Show/Hide navigation
University of Reading
Mobile search categories
mask
Close
CHOOSE A SUBJECT

World-leading research

The Economics Research Division, which comprises four research centres, concentrates primarily on applied research, but with strong theoretical and empirical foundations, and of direct relevance to economic policy formation at local, national and international levels. The centres reflect our areas of research strength, notably in the fields of development economics, behavioural economics, wellbeing, spatial economics, business economics, economic history and big data analysis.

Although the primary focus of our research falls under the University-wide theme Prosperity and Resilience, the Division interacts closely with other Schools in order to develop an interdisciplinary perspective to modern policy problems, crossing the boundaries of the University’s research themes. This is particularly the case with our research in development economics, which is conducted in conjunction with researchers from other fields under the auspices of the University’s Development Research Division.

Our research centres

  • The Centre for Institutional Performance and Economic History (CIPEcH)
    Research focuses on issues at the interface of economics, politics, sociology and history.
  • The International Centre for Housing and Urban Economics (ICHUE)
    Current research concentrates on the dynamics of long-run urban change, housing market volatility and international migration.
  • The Economic Analysis Research Group (EARG)
    This centre focuses on macroeconomics and econometrics, and recently organised workshops on methods in dynamic stochastic general equilibrium modelling and inflation. 
  • The Research Centre for the Study of Developing Economies and Emerging Markets (DEEM)
    Our development economists in this centre cover a wide range of issues including health, education, gender issues and labour markets.

Research Highlights

Our research has been very successful in attracting external funding.

Find out more about our research highlights
Row of terraced houses

Impact

As an applied economics division, the impact of our research is a high priority.

  • Professor Geoff Meen has been appointed as Specialist Advisor to the House of Lords Select Committee on Economic Affairs for its investigation into UK housing.
  • Associate Professor Marina Della Giusta is developing innovative methods for the analysis of student wellbeing. Our research has been covered by the Times Higher Education and the BBC. This research has attracted funding from HEFCE as part of the Learning Gain Project.
  • High-profile research led by Associate Professor Andi Nygaard is examining the effects of migrant communities on social cohesion, particularly concentrating on Slough, UK . In addition, his research analyses and describes the impact of international migration on labour markets and skills availability in South East England.
  • Giovanni Razzu has been appointed Professor in the Economics of Public Policy in order to promote interactions between the Division and government. and also directs our Masters in Public Policy programme.

Selected publications

Study opportunities

Overall, our research covers applied policy areas including poverty, inequality, housing, health, wellbeing, immigration, fiscal and monetary policy, and the environment. We are able to offer PhD supervision in these areas and are part of a Doctoral Training Partnership in conjunction with a number of universities based in the south of the UK.

MA in Public Policy

Research from our centres feeds into the School of Politics, Economics and International Relations' MA in Public Policy.

Case studies

In the 2014 REF, economists submitted a number of high-profile case studies. These included:

  • an economic theory of entrepreneurship developed by Professor Mark Casson, which clarified the case for UK Government business support to small- to medium- sized UK exporters and provided new research instruments with which to measure its impact
  • research, again by Professor Mark Casson and colleagues, which demonstrated that the net benefits of inward investment to the UK economy had been systematically overstated by HM Treasury up until 2007. The research findings overturned the Treasury's view that all foreign direct investment (FDI) by multinational enterprises was equally beneficial to the UK economy, and, therefore, merited special efforts to attract it
  • the development of one of the key tools for housing policy analysis used within government concerning housing supply and land-use planning, housing tenure, international migration and the effects of the Global Financial Crisis.