September 2009
Economics Academic Winner of the 2009 Upjohn Institute Dissertation Award
The Department would like to congratulate Dr Johannes Spinnewijn on winning the 2009 Upjohn Institute Dissertation Award. The Upjohn Institute is an independent research organisation supporting and conducting policy-relevant research on employment-related problems for which this award is given.
Dr Spinnewijn's dissertation, titled "Essays on Optimal Insurance Design", analyses the optimal design of insurance contracts - and unemployment insurance in particular - considering different policy-relevant contexts that change the central trade-off between the provision of insurance and the provision of incentives. In comments on Dr Spinnewijn's paper, the awarding committee found his thesis to "excel in all four areas that we focused on: policy relevance, technical quality of the research, potential impact on real-world problems, and presentation". Details of this award will be published in the American Economic Review, the Journal of Economic Perspectives and the Institute's newsletter, Employment Research.
Further information on the award can be found at the Upjohn Institute's web page.
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Yrjö Jahnsson Award in Economics for LSE Economist and LSE PhD Student
The European Economic Association has announced the award of the 2009 Yrjö Jahnsson Award in Economics to Professor John Van Reenen of LSE, and Fabrizio Zilibotti (former LSE PhD student). This award is presented by the Finnish Yrjö Jahnsson Foundation and the European Economic Association on a biennial basis to up to two European economists under the age of 45 and is regarded as the most prestigious award in European economics, the European equivalent of the American Clark medal.
Professor Van Reenen's research can be found at his personal page and Fabrizio Zilibotti's research can be found at his page. Details of the award at the Foundation's website.
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Marcus Gstoettner and Anders Jensen win IAES Best Undergraduate Research Paper 2009
The Economics Department is thrilled to congratulate Markus Gstoettner (pictured left) and Anders Jensen (pictured right) on winning the 4th annual EconSources.com Best Undergraduate Paper Competition that is sponsored by the International Atlantic Economic Society.
Their joint paper entitled "Aid and Public Finance: A Missing Link?" was among four finalists from over 65 entries to the competition. Their paper has already received acclaim having been awarded one of three "Distinguished Participant Awards" in the Georgetown University's prestige undergraduate research conference in Washington DC, the Carroll Round.
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August 2009
Professor Maitreesh Ghatak to become Editor of the Journal of Development Economics
From 1st October 2009, Professor Maitreesh Ghatak will become Editor of the Journal of Development Economics (JDE). A leading field journal, the JDE publishes papers relating to all aspects of economic development - one of the most exciting and fast-growing areas of economics.
Professor Ghatak has published extensively on development economics, many papers can be found at his web page.
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Professor Danny Quah appointed to Malaysia's National Economic Advisory Council
Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib this month appointed Professor Danny Quah of the LSE Economics Department to Malaysia's Council of Economic Advisors. This special action Council seeks to structure views on Malaysia's continued economic development: it will research and propose policies intended to transform Malaysia from middle to high income status within the near future.
More information is available from Malaysia's National Economic Advisory Council pages.
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LSE academics to advise government on new industry, new jobs, universities and skills
LSE academics to advise government on new industry, new jobs, universities and skills
Professor Nicholas Barr, professor of public economics at LSE, will be advising the UK government on new industry, new jobs, universities and skills it was announced by business secretary Lord Mandelson last week.
Will Hutton, executive vice-chair of The Work Foundation and senior visiting fellow at LSE's Centre for the Study of Global Governance and a governor of LSE will also sit on the New Industry, New Jobs, Universities and Skills advisory panel.
The panel will help generate ideas across the whole of the Government's New Industry, New Jobs agenda, link it with the skills and higher education agenda and challenge conventional policy thinking in these areas.
Lord Mandelson said: 'The New Industry, New Jobs agenda will help equip Britain to succeed in what will be a radically transformed global economy over the next decade. People in business need the skills and backing to take advantage of the changes to come. This new advisory panel will generate new ideas and fresh thinking.'
The panel will report to the Secretary of State and officials at the Department of Business will support its work. Members will be unpaid and will be providing advice in a personal capacity rather than as representatives of interest groups.
For further information, please visit the LSE News and Media pages.
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June 2009
Economics Academics win Supervisor 2009 Award
Professor Oliver Linton (pictured left) and Dr Bernardo Guimaraes (pictured right) have jointly won the LSE Economics Supervisor 2009 award as voted by our MRes/PhD students. This prize is the first of a new annual award set up by our PhD students representatives. Both Oliver and Bernardo received many recommendations and were highly praised by their students. Oliver and Bernardo were presented with a bottle of wine each at the end of year celebrations. Congratulations to you both!
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Teaching Excellence Awards from LSE for Economics Department
The Economics Department is very pleased to congratulate our winners in this year's round of LSE teaching awards.
Dr Judith Shapiro, the Undergraduate Tutor, and Justin Kueh, one of our PhD students who teaches classes in Microeconomic Principles II (EC202) scooped up 2 of the 5 LSE Teaching excellence Awards this years, who received prizes of £2000 in addition to the accolade.
They were joined in receiving a certificate from the LSE Student Union and the School by two more nominees for this year's top awards, PhD students Nathan Converse, teaching Macroeconomic Principles (EC210) and Jan Zapal, Public Economics (EC325).
Judith's award noted nominating students had rated her contribution to the Department as "phenomenal" and suggested that "her impact and guidance on every student within the Economics Departments has made students in other departments envy the support we receive". They praised her weekly research workshops for enriching their learning experience and encouraging exploration, as well as her overall guidance and advice. A quote she tells us she particularly liked is: "Every time we had a discussion, even informal ones, I was sure I would be able to learn a lot from her".
Justin Kueh (pictured left) won another of the top prizes, with nomination as the best class teacher students had ever encountered, partly for his gifts of explanation and intuition in this mathematically rigours course partly for his evident dedication and contagious enthusiasm for the material ("He extends the class material by relating it to current research" and "he makes me work hard for the subject because he is very motivating").
Nathan Converse (pictured right) was acclaimed by his students in macroeconomics as "Particularly good at relating what may seem rather uninteresting to something current, relevant, and stimulating. Very able at explaining a concept in numerous ways so as to enable understanding on numerous levels".
Jan Zapal (pictured left) won praise from his Public Economics finalists as "Among the most knowledgeable, hardworking and well-structured teachers I have come across - I consider myself lucky to have learnt from him".
Our LSE Departmental Class Teaching Prize top winner for 2009 is Christoph Ungerer (pictured right), who teaches Introduction to Econometrics (EC220).
The Department chose 9 runners-up for recognition this year, who are (in alphabetical order): Zsofia Barta (Economics of the EU), Michael Best (Microeconomics I), Nathan Foley-Fisher (Macroeconomic Principles), Joachim Groeger (Economics B, EC102), Radhicka Kapoor (EC102), Bonsoo Koo (Econometric Theory, EC309), Justin Kueh (EC202), Iain Long (EC102) and Daniel Vernazza (EC303).
This 2009 group joins last year's LSE winner and national prize winners Professor Alwyn Young and Iain Long, as part of our ongoing effort to bring to our undergraduates the benefits of our exceptional research environment, and to enable our PhD students to learn the pleasures and skills of teaching as well as research.
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May 2009
LSE Economics Department undergraduates garner a bouquet of awards over Easter
During the spring vacation we received news about our award-winning students from several sources. In the order we got the news, we learnt that:
The Economics Network of the Higher Education Academy (which last summer gave us 4 out of 7 of their annual teaching awards) has selected third-year student Maria Riera Lamela for first prize and £1500 in their essay competition. As the announcement explained: "With more entries then ever, the fight for first place was difficult, but Maria Riera Lamela from LSE gained first place..."
You can read her essay where it has been posted at the Studying Economics website. This year's competition topic was "How would you make difficult economics easier to learn?"
Maria intends to continue her studies at LSE after graduation, on our MSc Economics course.
Two BSc Economics students whose joint paper was accepted for Georgetown University's prestige undergraduate research conference in Washington DC, the Carroll Round ("an annual international economics conference at Georgetown University...a unique forum for research and discussion among the nation's top undergraduates"), were awarded laurels there in mid-April:
Third-year student Markus Gstoettner (pictured left) and second-year student Anders Jensen (pictured right) received one of the three "Distinguished Participant Awards" from the 30 select papers presented, based both on paper and presentation, for their "Aid and Public Finance: A Missing Link?".
Markus and Anders met up in our optional extra Undergraduate Research Workshop in Economics and set out to do further investigation on what lies behind the widely-agreed conclusion that much foreign aid does not have the positive effects desired. Their paper presents an econometric investigation of the influence of multilateral aid on recipient country public finance quality, an issue very much discussed in the aid community at present, but not yet in academic work. Constructing their own Public Finance Institutions Quality index, they have carefully concluded that increased aid flows appears to have a negative impact on public finance quality.
Students at the conference, from Chicago, Dartmouth and Berkeley and a variety of other universities and US liberal arts colleges, also served as discussants on the papers of others and heard Nobel Prize winner Eric Maskin give the John Nash lecture. LSE student Georg Graetz, who plans to begin his MRes/PhD at LSE in the autumn, was also selected to attend. "Black Sawn" author Nassim Tayedb also spoke and a visit ot the Federal Reserve Bank was organised for participants. The Proceedings of the conference will be published online.
The third piece of news was that second-year student Bhavik Shah, who has served as Economics Society treasurer and leading force in the new EC102 student-run help sessions, was selected by Goldman Sachs and the Institute of International Education as one of the 2009 Global Leaders, which offers not just $3000 but participation in an important network. There are just 8 from the UK (and 16 from the US) and 100 worldwide.
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April 2009
Econometric Game 2009 on 7th-9th April 2009
Once again the Economics Department will send a team of graduate students to the annual Econometric Game being held in Amsterdam in early April. This is the third time the LSE is participating in this competition which is funded by the Departments of Economics. This year's team will consist of 5 students: Alexander Dentler, Keth Handbury, James Hansen, Dimitri Szerman, Keith Roberson.
For more information on this competition check the Econometric Game website.
We wish them all luck for the game!
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February 2009
Economics Professor Awarded Honorary Doctorate Degree
The University of Cyprus has awarded an honorary doctorate degree to Professor Chris Pissarides. The ceremony took place in Nicosia on 13 February 2009. In his opening address, the Head of the School of Economics and Business said the university was honouring Professor Pissarides for his path-breaking contributions to the theory of unemployment. Professor Pissarides said "I was involved in the planning and establishment of the University of Cyprus from the start, and seeing it today as a mature and successful university is especially pleasing. This degree is a touching big honour for me and I hope to be able to continue helping the university in every way I can".
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2009 Economica Coase Lecture: "Individual and Corporate Social Responsibility"
The Department of Economics is delighted to announce that the third annual Coase-Phillips lecture, hosted jointly by Economica and the Department of Economics, will be given by Professor Jean Tirole. Professor Jean Tirole is one of the world's most eminent economists working in the fields of industrial organisation, game theory, banking and finance, and economics and psychology. He is director of the Fondation Jean-Jacques Laffont-Toulouse School of Economics, scientific director of the Institute d'Economie Industrielle in Toulouse and a visiting professor at MIT. Professor Tirole will speak on "Individual and Corporate Social Responsibility".
Further details on the lecture can be found at LSE Public Lectures and Events. Download the poster for the lecture.
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The ongoing global economic crisis - join the debate at LSE
The past 18 months have been a turbulent and testing time for the financial sector and the global economy. What lessons have we learnt so far and what will be the resolution? LSE is holding a number of public lectures with key academics, business leaders and politicians who will examine the issues raised by this ongoing crisis.
Speakers include Sir John Gieve, deputy governor at the Bank of England; Karl Otto Pöhl, former president of the German Bundesbank; Thomas Mirrow, president of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development; Alex Brummer, city editor for the Daily Mail; Vincent Cable, Liberal Democrat shadow chancellor of the exchequer; Evan Davis, presenter of BBC Radio 4's Today programme; Professor John Roberts, Stanford University; Anthony Giddens, professor emeritus of sociology at LSE; and Tim Besley, Francesco Caselli, Chris Pissarides and Danny Quah, who are all economics professors at LSE.
These public events are free and open to all and will include a question and answer session, allowing you to participate in the ongoing debate.
There are plenty of events, note the following: Tuesday 17 February, 6.30-8pm
Tim Besley, Francesco Caselli, Chris Pissarides and Danny Quah, who are all economics professors at LSE, will discuss The Global Economic Crisis - Meeting the Challenge.
For further information, please visit the LSE News and Media pages.
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Joint LSE/Cornell University Conference on Inequality: New Directions
Further details available from Inequality: New Directions Call for Papers.
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January 2009
Sir Alan Walters, Sir Ernest Cassel Professor of Economics
The Department of Economics is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Alan Walters. From 1967 to 1976, Walters played an integral role within the Department as the Sir Ernest Cassel Professor of Economics. Walters was a key economic advisor to Margaret Thatcher and helped shaped her economic policies. See: Sir Alan Walters: the Times obituary.
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Economics Department Ranked Top in RAE
In the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise results released today, LSE's Economics Department has come top in the country, whether ranked by grade point average or ranked by fraction of research activity receiving the top 4* (world-leading) grade. Sixty per cent of the Economics Department's research activity is considered world-leading and a further 35 per cent internationally excellent.
This is a spectacular achievement which we hope will allow our Department to become even better.
LSE's Press and Information Office has posted the following Press Release on the Economics Department. Further analysis is provided on the School's website Research and Assessment Exercise 2008.
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December 2008
Professor of Economics to become EEA President
Professor Chris Pissarides, Norman Sosnow Chair in Economics, has been elected to serve as President of the European Economic Association for the period 2009-2011. Whilst serving on the EEA's Executive Committee, Chris will undertake the roles of Vice President in January 2009, President - Elect in 2010 followed by President in 2011. Chris will be succeeding Professor Lord Stern and Professor Tim Besley who will also serve as President in 2009 and 2010.
Also elected to the EEA's Council are Professor Robin Burgess and Professor Francesco Caselli. Their term of office is for five years starting January 2009.
For more information please go to European Economic Association.
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Economics Professor Co-Director in newly launched Growth Centre
International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander has today (Wednesday 10 December) issued a stark warning that as many as 80 million more people could be forced to live in extreme poverty as a result of the global financial crisis. This figure is more than double what was previously feared.
Mr Alexander called for international action to head off a "human crisis" at the launch of the groundbreaking International Growth Centre (IGC) which will bring together a Nobel Prize winning economist with development experts from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and the University of Oxford.
The IGC will provide practical help to the governments of developing countries to support growth and improve their ability to cope with effects of the economic downturn. The centre will also provide innovative research on growth.
The IGC will be a unique resource giving developing countries a hotline to the advice of world-class experts - for example on finance, agricultural yields, the energy sector or policies for the economy as a whole.
The Executive Director of the IGC is Gobind Nankani, who has extensive experience in the global development policy community. Co-Directors are Professor Paul Collier from Oxford University and Professor Robin Burgess from the LSE, both world-leading experts in the study of development economics.
Professor Robin Burgess said: 'The IGC will leverage frontier research into concrete policies to promote and sustain growth in the developing world. It is a radically different approach from past efforts in three significant ways. Never before have two of the leading economics departments in the UK offered the services of their best economists to bring research into policy.'
For further information, please visit the LSE News and Media pages.
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October 2008
LSE economists win prestigious prize for ground-breaking work
Lord Richard Layard and Stephen J Nickell, whose research has strongly influenced labour market reforms in Europe, have been awarded this year's Prize in Labour Economics from the Institute for the Study of Labour (IZA) in Bonn, Germany.
According to the judges, the contributions of Layard and Nickell have illuminated the policy discourse in Europe and increased academics' understanding of the nature and causes of unemployment.
Lord Richard Layard is emeritus professor of economics at LSE and a Labour life peer in the House of Lords. Stephen Nickell is Warden of Nuffield College, University of Oxford, and was previously a professor of economics at LSE and a member of the Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee.
The award honours their ground-breaking work on the relationship between labour market institutions and unemployment. Their research provided a theoretical and empirical framework for the analysis of equilibrium unemployment and the impact of labour market institutions on economic performance.
IZA is an independent economic research institute supported by the Deutsche Post Foundation. The IZA Prize in Labor Economics has been awarded annually since 2002 for outstanding contributions to the field. Worth 50,000 euros, it is now considered the most prestigious science award in labour economics worldwide.
For further information, please visit the LSE News and Media pages.
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LSE Public Lecture: "China and Financial Reform"
Date: Wednesday 15 October 2008
Time: 6.30-8pm
Venue: Sheikh Zayed Theatre, New Academic Building
Speaker: Howard Davies
Chair: Professor Danny Quah
This event is free and open to all with no ticket required. Entry is on a first come, first served basis.
For further information please go to LSE Public Lecture pages.
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Award-winning economists show teaching and research excellence
Four economists from the London School of Economics and Political Science have won awards for their excellent teaching. Specifically Professor Alwyn Young and Iain Long shared the Outstanding Teaching Award for 2008 in the Learning and Teaching in Economics Awards which are run by the Economics Network.
In the category for teachers nominated by their own students, Kosuke Aoki and Sanchari Roy were both commended - meaning that LSE staff took four of the seven prizes on offer.
For more information, click at the LSE News and Media pages.
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News Archive
Click on the News Archive to read the news of previous years.
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