This research group currently consists of four interdependent sub-clusters. Recent research by the members of this group can be found in the group's working paper series.
The first sub-cluster is Finance and Financial Econometrics. Peter Moffatt is currently undertaking research on consumer choice between different financial products, for example the choice between fixed and variable rate mortgage contracts. Peter Moffatt and Subhasish Modak Chowdhury both have interests in credit scoring and the microeconometric modelling of loan default. Sasha Talavera carries out research in applied corporate finance. He has been working with researchers at Sheffield and Boston College (USA) on the effects of uncertainty on corporate capital structure and liquidity. Sasha's other research areas include: the role of political cycles on bank lending and performance; the effects of social capital on entrepreneurs' financial constraints. Sasha Talavera and Peter Moffatt have embarked on a project in which option pricing models will be estimated and tested using market data. Joel Clovis is undertaking Financial Sector modelling with a view to developing a systemic classification system of risk status, with particular interest in how this might change in the light of innovation and integration. Joel is also in the process of developing ideas about the microfinance and the non-formal financial sector. Finally, Shaun Hargreaves Heap and Daniel Zizzo are working on experimental finance, with particular interest in the role of emotions in the stock market.
The second sub-cluster is Macroeconomics and Development. Joel Clovis is currently revising a paper on the policy implications of structural breaks in macroeconomic time series. Odile Poulsen is working on growth models, and, in collaboration with Daniel Zizzo, on experimental macroeconomics. Xinyi Li is working on vertical specialisation and economic integration. He is currently working on the shock transmission through vertical specialisation in trade, and is planning a project on service trade and vertical specialisation. Bibhas Saha is working on issues such as child labour and employment contracts in developing countries. Klaus Abbink is working on Behavioural Development Economics. This research team is also investigating various aspects of the role and evolution of institutions, social norms and preferences, the economics of corruption, and the formation of social capital.
The third sub-cluster is Labour Economics and the Economics of Education. Much of this research is on differentiation and discrimination between social groups. Sara Connolly has been working with Mary Gregory (Oxford) to examine an emerging dimension of gender inequality - the gap between women in full and part-time work. She has identified a strong persistence effect trapping many women in low-paid employment and has developed measures of the degree to which part-time work under-utilises human capital and results in a lifetime wage penalty (this work has appeared in a special issue of the Economic Journal on part-time employment). Daniel Zizzo and Shaun Hargreaves Heap recently had an article published in the American Economic Review on the measurement of the social value of groups, and the effects of negative discrimination against outsiders. They are continuing to carry out experimental work that has implications for discrimination in labour markets. Joel Clovis is working on pre-university/access qualifications and their value-added as a guide to education outcomes, the most prominent example being INTO language and content provision. Bibhas Saha is working on models of education choice, for example the choice between public and private education.
The fourth and final sub-cluster is Environmental Economics. This research team, spearheaded by Grischa Perino, is investigating different aspects of instrument choice in the context of environmental regulation. Current research questions include: How do different instruments affect both adoption and innovation incentives for abatement technologies if the industries providing them are imperfectly competitive? How do regulatory interventions affect the intrinsic motivation to behave environmentally friendly and purchasing decisions of consumers? Grischa Perino is an associated investigator of the EU funded project ‘Policies to Promote Sustainable Consumption Patterns’ based at University College London. Grischa Perino, together with Shaun Hargreaves Heap, is currently planning an experimental research project with the objective of identifying the factors that drive the willingness-to-pay for greenhouse gas abatement in the general public.
