Economics

We're a department with a focus upon applied, policy relevant research, both across the UK and internationally

The Department of Economics' specialism is in applied policy-relevant research.

Faculty members have expertise in applied micro- and macroeconomics as well as applied econometrics. We also have a small team which forms part of a much larger cross-university specialism in energy and the environment. Our research activity in these areas makes a strong contribution to Strathclyde's strategic research themes of Society & policy, Health and wellbeing, and Energy, and our Vision 2025 Strategic Plan.
Further details on the activity of our research groups can be found below.

The Department is home to the Fraser of Allander Institute (FAI), which has for over 40 years been an authority on economic policy and the Scottish economy. The FAI ensures that our academic research has real impact in the policy and business communities.

Our staff are engaged in collaborations with economists throughout the UK and overseas.

We're members of the Scottish Institute for Research in Economics and jointly organise (with the University of Bern and the University of Surrey) the European Trade Study Group, the world’s largest conference on international trade. We're also a founding partner of the new Economic Statistics Centre of Excellence.

In recent years, research and knowledge exchange activity in the Department has been supported by funding from a diverse range of prestigious sources, including the ESRC, the EPSRC, the Scottish Government, the Office for National Statistics, the UK Energy Research Centre, and the Scottish Funding Council.

The FAI regularly produces and uses multi-sectoral economic accounts. We are keen that such databases are available to the wider academic and research community for their use.

For further details of individual staff and their areas of expertise, please see our staff web pages.

Our areas of research

Group of people looking at the futuristic user interface with charts and graphs

Applied econometrics

Our research involves the development and use of a range of statistical methods to explore both microeconomic and macroeconomic problems. This include the development of new measures of the modern economy, development of econometric techniques (with a particular specialism in Bayesian econometrics), and work to develop approaches to producing more timely indicators of the macroeconomy through ‘nowcasting’.

Glass globe of a map of Europe map and stock market chart on newspaper background

Applied macroeconomics

Our research examines how the economy performs and evolves at a national level, with a particular focus on applications to real-world challenges facing policymakers and business.

Areas of research include macro-modelling of the UK and Scottish economies, policy evaluation, fiscal analysis, and labour markets.

Research in applied macroeconomics has been a key activity of the Department of Economics for almost four decades. Our aim is to develop evidence-based theoretical models and to provide theory-informed and policy-relevant research, which is associated with high-level, high impact knowledge exchange.

UK currency - pound coins sitting on top of bank notes

Applied microeconomics

Our research examines both theoretical and empirical questions in applied microeconomics, the papers resulting from which are published in leading international journals.

A core aim of our theoretical research is to better understand the interaction between firms, consumers and governments in different strategic environments and, consequently, to understand the implications for economic policy. Our investigations mainly focus on the areas of international trade, public economics and industrial organisation.

Our empirical microeconomics research uses modern econometric techniques to investigate important questions of policy relevance in the fields of health, education, crime, migration, development and labour.

Economic policy

The department has a particular expertise in economic policy. All the work of our other research clusters is informed by policy-relevant academic research. In tandem, we also have a particular focus in its own right - reflecting over 40 years’ of experience from the Fraser of Allander Institute – in commenting upon, advising and researching economic policy. Much of this work is highly applied with direct engagement with policymakers and industry being a hallmark of our approach.

At the same time, academics from across the department can be regularly seen in the media and taking on key roles on government advisory boards and parliamentary committees. We passionately believe that our research must have a purpose beyond academia and be used to help inform better policymaking and businesses to grow.

Energy & the environment

Members of the department also contribute to a research team from across disciplines to address the many energy challenges of the 21st Century, including reducing the environmental impact of energy use, improving energy efficiency and assessing the links between energy use and the economy.

The team forms part of one of the largest energy research clusters in Europe, from across engineering, science, policy and the business school.