Department News

PSS Training Day

All professional services staff (PSS) in the Economics Department will be engaged in a training day on Wednesday 24 March 2021, and will be unavailable to academic staff throughout the day except for emergencies. If you have an emergency and need to contact a member of PSS on the day, please contact either Robert or Kelly in the first instance, who will be able to ensure the relevant member of staff gets in touch with you as soon as possible.

Live virtual comedy show with Yoram Bauman, Ph.D (Stand-Up Economist).

The Department of Economics is delighted to be hosting a live (virtual) comedy show by Yoram Bauman, Ph.D (Stand-Up Economist). which will include economics jokes, some time spent talking seriously about climate change and then a few more economics jokes.

You can find out more about Yoram on his website.

This event is for open to Department staff and students only. Registration is required in order to attend. We look forward to seeing you there.

Economics Spring Culture Event - Virtual Concert

The Department held its very first Virtual Concert for all Economics staff and students on Teams on Monday 15th February. There were wonderful performances from our students and staff.

In case you missed the event or would like to view it again, you can watch the recorded video here.

Warwick Econ Sounds - Podcast Series

Warwick Econ Sounds is our podcast series that aims to provide insight relevant to students, members of the research community and wider public interested in finding out more about the issues our researchers investigate and why. The series explores how economists can help solve global problems and ultimately how economics impacts everyday life.

You can listen to all the recorded podcasts so far on our podcast webpage. We would like to extend this invitation to others within the Department who would like to discuss their research. If you are interested in being part of this series, please contact Bozena Beauclair (Bozena.Beauclair@warwick.ac.uk).

Developments in Economics Education Conference - Call for Papers

The Developments in Economics Education conference is a fantastic opportunity to showcase research, innovation and best practice in economics teaching. It is Europe's leading conference on economics in higher education. The 11th DEE conference will take place on 1–3 September 2021 at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh

We welcome submissions for both paper presentations and interactive workshops. Submissions can be from both those who wish to attend in person and those who might prefer to present online. Find out more and submit a proposal here,

Departmental HR Update

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Health and Wellbeing

Good health and wellbeing is paramount for staff at all times, but more especially during the Covid-19 pandemic. The University offers a range of remote sessions dedicated to improving our wellbeing. We encourage as many of you as possible to explore any one of these opportunities. Click the link below for more information:

Online Resources

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Library Update - Helen Riley, Economics Librarian

• Main Library study spaces are currently closed, but postgraduates can use the Postgraduate Hub and undergraduates can use the Learning Grid Rootes. Additional spaces have recently been made available in the Rootes Building and been advertised to students: https://studyspaces.warwick.ac.uk/
• Two accessible study rooms in the Library have been re-opened for students with disabilities - they should book a room in advance.
• Check the Library website for more service updates - "Click and Collect" book borrowing and the "Scan and Deliver" service are proving popular!
• The Eikon and Datastream PCs are available near the Library entrance, and they should be booked in advance. Students and staff can access them any day between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. and I am advertising this as widely as possible. Datastream has not yet been withdrawn - I am waiting for confirmation from my colleague in Acquisitions and I will update you as soon as possible. Eikon provides the same data as Datastream, and more on mergers and acquisitions. We hope to provide two Eikon PCs eventually.

Please contact Helen dot Riley at Warwick dot ac dot uk any time if you have any questions or Library issues.

IT Support - New Online Systems

Andrew Taylor has created a dedicated webpage on the staff intranet named ‘Working Remotely’, where he has documented the various tools we are using to collaborate with one another, i.e. Microsoft Teams and how to access your email and the H and M drives.

NOTE – this webpage is constantly being updated with new information so please revisit it if you have any questions.

Publications, Presentations & Workshops

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Subhasish Dey's paper (joint with Akseer Hussain) on "Revisiting Environmetal Kuznets Curve With HDI: New Evidence from Cross Country Panel Data” has been accepted in the the Journal of Environmental Economics and Policy.

Abstract

This study investigates the existence of Environmental Kuznets curve (so for EKC) for a panel of 30 countries (as three sub-groups viz. developed economies, emerging economies and developing economies) over the period of 27 years from 1990 to 2016. The EKC proposes an inverted U-shape relation between environmental degradation and economic development. Unlike other similar studies where economic development proxied through GDP growth, in this study Human Development Index (HDI) is taken as a measure of development. Thereby the EKC existence is found here as relationship between HDI and CO2 emission (environmental degradation measured in terms of CO2 emission). The econometric framework for this study consists of Pooled OLS model, fixed effect model and fixed effect with instrumental variable model. Results showed the strong evidence of EKC for this panel of countries and also for each individual group of the countries.

Dennis Novy gave a research seminar presentation at UC Louvain on 25 February 2021. He presented "Transitivity in Trade" (joint with Alejandra Martinez and Carlo Perroni).

Daniel Sgroi presented “Measuring National Happiness with Music” at the Monash-Warwick-Zurich Text-as-Data online workshop on February 19th..

Andrew Oswald gave a keynote talk, on the topic of Extreme Distress and Economics, to a workshop at Monash University in Australia last week.

Mark Harrison presented his paper "If You Do Not Change Your Behaviour: Managing Threats to State Security in Lithuania under Soviet Rule" (with Eugenia Nazrullaeva) to the Oxford Economic and Social History seminar.

Arun Advani has the following updates:

• Presented work on "Race and Ethnicity in Economics" at Sen Club, LSE on 16/2/21
• Podcast hosted by Nate Erskine-Smith MP [uncommons.ca], including him citing us for the motion he put forward in Parliament calling for a one-off wealth tax on 21/02/21
• Presented work on "behavioural responses to a wealth tax" at Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office on 22/02/21
• In conversation about "The case for a Wealth Tax" at Tortoise Media's Future of Money Summit (with Martin Wolf and Deborah Meadan) on 25/2/21
• In conversation about Wealth Taxes at Council on Economic Policies' "Reforming Tax Expenditures in Europe: Personal Income and Wealth Taxes" Roundtable on 25/2/21

Working Papers

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Christopher Roth's working paper ( with Sonja Settele & Johannes Wohlfart) 'Risk Exposure and Acquisition of Macroeconomic Information' has been released as part of the Warwick Economics Research working paper series.

Sascha O Becker's working paper ( with Volker Lindenthal, Sharun Mukand & Fabian Waldinger) 'Persecution and Escape : Professional Networks and High-Skilled Emigration from Nazi Germany' has been released as part of the Warwick Economics Research working paper series.

Media Coverage

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'Britain's £400bn Covid Bill: Dispatches' - Arun Advani interviewed - Channel 4 Dispatches programme - 22 February 2021.

'Sensemaker: Could a wealth tax pay for Covid?' - Arun Advani quoted - Tortoise Media - 19 February 2021.

'You and Yours: Student Accommodation; Post-pandemic Spending; Broadband' - Andrew Oswald interviewed - BBC Radio 4, You and Yours Episode - 17 February 2021.

'A wealth tax could raise as much as £55bn - but is it really the answer?' - Arun Advani quoted - City A.M - 22 February 2021.

Dates For Your Diary

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