99% of the Department of Economics' research has been rated world-leading (4*) or internationally excellent (3*) overall in the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2021.

Ranked 2nd in the
Research Excellence Framework.

Discover our Research Impact

99% of the Department of Economics' research has been rated world-leading (4*) or internationally excellent (3*) overall in the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2021.

The REF results, released on Thursday 12 May 2022, place the Department as 2nd in the UK for overall research quality in the discipline of Economics and Econometrics, according to rankings of institutions by Grade Point Average (GPA)* published by Times Higher Education. Submissions to the REF are made by institutions and assessed by subject-level expert panels in three key areas:

• The quality of research outputs in terms of their originality, significance and rigour (accounting for 60% of the overall outcome)
• The reach and significance of research impact beyond academia (25%)
• The vitality and sustainability of the environment that supports research (15%).

The weighting of these elements forms the overall quality profile. Each area is rated as 4*, 3*, 2*, 1* or unclassified.

Key highlights from REF 2021

Outputs

• The Department ranks 3rd in the UK for quality of research output in Economics and Econometrics, according to Times Higher Education.
• 98% of the Department’s submitted research outputs are rated 4* (world-leading) or 3* (internationally excellent).

Impact

• The Department ranks 2nd for impact in the UK.
• 80% of the Department’s impact is rated 4* (outstanding) and 20% is 3* (very considerable).

The assessment was based on the submission of impact case studies, which describe specific examples of how the Department’s research has made a positive difference to the economy, society and quality of life beyond academia.

Read more and watch short videos about the impact of our work.

Environment

• The Department ranks 3rd for research environment in the UK.
• 87.5% of the Department’s environment submission is rated 4* (conducive to producing research of world-leading quality and enabling outstanding impact).

The assessment considered a wide range of factors including:

• How research is structured in the Department
• Strategies for research, impact, staffing and staff development
• Research income, infrastructure and facilities
• Collaborations and contributions to the research base, economy and society.

Find out more about our research.

Learn more about our comprehensive MRes/PhD programme.

Commenting on the results, Head of Department Professor Jeremy Smith, said: “These results reinforce our position as one of the leading departments in the UK for economics.”

“Our strong performance in the REF reflects the incredibly hard work of staff from across the whole Department in conducting and supporting the production of innovative research that pushes the boundaries of the discipline. That this research is also shaping policy as indicated by the evaluation of the impact case studies is also very gratifying.”

“We are extremely proud of this achievement and look forward to building on our strategy for developing research excellence in the coming years.”

Professor Carlo Perroni, Research Director for the Department, said: “The Department of Economics at the University of Warwick is home to a vibrant and diverse research environment that produces relevant and exciting work across all major sub-fields of economics.”

“We are proud of our researchers and of our PhD students, and we are pleased that the REF result recognises the value of what we do.”

About the REF

The REF is the system for assessing the quality of research in UK higher education institutions. It is led by the four UK higher education funding bodies: Research England, the Scottish Funding Council, the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales, and the Department for the Economy, Northern Ireland.

REF results inform the allocation of public research funding and are used in university league tables and benchmarking. The process ensures accountability for public investment in research and provides evidence of the benefits of this investment.

Notes on rankings

*Grade Point Average (GPA) is a measure of average quality of research. It is calculated by multiplying the percentage of 4* research by four, 3* research by three, 2* research by two and 1* research by one. The totals are added together and divided by 100 to give an average overall star-rating.

We congratulate Selina Shibata, Year 1 Economics student, who has won the Student Volunteer of the Year award at the Warwick Volunteers Award night.

*Selina is the middle person in the above image

Selina volunteers with a local organisation based in Coventry called Guardian Ballers. Founded in 2021, Guardian Ballers works with young students from various backgrounds in the local community. Volunteers engage young children through Basketball to help them achieve a happier and healthier life. They also work with several other organisations to provide mental health services.

Selina started volunteering in January of 2024 and has been helping at their basketball camps, where attendees improve their basketball skills and become more educated on maintaining good mental health. Guardian Ballers also sell branded clothing and Selina has helped to expand their merchandise line.

This opportunity has enabled Selina to make friends with students from other universities and increase her network.

Selina says:

“As an international student worried about being unable to integrate into the UK and its culture, the Guardian Ballers community has helped me feel comfortable in a new country and community.”

The Department is extremely proud to see one of our students assist young people on their mental health journey. We are very pleased that this volunteering opportunity has made it easier for Selina to settle here at Warwick after moving from abroad.

Local artists, schoolchildren and their families in Radford, members of Coventry City Council and University of Warwick researchers have teamed up for a unique project to explore what puts people off making their homes more energy efficient.

Dr Lory Barile from the Department of Economics at the University worked with creative partners and experts in Net Zero to develop a series of lessons and practical activities for pupils at St. Augustine’s Catholic Primary School, Radford.

The children carried out science experiments to test out the insulation properties of different materials and built models of houses showing what they could do to make their homes more energy efficient to provide affordable warmth whilst helping to tackle global warming.

Parents and guardians then attended a showcase of their children’s work and their model houses. This provided a relaxed forum to discuss how homes can be better insulated, and what help is available from Coventry council for local residents.

Dr Barile explained: “Coventry has one of the highest levels of fuel poverty in the UK. In some areas of the city half of the households are in fuel poverty – that is, they need to spend at least 10% of their household income on keeping warm.

“If we can find more effective ways of speaking with residents about retrofit measures, we will make a big contribution to the success of Coventry’s net zero agenda.”

The objective of the project was to increase awareness of retrofit measures – such as double-glazing or cavity wall insulation - and to understand barriers to engagement with schemes designed to improve residents’ house energy efficiency.

Dr Barlie explained: “My project uses elements of a method called design thinking, and engages children in creative and interactive activities to help kick-start conversations with Radford’s adult householders.

“By embracing creativity, we hope that this pilot study will be a catalyst for change and inspire other residents in Coventry to increase their take up of government schemes aimed at creating healthy homes, reducing carbon emissions, energy bills, and fuel poverty.

“We also hope that the project will improve the way the council engages with the needs and aspirations of the local community.

“We are now working on creating an online teaching pack that all schools across the City will be able to use to raise the awareness of children and families about domestic energy efficiency.”

Bret Willers, Head of Sustainability & Climate Change at Coventry City Council said: “This pilot project has been very successful in raising people’s awareness as to how to better insulate their homes and how to access free funding to improve energy efficiency.

“We hope that this pilot will contribute to increase the take up of schemes available to households to meet the City’s commitment to tackling climate change and addressing fuel poverty.”

The workshops, facilitated by Warwick researchers, members of the Council, student ambassadors, teachers, and local artists, included an interactive workshop on energy conservation, 3D models of energy efficient homes, and a final celebratory event with adults engaged in discussions on barriers to housing retrofitting, where children’s work and learning was also showcased. Parents turnout was extremely high, highlighting the potential of using similar approaches to work with local communities and address the challenges of climate change.

The information gathered from these workshops has informed the development of a survey that has been distributed to all parents in the school and will guide future iterations of the methodology in areas of Coventry where engagement with retrofit measures is particularly low.

The survey is available here. Coventry residents are invited to fill it in and enter a draw for one of three £50 Love2shop vouchers.

The Department of Economics is pleased to have been chosen as this year’s host of the prestigious event organised by the Review of Economic Studies – the REStud Tour which starts today at Warwick campus.

The REStud Tour is an annual event at which some of the best graduating doctoral students in economics and finance in the world, called the ‘tourists’ are invited to present their research to audiences in leading economics departments across Europe.

Founded in 1933 by a group of Economists from leading UK and US departments, The Review of Economic Studies is one of the core economics journals, consistently ranking among the top five titles, and essential reading for economists. The REStud Tour is aligned to one of the Review’s objectives - to encourage research in theoretical and applied economics, especially by young economists, and to publish the results in the Journal.

The REStud Tour will take place at Warwick over two days (13 and 14 May) and staff and students from the Department of Economics at Warwick, as well as several external guests will be joining the event to welcome the REStud tourists and to watch their presentation.

We are excited to welcome this year's REStud Tourists:

• Anna Russo - MIT, 'Additionality and Asymmetric Information in Environmental Markets: Evidence from Conservation Auctions'
• Nina Buchmann - Stanford University, 'Paternalistic Discrimination'
• Roberto Corrao - MIT, 'Mediation Markets: The Case of Soft Information'
• Frank Yang - Stanford Graduate School of Business, 'Nested Bundling'
• Agostina Brinatti - University of Michigan, 'Third-Country Effects of US Immigration Policy'
• Hugo Lhullier - Princeton University, 'Should I Stay or Should I Grow?'
• Benny Kleinman - University of Chicago, 'Wage Inequality and the Spatial Expansion of Firms'

Professor Caroline Elliott, who is an official host of the REStud Tour at Warwick commented:

“We are absolutely delighted to welcome seven REStud tourists to Warwick Economics. This is a hugely prestigious event, and I’m honoured that we’ve been chosen this year to host the UK leg of the REStud Tour. We’re looking forward to meeting some of the most promising young economists and to hearing about their innovative research.”

Related content

• About REStud
• Event page with REStud Tour Programme

Final year BSc Economics student Khushi Sampat coached Warwick's Quadball Team to triumph in all three competitions that took place this year.

Quadball is a full-contact mixed-gender sport that can be considered a mix of Netball, Dodgeball, and Rugby.

Khushi joined the Quadball Society in March 2022, took over as coach in April 2023, and was invited to join the Team England training squad in November 2023. There are three tournaments in a season that university teams take part in:

• Development Cup

• Southern England League/ Nothern England League

• British Quadball Cup (BQC)

Khushi celebrating a tournament win with a trophy

Khushi was happy to announce that “Warwick won all three tournaments this season and the commentators recognised the quality of coaching and gameplay!”

Outside of the university league, there are international competitions such as the European Games and World Cup which take place over the summer that Khushi hopes to take part in with the England Squad.

The Department would like to congratulate Khushi and the Warwick Quadball Team for this great success and all the hard work they have put in.

The image at the top of the article was taken in Sheffield during the British Quadball Cup on April 28th 2024. Khushi Sampat is third from left in the front row.

Two members of the Department are taking on leadership roles in the University’s Research Spotlight programme, a new programme designed to promote collaborative work on urgent global challenges.

Professor Daniel Sgroi has been appointed Chair of the new interdisciplinary Behaviour Spotlight, and Professor Thijs van Rens is a member of the leadership team for the Health Spotlight.

A total of six interdisciplinary ‘Research Spotlights’ have been created. Each of them identifies a major global challenge: “They are all serious interdisciplinary areas that are going to make a big difference,” Daniel explains. “The University has asked, ‘what are the big issues facing the world?’ and decided to put a spotlight on each of them and bring people from every department together to work on them.

“This is important because most of the world’s big problems are problems that can only really be solved by disciplines working together – for example, how we deal with climate change, how we tackle political polarisation, how we handle pandemics.

“We know from COVID that medics worked with behavioural scientists so that they didn’t just develop vaccines, they developed strategies to ensure people would take them.

“Our Behaviour Spotlight aims to facilitate interdisciplinary collaboration between behavioural researchers that seek to understand and address some of the biggest problems faced by the world today.

“We can provide seed funding for pilot experiments or to kick-start projects, we can create and financially support new seminar series, workshops and conferences, and help fund early-stage research.

“We have a big network already, inherited from the Behaviour, Brain & Society GRP, but we now want to reach across the whole university. We’ll be inviting anyone doing behavioural research at Warwick to join us as part of our mission to build a university-wide network of active researchers.”

A new Health Spotlight has also been created. Professor Thijs van Rens is one of four academics on the leadership team. He said:

"There are many people at University working on research that is relevant to health, at Warwick Medical School, of course, but also in Business, Chemistry, Economics, Engineering, English, History, Mathematics, Physics, Psychology, Statistics and probably other departments as well.

“Our aim is to build the network and infrastructure to bring these people together so that together we can make better progress on the big questions that cannot be addressed from a single discipline.

“Some of the interdisciplinary areas that we will focus on are technologies in health, prevention and public health, mental health and wellbeing, and interdisciplinary methodologies. Warwick has strengths in all of these areas, and we hope that by providing a supportive environment for collaboration, we can further build on these strengths and encourage ‘blue-skies’ research ideas.”

“My own research on healthy and sustainable diets has made me realise how the quality of the research can benefit from an interdisciplinary team, and how much it helps to secure funding for that research."

Professor Ben Lockwood, Head of the Economics Department, said “I am delighted that Daniel and Thijs have been appointed to these leadership roles and will be contributing to the University’s ambitious interdisciplinary research programme.”

The Spotlight programme is intended to run for at least 10 years and is an indication of the University’s long-term commitment to world-changing research.

 FIND OUT MORE

• Behaviour Spotlight : Behaviour | Research at Warwick
• Health Spotlight: Health | Research at Warwick

The Department of Economics wishes to congratulate Kasia Jasiniewska, final year Modern Languages and Economics student, for promoting excellence of student research at Warwick Research CelebrationLink opens in a new window event on 29 April 2024 and for showcasing it at the national Posters in Parliament event earlier this year.

Kasia Jasiniewska was selected to represent ‘Student Research at Warwick’ at the Celebration of Warwick Research event, based on her excellent undergraduate research, which had previously been chosen as one of two Warwick submissions to the national Posters in Parliament event this year. Professor Jane Bryan, one of the organisers of the Warwick Research Celebration event said: "Kasia spoke confidently and knowledgeably about her research at both events. She is a great ambassador for student research at Warwick."

Kasia’s research looked at “The impact of the 1999 Polish education reform: did the socio-economic disparities in academic achievements narrow?”. This research is of particular importance considering the significance of education for social progress and economic development. Kasia’s findings suggest that the Reform had a substantial positive impact on academic performance in Poland, especially for the top ten percentiles of the socioeconomic spectrum, thereby not effectively narrowing the achievement gap. Additionally, the model shows evidence of temporal dynamics, with the effects being most pronounced six to nine years after the Reform. This delayed response emphasizes the need for long-term evaluations to understand the complex impacts of educational policies on academic achievement across socioeconomic groups.

Kasia presenting her research at the Posters in Parliament event

“Nowadays, most of us have access to data, but the key is how we use it to explain a broader, more complex picture. My studies in the Economics Department, particularly the econometrics course, equipped me with the essential skills to tackle the most intriguing unanswered questions. I am grateful and proud to represent the impactful work of the Warwick undergraduate community, contributing to our understanding of the changing world around us.”

- Kasia Jasiniewska

As a final year student, Kasia is a great advocate for undertaking research as part of an undergraduate course, raising awareness amongst many staff and senior leaders at Warwick and beyond about the importance of encouraging students to undertake research as part of their university education.

Delegating tax-and-spend powers to local government risks limiting the ability of local authorities to respond to environmental disasters, according to new research published in the Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization.

Dr Jose Rowell Corpuz (University of Warwick), Professor Joseph Capuno (University of the Philippines Diliman) and Dr Samuel Lordemus (University of Lucerne) looked at 10 years of public finance data from the Philippines both before and after a national emergency in 2013, when Typhoon Haiyan struck the islands with 200mph winds, to explore how local public finances respond to natural disasters.

The researchers also looked for evidence of how central government disaster relief funds and international aid affected local revenue raising and spending on essential services – did the external aid compensate for lower local revenues, or was it genuinely additional to existing resources?

While these questions have been studied in better-off countries, it is believed that this study substantially adds to the analysis of the local fiscal response to natural disasters in a country with more limited financial resources.

The Philippines is in a high-risk typhoon area, and Typhoon Haiyan was one of the strongest ever recorded and caused unprecedented damage as it crossed the country. Official government sources estimate that about 6,300 people died, more than 28,000 were injured and 4 million left homeless.

It displaced communities and affected the regions' infrastructure, roads, hospitals, schools, and public services. The severity of the impact on the areas it ravaged was unanticipated and unprecedented, with its effects felt during and after the disaster.

Using data on local government revenue and spending from before and after Typhoon Haiyan, Dr Corpuz and his co-authors found:

• The typhoon had a small impact on local government revenue raising. In the short term there was a fall in income from taxes and charges on local businesses but these recovered after around two years. This effect was more severe in less-well-off municipalities and highlights the importance of flexible central government support to address economic inequality.
• The typhoon had a small but measurable impact on spending. Local governments spent slightly less on all areas of responsibility except health, housing and labour. They also reduced their debt repayments.
• Local governments which received external aid did not diminish their tax collection efforts and spent more on public services, education, social and economic services, and debt repayments. This result shows that foreign aid has a vital role to play in supporting local government to help citizens in the aftermath of disasters.

Commenting on his research Dr Corpuz said:

“The effects of natural disasters can have a huge impact on a local economy and under decentralisation, local governments are limited in the resources they can mobilise in the aftermath.

“Ordinarily, local tax revenue collection provides a higher rate of local government spending over and above central government transfers. This changes after a natural disaster when there are significant losses in revenues particularly from local businesses and economic enterprise.

“When a typhoon as powerful as Haiyan affects the generating revenue capacity of local governments, central government transfers and foreign aid are crucial to maintaining public expenditures that benefit its people.”

Specifically, the research evidence suggests:

• Local governments exposed to common nationwide shocks such as Typhoon Haiyan have limited capacity to reallocate or provide additional resources that would address the increased demand for local public spending.
• Lack of strong and responsive financial support from central government leaves local governments to fend for themselves. This situation only escalates the impact of external shocks.
• Central government needs to step in with additional sources of funding for disaster relief and ensure a coordinated effort with other funding sources (such as foreign aid) to effectively target the most vulnerable communities.

Dr Corpuz concludes:

“Although we cannot generalize, the Philippine case is a reminder of natural disasters’ debilitating effect on local governments and vulnerable communities. We hope that our study will inspire many in ensuring a well-coordinated disaster risk management by central and local governments, particularly in settings of decentralised local government finance.”

Read the full research paper: Natural disasters and local government finance: Evidence from Typhoon Haiyan

Professor Giovanni Ricco has received a prestigious American Economic Journal Best Paper 2024 AwardLink opens in a new window for a paper published in the American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics.

The awards are made annually to the best paper published in each of the four American Economic Journals – Applied Economics, Macroeconomics, Economic Policy and Microeconomics - in the previous three years.  The winning papers are chosen by the journals’ Boards of Editors from those nominated by AEA members.

Professor Ricco’s paper was published in 2021 and is co-authored with Professor Silvia Miranda-Agrippino, Research Economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York

In The Transmission of Monetary Policy Shocks Silvia Miranda-Agrippino and Giovanni Ricco study widely used instruments for the identification of monetary policy disturbances, show how the use of these instruments is behind the empirical puzzles reported in the literature, and propose a new high-frequency instrument for monetary policy shocks that accounts for informational rigidities.

Commenting on his award, Professor Ricco said it was a complete surprise but a very welcome one.

Head of Department Ben Lockwood said: “On behalf of all in Warwick Economics I’d like to congratulate Giovanni on his ‘best paper’ award. It is a significant achievement for him personally and an important accolade for the Department."

• The Transmission of Monetary Policy Shocks Silvia Miranda-Agrippino and Giovanni Ricco, American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics 2021, 13(3): 74–107. https://doi.org/10.1257/mac.20180124
• Full text versions of the four winning articles are available at https://www.aeaweb.org/about-aea/honors-awards/aej-best-papersLink opens in a new window.

Historical experience of battles fought with physically-demanding weapons created a preference for sons over daughters which persists to the present day, according to new research.

India’s population is disproportionately male compared to global norms. A preference for sons over daughters has resulted in some 63 million women “missing” from the population. While Amartya Sen drew attention to these “missing women” in the early 1990s, this deficit was recognized as early as the 1881 census.

While mechanisms such as sex-selective abortion and prioritising male children over female children can explain the imbalance, what is it that creates the preference for male children in the first place?

In a new Warwick Economics Research Papers (WERP) working paper, Conflict and Gender Norms, Mark Dincecco, James Fenske, Bishnupriya Gupta, and Anil Menon investigate whether exposure to conflict in India’s pre-colonial era, when battles were fought with physically demanding weapons such as bows and swords, created a preference for male children which still endures today.

The team geolocated battles and other conflicts between 1000 CE and 1757, when the Battle of Plassey established the dominance of the British East India Company, to create a measure of a location’s exposure to pre-colonial conflict.

This measure was compared to three measures of male-favouring gender norms: the sex ratio of the population; data on the sex of individual births; and the prevalence of crimes against women in early 21^st century.

The analysis found a robust positive relationship between conflict and male-favouring norms: districts that experienced greater exposure to pre-colonial conflict have more male-based sex ratios in the present-day population; and have a greater number of crimes against women.

But how is it possible for experiences from centuries ago to influence attitudes towards women today?

Folk tales and religious traditions can pass on cultural beliefs around gender norms and hand them down through generations. In Uttar Pradesh, researchers have recorded a number of folk songs denigrating the birth of a girl child and the women who birth them, for example:

“She gave birth to a male child – that’s why she is sitting on the bed: she is giving orders to everyone in the house.

If she had given birth to a female child, she would be sitting on the doorsill; she would have fallen from everyone’s eyes.”

Traditional songs in the eastern and southwestern areas of India are much less negative about women.

The researchers found positive relationships between exposure to conflict and folk tales with negative attitudes to women and exposure to conflict and a higher proportion of male temple gods; and exposure to conflict and a greater chance that women leave their home villages after marriage.

To test whether gender norms endure even if people migrate, the authors repeated the analysis using individuals’ mother tongue rather than geographic location, as the major languages of India typically reflect ancestry in specific regions. This analysis showed that male-favouring gender norms persist even after migration to areas that do not have historic exposure to conflict.

Commenting on the findings Professor Gupta said:

“Male-favouring gender norms are prevalent in many parts of the world today. They persist in India despite its recent economic growth, which is generally regarded as something which leads to more positive outcomes for women.

Our study provides new insights into the origins of these attitudes, focusing on the role of inter-state military rivalry and warfare.

The relationship which we have documented between exposure to conflict in pre-colonial times and cultural norms that favour men helps to explain why there is such variation in the proportion of missing women between different parts of India.

The evidence which we have found on the historical persistence of these attitudes also suggests that economic development alone may not resolve India’s gender inequality challenges.”

ENDS

· Mark Dincecco, James Fenske, Bishnupriya Gupta and Anil Menon (2024) Conflict and Gender NormsLink opens in a new window Warwick Economics Research Papers No. 1491