Our objective is to engage in innovative research that extends the frontiers of the discipline, contributing to a deeper understanding of how modern economies function, and how they can adapt to future challenges. Our research spans almost all the major sub-fields of economics.
As a Department, we are consistently ranked in the top 30 in the world, and in the top 10 in Europe, for the quality of our research output. For example, we are ranked 20th in the world and 5th in Europe in the most recent Tilburg University ranking of Economics departments, and we are currently 25th in the world, and 6th in Europe, in the most recent QS University Rankings.
In the most recent Research Excellence Framework (REF 2014) to evaluate the research output of UK Universities, Warwick was ranked 4th in the UK, behind only the LSE, UCL and Oxford, on a measure that takes into account both the proportion of faculty submitted and the quality of outputs submitted. In our submission, 45% of our research was rated as 'world -leading' (4*) and a further 51% rated as 'internationally excellent' (3*).
Research in the Department is based in a number of Research Groups, each of which has its own seminar or workshop series. The interests of individual researchers often overlap the Groups; the purpose of the Groups is to allow Department members with similar interests to meet regularly and to support each other's research.
CAGE
Established in 2010 and funded by the ESRC, CAGE conducts policy-driven economics research informed by culture, history and behaviour. We analyse historical and contemporary data to draw out lessons for modern policy.
Find out moreCRETA
CRETA coordinates collaborative research in economic theory, its applications and in multi-disciplinary projects with related disciplines such as applied mathematics, biology, philosophy and political science.
Find out moreQAPEC
QAPEC provides a framework to coordinate collaborative research in quantitative and analytical political economy within the University of Warwick as well as with the Centre’s UK and international networks and partners.
Find out moreDevelopment and History
Members of the Development and Economic History Research Group combine archival data, lab-in-the-field experiments, randomised controlled trials, text analysis, survey and secondary data along with theoretical tools to study issues in development and economic history.
Find out moreEconometrics and Labour
The Econometrics and Labour Research Group covers a wide number of topics within the areas of modern econometric theory and applications, e.g. the econometrics of networks, as well as labour economics, e.g. the economics of education, gender economics, technology and innovation.
Find out moreExperimental and Behavioural Economics
The Experimental and Behavioural Economics Research Group draws its membership from economists based at the Warwick Department of Economics who work in the fields of experimental economics, behavioural economics and/or subjective wellbeing (“Happiness Economics”).
Find out moreMacroeconomics and International Economics
The Macroeconomics and International Economics Research Group consists of faculty and PhD students and its research work centres around macroeconomics, international finance and international trade.
Find out moreMicroeconomic Theory
The Microeconomic Theory Research Group works closely with the Centre for Research in Economic Theory and Its Applications (CRETA). Members of the Group work in economic theory, in its applications, and in multidisciplinary projects with areas such as applied mathematics, biology, philosophy and political science.
Find out morePolitical Economy and Public Economics
The Political Economy and Public Economics Research Group investigates topics from two disciplines which have natural complementarities. Political economy focuses more on the political feasibility of certain policies whereas public economics tries to determine which policies are optimal in every environment.
Find out moreDR@W
An interdisciplinary initiative for researchers at the University interested in experimental and behavioural science with important implications for economics, psychology, management, marketing and statistics.
Find out moreEPEC
The European Political Economy Consortium fosters high-quality research in political economy by facilitating exchange among the leading European centres in political economy. It consists of five founding institutions, including Warwick.
Find out moreApplied & Development Economics Seminar - Erzo Luttmer (Dartmouth)
Title: Living Large or Long? Preference Estimates from Completed-Life Stories (joint with Joshua Schwartzstein, Tomáš Jagelka, Amitabh Chandra)
The paper will not be ready for sharing prior to the seminar, an abstract is as follows:
———Extended Abstract ———
The value of a year of life plays a crucial role in informing policy decisions related to healthcare, the environment, innovation, and safety regulations. Given the significance of a life year’s value for policymaking, estimates should accurately reflect people’s preferences. Currently, estimates are derived from individuals’ observed choices involving small risks of death and monetary compensation, such as their willingness to take riskier jobs for higher pay. However, these estimates have significant limitations: individuals may not correctly perceive small risks, may deviate from rationality for choices involving small probabilities, and those making such choices, like soldiers or firefighters, represent a non-representative sample. Furthermore, unobserved job characteristics related to risk can bias these estimates. Our paper introduces an alternative method for estimating the value of a life year, attempting to overcome these limitations. We present a broadly representative sample of U.S. respondents with choices between pairs of “completed-life stories,” asking which life they would prefer for themselves. By randomizing lifetime earnings and ages of death in each story, we estimate how the probability of choosing a particular story increases with higher lifetime earnings versus a later age of death. We find that a 7% increase in lifetime earnings increases the choice probability as much as a 1% increase in longevity, implying a Life Year Value (LYV) elasticity of 7. Consequently, a typical individual with median earnings of $80,000 annually values an additional life year at age 80 as equivalent to receiving an additional $5,700 per year for all working years, totaling approximately $225,000 over their lifetime. We validate our estimates by demonstrating high test-retest reliability across survey waves and establishing their robustness through a series of specification checks and additional randomizations. Furthermore, we estimate markedly higher LYV elasticities for individuals whose subjective attitudes indicate that they place an above-average value on an additional life year. A key methodological advantage of our approach is that respondents engage in a natural task—assessing whether a life was desirable—which avoids triggering cultural or social norms about paying for life extension. Moreover, our method does not entail decisions under uncertainty, thereby avoiding many known behavioral biases. An important substantive advantage of our approach is that it allows us to estimate how the Life Year Value varies with respondent characteristics, age of death, and lifetime earnings in a broadly representative population. We find that the LYV increases with lifetime earnings and decreases with later life years. Even when holding constant lifetime earnings and age of death, there is notable heterogeneity in the LYV across individuals. This suggests that tailoring policies to individual preferences can result in welfare improvements.
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