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Week 6

Department News


The Soviet Economy, 1917-1991: Its Life and Afterlife

Thank you to all those who attended the CAGE event on Tuesday 7 November. Mark Harrison gave a wonderful lecture on ‘The Soviet Economy 1917 – 1991, Its Life and Afterlife’. Discussant Claire Shaw from the Department of History complemented this with insights from her research on marginality, community and Soviet Identity.

There was discussion and plenty of questions from the audience. Organised as part of the ESRC Festival of Social Science, the lecture marked the centenary of the Bolshevik Revolution. Mark expands on the issues in this new VoxEu column.

CAGE-SMF briefing: The Bank of England, interest rates and the UK economy - 13 November, 12.30 - 13.30pm.

The Centre for Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy, in partnership with the Social Market Foundation, is organising a policy briefing event on Monday 13 November, in response to the Bank of England raising interest rates for the first time in over a decade.

In this briefing Michael McMahon, Professor of Economics at the University of Oxford and Director for Impact at CAGE, will draw on his research to explore a number of issues surrounding the Bank of England’s recent actions.

The event will be held at SMF’s offices in Westminster.

Visit the CAGE webpage for more information and contact Tracy Evans T dot A dot evans at warwick dot ac dot uk if you would like to attend.

Economics Careers Fair - 30 October 2017

Many thanks to all those who helped organise and participate at our yearly Economics Careers Fair on 30 October. Attendance at the employment event was extremely high with two of our Economics Alumnus; Stephen Pope and Jo Duffy delivering lectures. A wide range of employers including Compass Lexecon, Oxera, Bank of England, PwC, Frontier Economics, Deloitte, Ofcom, Fitch Ratings and others were there to discuss their company and job opportunities.

360 Guest Lecture Series - Margaret Gilmore - 6 November 2017

On 6 November, writer, analyst and award winning BBC TV Correspondent Margaret Gilmore delivered her lecture 'The Terrorist Hunters' as part of the 360 Guest Lecture Series. She provided her insight on how the terrorist threat has changed and looked at the history of modern terrorism.

The event was well attended by students and staff with registration being capped at 315. Students were given time at the end of the lecture for questions. Feedback was positive from both students and the guest speaker Margaret who left the following feedback on Twitter:

"Really impressed by my visit to Warwick Uni to lecture on modern terrorism-tough questions from students as ever".

Upcoming Guest Lecture Series: Dr Mike Walker - 23rd November 2017. David Goodhart - 8th January 2018.

Year 2 and 3 Tenpin Bowling Evening - Call for staff!

In response to student feedback for more social and sporting events with integration across years and interaction with staff, we are holding our very first Tenpin Bowling Night for Year 2 and Year 3 students.

This will take place on Tuesday 21 November 2017 from 8pm – late, at the Tenpin Bowling Alley in Leamington Spa. A big thank you to those that have already advised they will participate. We are still require at least 15 more members of staff/PhD students to join. Please could you save the date in your diary and contact Charlotte via economics dot events at warwick dot ac dot uk if you are able to come along.

Competition Appeal Tribunal case

Mike Waterson is into the second week of a Competition Appeal Tribunal case. He is one of three members. The case involved is Flynn/Pfizer v CMA. relating to a dispute over excessive pricing of pharmaceuticals.

Department Web Amendment Requests

If you require information to be changed on the departmental webpages, i.e. text amends, update information etc, they will need to be emailed to the economics.web resource account from now on. The inbox is monitored and amends will be worked on.

Winter Graduation 2018

The date has now been set for the 2018 Winter Graduation ceremony. This will take place on Friday 19 January at 3pm. This ceremony will be followed by a reception at 5.15pm in Panorama Room, Rootes Building, for all these students, their families and friends to toast and celebrate their achievements. All staff are invited to join in with the festivities so please do save the date and come along if you can.


Publications & Presentations


Mark Harrison presented his paper “The Soviet Economy, 1917-1991: Life and Afterlife” to a conference on “The Greatest Economic Experiment Ever: the Economic consequences of the October Revolution” at the Center for Economic History, Northwestern University, on 3 November; and as a CAGE public lecture for the ESRC Festival of Social Science at Warwick on 7 November. A shortened version of the paper also appeared on 7 November on VoxEU.

Mark Harrison published his paper “Foundations of the Soviet Command Economy, 1917 to 1941” in The Cambridge History of Communism, vol. 1: World Revolution and Socialism in One Country, pp. 327-347, edited by Silvio Pons and Stephen A. Smith. This made Harrison the only person to contribute to the Cambridge Histories of both Communism and Capitalism.

Claudia Rei article on “Escaping Europe: health and human capital of Holocaust refugees1” was published in European Review of Economic History on 26 October 2017.

Andy Ferrara presented his paper “Economic and Social Integration of Minorities: The Effect of WWII on Racial Segregation” at the London School of Economics on October 26th 2017.


Media Coverage


"Life and Afterlife in the Soviet Century" - Mark Harrison: The Wire - 4th November 2017

"More than a third of self-assessment taxpayers are under-reporting how much they owe the government" - Arun Advani: City A.M - 26th October 2017

60 per cent of self-employed under-report income to HMRC - Arun Advani: Business Advice - 27 October 2017


Department Diary


  • Tenpin Bowling (Yr 2 & 3) | 21 November | 8-12pm | Leamington Spa
  • CAGE: 'The Bank of England, interest rates and the UK economy’ | 13 November | 12.30-1.30pm | SMF’s offices in Westminster
  • 360 Guest Lecture - Dr Mike Walker, Chief Economist at the CMA - Why is Competition Policy Becoming so Difficult? | 23 November | 5.30-6.30pm | Maths & Stats MS01
  • Economics’ Postgraduate Students’ Christmas Party | 30 November | 7.00pm | Panorama Room, Rootes Building (contact PG offices to book your place)
  • 360 Guest Lecture - David Goodhart | 8 January | 5.30-6.30pm | Oculus OC0.03
  • 2018 Winter Graduation Ceremony and Reception | 19 January | 3.00 pm |Campus / Panorama Room, Rootes Building
  • Tea @3 (every Wednesday) | 3.00-3.30pm | Staff Common Room | Social Sciences Building


Staff Interview


Luis Candelaria is a new member of the academic staff - find out more about him in our staff interview.





Other News


Shadow a senior academic

Are you interested in finding out how Warwick works or gaining an insight into academic leadership? There is an opportunity to spend time with a senior colleague and develop your leadership capabilities . Read more about last year's participants and apply here.

Teaching & Learning Development - courses

Are you involved in teaching, or support teaching and learning? Benefit from development opportunities including workshops on assessment, and specific learning techniques.

Girls' Football Week - Staff offer

On Sunday 12 November, Coventry United Ladies FC game against West Ham United Ladies FC. in Coventry. Get free tickets to attend.