Research news
Popularity in school leads to higher earnings according to new research
New research published in a
working paper by
the National Bureau of Economic Research by a group of
academics, including Professor Andrea Galeotti from our
Department and Professor Steve Pudney from the Institute for
Social and Economic Research, has found that being popular in
school bodes well for future earnings potential.
Media coverage includes the
LA Times and
Daily Mail.
Working after eight months of pregnancy is as harmful as
smoking
New research by Professor Marco Francesconi, with Emilia Del
Bono and John Ermisch from the Institute for Social and Economic
Research, has found that the effect of continuing to work during
the late stages of pregnancy was equal to that of smoking while
pregnant.
Media coverage includes:
The financial meltdown forecasters
Professor Sheri Markose's financial networks model work with the Reserve Bank of India and the International Monetary Fund has caught the attention of New Scientist
journalists, Andy Coghlan and Michael Marshall. You can read the full article
The financial meltdown forecasters (.pdf).
IJET Lionel McKenzie Prize for 2011
Professor Galeotti awarded the International Journal of
Economic Theory (IJET) Lionel McKenzie Prize for 2011 as
co-author of
Complex networks and local externalities: A strategic approach,
published in volume 7 issue 1.
Young Professor wins Leverhulme Trust prize in
recognition of outstanding achievements
Professor Andrea Galeotti has been awarded the Philip
Leverhulme Prize for 2011, which recognises his
significant achievements as a talented scholar in the
field of network economics.
Read the full story.
In January 2012, Andrea was awarded the Trust's
Philip Leverhulme Prize, worth a value of £70,000.
Evaluating consequences
Dr Holger Breinlich's
project will evaluate
the nature of the
barriers preventing
firms from exporting, as
well as the consequences
of export activity for
firm-level variables
such as productivity,
employment or
investment.
The project will be
completed in three
stages. Each stage will
use a standard
questionnaire of
respondents in their
workplace:
- A survey
will be sent to
appropriate individuals
(employees) at a firm
that asks about firm
characteristics and
attitudes towards
exporting; then
- of
firms that chose to fill
out the questionnaire, a
random subset will be
sent information about
exporting and its
benefits; and
- finally, a year later,
firms that responded
will be sent a follow-up
survey regarding firm
characteristics and
attitudes towards
exporting.
Social networking study wins €1 million grant
Professor Andrea Galeotti, from the Department of
Economics, has won a €1 million grant to study the
economics of social networks such as Facebook and
Twitter.
The funding from the European Research Council will help
Professor Galeotti develop a theory which could help
both companies and governments.
Using mathematical modelling, he will map how social
networks evolve and how they influence social and
economic interaction. He hopes governments may be able
to use the results in order to influence behaviour - for
example, by making more effective use of health
education messages.
Read the full story
Seeking Asylum
Seeking Asylum: Trends and Policies in the OECD (Organisation for
Economic Co-operation and Development).
'It's time to drop the rhetoric and posturing: the
evidence calls urgently for a European-wide integrated
policy on asylum'.
Much of the debate over asylum policy has been dominated
by newspaper rhetoric and political posturing. A
new
report written by
Professor Tim Hatton for the Centre for Economic
Policy Research (CEPR) puts these arguments into
perspective by offering a sober assessment of what
drives asylum applications and what asylum policies have
achieved.
Paper selected for Fifth Prize
Dr Edna Solomon's paper titled "Foreign
Direct Investment, Host Country Factors and Economic
Growth" selected as one of the best papers submitted
to the Fifth Prize of Economic Research of Ensayos
Revista de Economía.
Too much of a good thing?
Too much of a good thing? Variety is confusing in mate choice
Research by
Professor Marco Francesconi and Alison Lenton from
the University of Edinburgh has picked up wide-spread
media coverage following their latest piece of research
that assesses the effects of variety on real-world mate
choice. The researchers analysed human dating decisions
across 84 speed-dating events and found that people were
unable to choose when they were too overwhelmed by
choice. They also found that choosers generally
preferred people who were taller, younger, and well
educated - attributes that could be judged quickly.
Read the paper in full on the Royal Society Publishing
website
Studying abroad leads to working abroad
A study by
Dr Matthias Parey and Fabian Waldinger at the
University of Warwick examines the impact of Erasmus, a
student exchange programme introduced by the European
Union in 1987, in which more than two million students
have participated, including about 180,000 from the UK.
The results indicate that graduates who have studied
abroad are 15 percentage points more likely to work
abroad after graduation.
Read the full news release
Professor to advise Indian bank
Leading economist,
Professor Sheri Markose has been appointed as
consultant to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to provide
expert guidance at their Financial Stability Division on
how to develop large scale models that can monitor the
build up of financial risk in India. This also includes
the transition to an information technology based
framework for systemic risk analysis.
Anticompetitive conduct in IPRs
Dr Kate Rockett has been awarded a grant of £20,600
by the European Commission to study the
empirical/technical assessment of potential
anticompetitive conduct in the field of intellectual
property rights (IPRs) and assessment of the interplay
between competition policy and IPR protection more
generally.
Healthy School Meals and Educational Outcomes
A
paper by
Jonathan James from the Department and Michèle Belot from Nuffield
College at the University of Oxford, provides field evidence on the
effects of a diet on educational outcomes, exploiting a campaign lead in
the UK in 2004 (the Feed me Better campaign by Jamie Oliver), which
introduced drastic changes in the meals offered in the schools of one
Borough - Greenwich - shifting from low-budget processed meals towards
healthier options.
They evaluated the effect of the campaign on educational
outcomes in primary schools using a difference in differences approach;
comparing educational outcomes in primary schools (key stage 2 outcomes
more specifically) before and after the reform, using the neighbouring
Local Education Authorities as a control group. They found evidence that
educational outcomes did improve significantly in English and Science.
They also found that authorised absences
- which are most likely linked to
illness and health - fell by 14%.
This research has
picked up wide-spread
media coverage,
including the
Financial Times,
Times Online,
Telegraph,
Daily Mail,
Independent, Channel
4 News, BBC Newsround,
BBC News,
Guardian,
Times Online (education)
and
Washington Post.
Research Grant Awards