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Week 40

End of Term message from Head of the Department


Term has now finished and that is something to celebrate and I want to thank all colleagues for the time and effort that you have devoted to your duties in order to help the Department to be as good as possible across our two main areas of activity (research and teaching). To achieve as we have done requires the input and dedication of a large number of people and I would like to thank each and every one of you. While all areas of activity are important this last term is largely devoted to examinations and in order for use to process approximately 11,000 scripts over a 7 week period requires the support of a great many people. I have been immensely proud of colleagues for getting through the exam period (although we still have to have the second year and Diploma exam boards) with great efficiency, and just as importantly with good humour.

Over the summer period one new Professor (Manuel Bagues, September 1) and two new Assistant Professors will be arriving in the Department Federico Rossi (1 July) and Pedro Souza (1st September). If you are around it would be good if you introduce yourself to them and make them feel as welcome as possible as well as to help their transition into the Department. In addition, we are having to recruit a large number of Teaching Fellows into the Department as we look to replace people who will be leaving.

Unfortunately, we are also losing people: Miguel Almunia (CUNEF, Madrid), Elliott Ash (Zurich), James Choy, Clare Crawford (Birmingham), Abby Kendrick (NYU campus in London), Pedro Serodio, Selma Walther and Joe Meade. It is always very sad to see people leave, although I hope they go with fond memories of the Department and we wish them well in their future career and hope they come back and visit us at some point.

I hope you all have a productive summer period, whatever activities you have planned, but it is very important you try and get some down time to relax and recharge your batteries with people whose company you enjoy.

Professor Jeremy Smith

Department News


PTES Campaign Update

The Postgraduate Taught Experience Survey (PTES) ran throughout the Summer term and invited students to reflect on their experiences of teaching and learning over their time at Warwick and to score the Department and University against a number of criteria. As a key feedback mechanism for Diploma, MSc and MRes students in Economics and the wider University, and an indicator of student satisfaction across providers in the sector, PTES results are becoming increasingly important.

This year we ran a promotional campaign aimed at increasing our response rate (which in 2017 was 30%) to 50%, in a bid to gather more meaningful, representative data and views from our postgraduate taught students. We are delighted to report that our final response rate for PTES 2018 was 59%, our highest ever rate, and one which compares very favourably to the overall Warwick response rate of 39%.

For every PTES response, £3 has been raised for Warwick Cancer Research Centre, which represents a total donation of £463. Four prizes of £100, £100, £75 and £50 will be presented to four students drawn at random from the list of students eligible to complete this year’s survey.

The PTES Working Group would like to thank all colleagues who have helped us to reach this response rate through engaging with PGT students and raising awareness of the survey. We now hope to be able to share good news with you later in the summer when the PTES results are made available.

Further information on PTES can be found here and on our department's PTES webpage.

New library resources

The Library has purchased backfiles of The Economist Historical Archive online, covering issues from 1843 to 2014. Access will be arranged fairly soon.

We also recently purchased the History of Economic Thought, an online resource from Routledge, including books, selected chapters, journal articles, new thematic essays, and subject introductions on key themes, from 1700 to 1914. It is accessible through the Library catalogue.

Both of these “one-off” purchases were made with money remaining at the end of the financial year. We hope that many of you and your students will benefit as a result. When I hear more about your wish list subscription requests, I will let you know. Have a good summer!

Merit Pay Scheme 2017/2018

The merit pay scheme for 2018 has now been launched for all staff in grades FA1-FA8. Nominations should be made by Line Managers. Nominations should be forwarded to Lisa Hayes, HR Officer by Friday 6 July 2018. Further information about the Merit Pay scheme can be found here.

Should you wish to self nominate, please complete the nomination form (found by clicking here) and forward to Jeremy Smith (cc’d to Lisa Hayes) by Friday 6 July 2018.

PDR - submission deadline of 20 July 2018

The PDR window is open and will run until 20 July 2018. As we have committed to try to increase participation in the PDR scheme in our Athena Swan submission and in our Pulse Action Plan, your involvement in the process is encouraged. Please click on the link here to learn more about the process and to action the PDR form:

The deadline for all submissions is 20 July 2018. Please send all completed PDR forms to Lisa Hayes, HR Officer in the first instance.

Department of Economics Recognition Scheme

This month, awards have been given to the following staff who have provided excellent service and/or made an excellent contribution to the Department in June: Natalie Deven, Margaret Nash, Charlotte White, Fiona Brown and Jane Snape. Well done to all! Should you wish to nominate a colleague, please click on the link here.

Publications, Presentations, Talks & Awards


Liliana Verela presented her paper "Innovation and the Patterns of Trade: A Firm-Level Analysis" joint with with Ana Maria Santacreu in the Annual Meeting of the Society for Economic Dynamics (SED), in Mexico on 29 June.

Andy Ferrara presented his paper "Workplace Diversity and Black-White Social Relations" at the IZA World Labor Conference in Berlin on 29 June.

Eric Melander presented the paper "Creating ‘Us and Them’: Racial Propaganda, Insularity and Right-Wing Ideology" at the EBE Summer Meeting (Munich) on 28-30 June.

Matteo Gamalerio presented "Not welcome anymore: the effect of electoral incentives on the reception of refugees” in two different workshops in June. The first presentation took place at the Barcelona GSE Summer Forum (Political Institutions workshop) in Barcelona on 13 June. Find out more about the programme and general information on the GSE Summer Forum.

Matteo also presented at the IX Workshop on Institutions, Individual Behaviour and Economic Outcomes (Political Economy session) in Alghero (Sardinia) on Tuesday the 19th of June. You can view the programme and learn more about the workshop here.

Daniel Sgroi was in Cambridge during the week commencing 2nd July where he was External Examiner for the BA in Economics..

Peter Hammond participated in a panel entitled "Dynamic decisions beyond EU”, and presented a talk with the title: The Role of Dynamic Consistency in Consequentialist Normative Decision Theory at the Foundations of Utility and Risk Conference (FUR) held at the University of York on Tuesday 26 June.

Peter also presented a talk with the title: Monte Carlo Integration of a Continuum of Random Variables, at the Summer Workshop in Economic Theory organised jointly by the Sorbonne and the Paris School of Economics on Wednesday 27 June.

Media Coverage


"The long wait for increased productivity" - Nick Craft's research mentioned - Le Nouvel Economiste [French], 19 June 2018.

"Women are as likely to ask for raises as men, but less likely to receive them" - Andrew Oswald joint with Benjamin Artz & Amanda Goodall - Harward Business Review, 27 June 2018.

"What your office needs to keep people happy" - Daniel Sgroi mentioned as lead researcher - Citywire Wealth Manager, 30 June 2018.

"Do Trump Tweets Spur Hate Crimes?" - Carlo Schwarz's paper joint with Karsten Müller mentioned - Scientific American, 27 June 2018.

Department Diary


  • Economics Graduation Day | 20 July | Butterworth Hall
    Update: We request both academic and administration staff to save the date in your diaries.
  • Induction Week | 22-30 September | Campus
  • Economics Question Time 2018 | 1 October | 6:15-7:45pm | Butterworth Hall
  • Tea @3 (every Wednesday) | 3.00-3.30pm | Staff Common Room | Social Sciences Building
  • Staff Buffet Lunch for staff (every fortnightly on Thursday) | 12.30 - 1.30pm | S2.79 | Social Sciences Building

Research Spotlight


Eric Melander is in the spotlight for this week's research interview - find out more about his research.

Other News


Coventry Creative Showcase - Friday 6th July

Coventry has joined forces with local community and cultural organisations to offer drop in displays and free talks to bring research to life using cookery, writing, dance, debate, mosaic, poetry, photography, theatre to celebrate Coventry City of Culture 2021.

SuccessFactors - Update

You can read the latest update on timescales and access prior to the launch of Warwick's new online HR tool: SuccessFactors.