School of Economics

2009 archive

School of Economics news archive from 2009.

Economics contributes to Chevening programme

The Chevening programme on Finance and Investment in a Low Carbon Economy has welcomed 14 Chevening Fellows, drawn from ten different countries including Canada, China, Australia, Kazakhstan, India and Brazil. The fellows are now in their fifth week of the programme and will be here until April.

This comprehensive programme consists of a combination of dedicated lectures, a large number of site visits to a diverse group of energy and finance organisations, two weeks of placements as well as attending lectures on the Edinburgh MBA and the MSc in Carbon Management. This is the first Chevening programme Economics have contributed to and it is hoped that its successful running will lead to new programmes in the future.

Relativity, Inequality and Public Policy Conference

Cornell University and the University of Edinburgh have hosted a major international conference on June 5-7, 2009, in Edinburgh. Speakers at the conference included: Carol Graham, Andrew Oswald, Matthew Rabin, Imran Rasul, Aldo Rustichini, Bernard van Praag, Lise Vesterlund and Shlomo Yitzhaki.

The Guardian's 2010 University Guide

In the latest edition of the Guardian's 2010 University Guide, we are ranked fourth in the UK in our discipline across all higher education institutions.

The ranking is based on seven statistical measures, including the results of the 2008 National Student Survey. This recognition is encouraging, but we will not let up in our efforts to continually improve our programmes.

Grants

Prof. John Moore has been awarded a five-year European Research Council Advanced Grant of 1.6 million Euros for his study "Money, Liquidity and the Aggregate Economy." This project builds on his recent work with Nobuhiro Kiyotaki (Princeton) on a simple, unified theory of money and liquidity that can be integrated into the rest of macroeconomic theory. Only 48 such grants were awarded in Humanities and Social Sciences.

Dr. Santiago Sanchez-Pages has been awarded Abbey Research Funding for his joint work with biologist Dr Enrique Turiegano of Universidad Autonoma, Madrid on the effects of individual characteristics on economic behaviour. The Abbey/Santander small grants scheme supports research and development of links with colleagues in Latin America, Spain and Portugal.

Prof. Jonathan Thomas, along with co-investigators Prof. Andy Snell and Dr. Ric Holt (University of Edinburgh) have been awarded an ESRC grant of £342,976 for his 3 year research project "Cohort effects within firms, and their implications for labour market outcomes and the business cycle."

Dr. Jakub Steiner received the ESRC First Grants Scheme for his research on prevention of coordination failures. First Grants enable new researchers and academics at the start of their careers to gain experience of managing and leading research projects.

Donald A R George has been awarded a Carnegie grant to finance his Visiting Professorship at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand.

Public seminar

The seminar "Wid ye credit it? Making sense of the global economics crisis" was organised on Thursday 12 March, with Simon Clark (University of Edinburgh) and Bill Scott (Policy and Parliamentary Officer, Inclusion Scotland).

Inaugural lecture

Prof. Ed Hopkins, Personal Chair of Economics, has delivered his Inaugural Lecture "Which Inequality Should We Care About?" in Lecture Theatre B David Hume Tower, George Square at 5.15 pm on Tuesday 27 January 2009.