operational Research and Energy Economics. Our members have received funding from the EPSRC, ESRC, the Leverhulme Trust, and the Medical Research Council. We have conducted research for the Department of Energy and Climate Change, the Department of Trade and Industry, the Breast Cancer Association.

Members working within the Microeconomics theme are:

• Dr Morakinyo Adetutu
• Dr Anna Rita Bennato
• Dr Huw Edwards
• Dr Alessandra Ferrari
• Dr Ben Ferrett
• Dr Bo Gao
• Dr Luke Garrod
• Dr Adrian Gourlay
• Dr Maria Nieswand
• Dr Simona Rasciute
• Dr Antonio Russo
• Professor David Saal
• Professor Robin Sickles
• Dr Thomas Triebs
• Dr Vanessa Valero
• Emeritus Professor Tom Weyman-Jones
• Dr Chris Wilson

Financial economics

Members of the Economics group have diverse research interests in the related areas of financial economics, banking and financial technology. This research is often conducted in collaboration with members of the School’s Accounting and Finance group, and it ranges from highly applied institutional and regulatory analyses, to the econometric investigation of financial time series and the performance of banks. For example:

Dr Alessandra Ferrari uses econometric techniques to study efficiency and competition within banking industries. Her research has been published in leading journals such as the Review of Economics and Statistics, the European Journal of Operational Research, the Journal of Banking and Finance and the European Journal of Finance.

Professor Alistair Milne is known for his work on financial operations, balance-sheet and risk management in banking, and financial regulation. He is the author of a comprehensive account of the global credit crisis, 'The Fall of the House of Credit' (Cambridge University Press, 2009). Alistair’s current research focuses on emerging financial technologies in banking and insurance, including the application of AI, distributed ledger and related data technologies. He is the principal investigator of the multi-institution Technology-Driven Next Generation Insurance (TECHNGI) Project.

Emeritus Professor David Llewellyn has an international reputation in the theory and practice of financial regulation; the analysis of financial crises; and the business strategies and cultures of financial institutions. Some of this research derives from being a recent Chairman of the Banking Stakeholder Group of the European Banking Authority (the pan-EU regulatory agency for banking).

Members working within the Financial Economics theme are:

• Dr Morakinyo Adetutu
• Dr Alessandra Ferrari
• Emeritus Professor Christopher Green
• Emeritus Professor David Llewellyn
• Emeritus Professor Terry Mills
• Professor Alistair Milne
• Dr Justine Wood
• Dr Meilan Yan

International economics

º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ has a longstanding and active research presence across a range of policy-relevant issues in international economics:

• On the microeconomic side, we have studied the determinants and effects of firm participation in cross-border trade and foreign direct investment, including the links to geographical factors and to government policies. Our research approaches range from panel econometrics to game-theoretic analysis.
• On the macroeconomic side, members of our group have carried out theoretical and empirical studies of international finance and exchange rate regimes.
• We have developed a keen presence in studying the effects of international economic and policy shocks, such as the greek/Eurozone crisis and Brexit. Concerning government policies, we have studied tax competition for mobile firms, tariff and nontariff barriers to trade and export promotion.

Specimen research questions include:

• How do economic integration and natural geography affect the outcomes of tax/subsidy competition between national governments for foreign direct investment (FDI) projects?
• How can the empirical analysis of trade liberalisation via gravity and computable-general-equilibrium (CGE) modelling be advanced to reflect the latest insights from economic theory, such as heterogeneous-firm models?
• What determines the form taken by cross-border collaborative agreements between firms of different nationalities when contracts are incomplete and search is costly?
• How does economic policy uncertainty affect trade patterns at the firm or international level?
• What are the implications of modern macroeconomic theory for an open economy?
• How does uncertainty affect exchange rates?

Our group has links to other research groups in the School, as well as to business organisations and government bodies. The results of our research are disseminated through participation in, and organisation of, international research workshops and conferences. Our academics have published papers in leading journals, such as Economica, Canadian Journal of Economics, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, Review of International Economics, International Business Review, Regional Science and Urban Economics, Economics Letters, International Journal of Industrial Organization, International Journal of Finance and Economics, European Journal of Finance, The World Economy, Economic Systems, The Manchester School, Australian Economic Papers, Open Economies Review and International Tax and Public Finance. We have also had an impact on policy. For example, Dr Huw Edwards was a major contributor to policy reports to the European Commission in 2006 and 2007, which led to the Deeper Integration Agreements with Ukraine (2014) and South Korea (2011) respectively.

Members working within the international economics theme are:

• Dr Ahmad Ahmad
• Dr Anna Rita Bennato
• Dr Simeon Coleman
• Dr Huw Edwards
• Dr Bo Gao
• Dr Ben Ferrett
• Professor Alistair Milne
• Dr Ali Moghaddasi-Kelishomi
• Professor Eric Pentecost
• Dr Simona Rasciute
• Dr Thomas Triebs