2011 archive

Archived news announcements from 2011.

Selection of recent announcements

Philip Leverhulme Prize

We are very proud to announce that Professor Mike Elsby has been awarded a Philip Leverhulme Prize.

The prize is awarded to 'outstanding scholars who have made a substantial and recognised contribution to their particular field of study, recognised at an international level, and where the expectation is that their greatest achievement is yet to come.'

Professor Angus Deaton is honoured by the BBVA (Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria)

In June 2011, the University of Edinburgh awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Science in Social Science to Professor Angus Deaton of Princeton University and now he has been given the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in the category of Economics, Finance and Management. He was granted the award for his fundamental contributions to the theory of consumption and savings, and the measurement of economic wellbeing and we are very proud of our association with him.

Prof Deaton is pictured here at our Graduation Reception after the ceremony with his wife Prof Anne Case (also of Princeton) and Dr Colin Roberts.

Edinburgh Economists are working hard to plan a successful economic recovery

A summary of the research by József Sákovics and Jakub Steiner, which points out that understanding coordination games is key to planning a successful economic recovery, has just been published on the Kellogg School of Management's webpage, Kellogg Insight.

Economics Professor appears on Vietnamese television

Martin Fransman was interviewed on television during his recent visit to Vietnam. You can watch the interview by following the link below. Martin is Founder-Director of the Institute for Japanese-European Technology Studies at the University of Edinburgh.

Kohei Kawamura's research makes the Sunday press

Kohei has been studying how people express their opinions when many of them do so at the same time, as we see in product ratings at Amazon or various restaurant review websites. His findings, published recently in the Economic Journal, show that, in a world where everyone is competing to get their message across, there is a strong incentive for people to exaggerate their opinions. As a result, extreme opinions become less credible, especially as the number of people (reviewers) involved becomes larger. Ultimately, a simple 'yes or no'/'for or against' statement can be just as informative as more elaborate messages.

The Observer (part of the Guardian Group) featured Kohei's research in its technology section where the connection with online reviews was highlighted.

Economists from Edinburgh contribute to China's leading financial newspaper

In March 2011, Shanghai Securities News asked some of our academic staff for their opinions on international affairs.

Stuart Sayer and Kohei Kawamura gave valuable viewpoints in an article about the effect of the earthquake on the Japanese economy.

Further information about these staff members

Edinburgh Economist in the news again

Santiago Sánchez Páges is the latest person from our School to have his work discussed in the national and international press. His research (with Enrique Turiegano, of the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid) considers whether people blessed with more symmetrical facial features, which are considered more attractive, are less likely to co-operate and more likely to selfishly focus on their own interests. Articles about their work have appeared in the press as far away as New Zealand and throughout Asia. Their findings will also be presented at the annual Nobel Laureate Meetings in Lindau, Germany, from 23 to 27 August 2011.

Professor Gordon Hughes to be Chairman of the Water Industry Commission for Scotland

John Swinney, Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth, announced the appointment of Professor Gordon Hughes as the new Chairman of the Water Industry Commission for Scotland from July 1, 2011.

After a distinguished academic career in the UK, Professor Gordon Hughes was a Senior Adviser on energy and environmental policy at the World Bank until 2001 and subsequently worked in the private sector. Currently he is a Commissioner on the Infrastructure Planning Commission and is a part-time Professor of Economics at the University of Edinburgh where he teaches Natural Resource and Environmental Economics and Public Economics.

As an academic and in work carried out for the World Bank, various UK Government Departments and other clients, he has specialised in the fields of public policy, taxation and applied econometrics. His experience covers extensive work in the fields of energy and environmental economics, the regulation of utilities, the design and implementation of tax systems, the functioning of labour and housing markets, and the appraisal of projects. As an academic he has published many papers in applied econometrics dealing with issues of pensions, labour markets, taxation, and energy policies.

Content taken from the Scottish Government's press release - for full details, please see their website.

Professor John Moore recognized

The Foundation for the Advancement of Research in Financial Economics (FARFE), a consortium of finance academics and practitioners from around the world, has awarded its second Stephen A. Ross Prize in Financial Economics to the paper “Credit Cycles” by Nobuhiro Kiyotaki of Princeton University and John Moore of the University of Edinburgh and London School of Economics and Political Science. The paper was published in the Journal of Political Economy in 1997.

The paper was selected from more than 100 papers published in the last 15 years that were considered by the prize committee. “The Kiyotaki and Moore paper received the award both because of its radical new insights for asset pricing that are only now beginning to be absorbed and because of its relevance for recent events in the capital markets” said Michael Brennan, the chair of the prize committee, and Emeritus Professor Finance at The Anderson School of Management at UCLA.

The Ross Prize is given biennially to research published in the previous fifteen years. FARFE established the prize three years ago to recognize and encourage significant contributions to research in financial economics.

Founded in 2006 by finance academics and practitioners, FARFE is committed to supporting research in financial economics and to facilitating productive interaction between research and practice in finance.