We congratulate a Warwick Economics finalist, Alex Reid (BSc Economics), who is one of the winners of the University's Outstanding Student Contribution Awards 2024 for demonstrating his entrepreneurial flair during his time at Warwick. The OSCAs recognise and celebrate the outstanding contributions of Warwick's students who not only excel academically, but also find the time to campaign for good causes, fundraise, start small business, and work with local charities.

In his second year, Alex got in touch to tell us about how he and two of his friends created a social media app called Butterfly, available to Warwick students, so that they could receive relevant content about campus life and feel connected to fellow students. We outlined the benefits of the app in the article Butterfly helps students spread their social wings, which was published in March 2023.

When we interviewed Alex then, he commented on his venture:

"We all felt that social media has lost its way - far from being social, these days it is about passive scrolling and the consumption of entertainment, often far removed from our own day to day lives."

Now, Alex has just finished his final year exams and is getting ready for his graduation on 23 July at which he will be receiving his Outstanding Student Contribution Award 2024.

We asked Alex how he felt about being awarded an OSCA and he said:

"Warwick is an amazing place to learn, connect, and innovate - I'm very grateful to have had these opportunities and be awarded the OSCA."

The app Butterfly is available in the AppStore and Google Play Store.

Professor Caroline Elliott has taken up a prestigious role on the UK’s Regulatory Policy Committee (RPC), an independent body of experts which assesses the quality of evidence and analysis used to inform government regulatory proposals.

Since taking up her appointment in March she has already provided expert review on a range of policy issues including multiple drafts of a white paper, an impact assessment for proposed secondary legislation, and two post-implementation reviews.

Looking towards the future, Caroline said: “I hope that I’ll be able to make a difference by using my applied research knowledge and my academic skills on the impact assessments. We’re also going to start looking at policy options assessments and I’m excited to bring my knowledge to bear on the independent reviews.”

Caroline is continuing a tradition of Warwick economists contributing to the work of the committee – the position became vacant when Dr Jonathan Cave’s term of appointment came to an end. He is delighted that, after a rigorous selection process, the Committee chose to appoint another “proper card-carrying academic economist.”

Caroline said: “Jonathan sent me the advertisement for the role, and when I looked into the work of the committee, I thought it looked amazing. I teach industrial economics, regulation and competition policy and I always try and link my teaching to the real world - I never want to be criticised as being an ivory tower academic. Here was an opportunity to put my work into practice – to not just comment on the work of others, or the work of the government, but to be directly involved.

“As an economist, and as an academic economist, I believe there are two things I bring to the role. The first is my familiarity with academic literature and evidence. The second way in which I feel I’m contributing comes back to my academic training. As an academic, as an applied economist, you’re always looking for data. Sometimes you’re having to pull data together from different sources. And because I come from this background I can assist with this.”

Jonathan is delighted that Caroline has been appointed as his successor. “I think because I kept citing peer-reviewed literature in my Opinions and other interventions, trying to ensure that regulatory analysis made appropriate use of economic empirical methodologies and theoretical tools, including the use of real options analysis - I think they saw the value of having a replacement who is similarly positioned.”

Asked if he had any advice for Caroline, Jonathan said: “Don’t be afraid to challenge people and to be the voice within the committee resisting calls to compromise when that isn’t appropriate, by ensuring that the impacts of whatever regulations ministers wish to propose are rigorously assessed against real problems, but without being drawn into comments about whether the policies themselves are ‘right’ or ‘wrong’.

“I’d encourage her to be very actively engaged with the new government in a partnership based on a culture of evaluation and analysis and a mechanism design view of regulations and the regulatory process of which the RPC is a part. She should strive to remain committed to the concept and values of better regulation and work hard to make those concepts her own – in the committee, in her academic research and teaching and in leaving her mark on the better regulation framework itself.

“If you see how policies are made you can build better regulatory economics models. Regulation is not a matter of feeding a problem into a machine, turning a crank on a machine and ‘solving’ the problem – politics intervenes, economics intervenes, delays intervene, and the things you should be looking for are not always where they should be. For instance, we spent a lot of time worrying about how – or whether – to scrutinise the impacts when government threatens to regulate, business behaviour changes in anticipation and the regulation is abandoned. I think Caroline will find this useful in her academic work, and her teaching.”

Jonathan says that his decade as an RPC member was “fascinating” and saw many changes and developments. He worked hard to encourage the committee to avoid compromising or watering down its opinions for spurious reasons, arguing against “voices that felt we should temporise or give green ratings to things that did not merit them, for the fear that the political cost of refusing would be too high.” Rather than asking if each contested Bill was ‘the right hill to die on’, he tried to sit down with departments to negotiate where possible, and to publish Red opinions where important analytic principles or impacts were not properly acknowledged.

He also became adept at navigating changing political priorities: “I think the biggest lesson I had to learn along the way was how to sail in the direction of better regulation by tacking across a wind blowing from the deregulatory quarter.”

Jonathan also argued strongly for the committee to be allowed to give its opinions at an earlier stage in the policy process: “A few years ago, we only got to look at things when the bills were laid before Parliament, by which time all the decisions had been made. We commented, many times, on impact assessments that were more ex-post rationalisation than a formative influence on the creation of policy – which led to the most tendentious type of data-mining and the temptation to rely on ‘policy-driven evidence.’ Now the RPC is looking at things much earlier in the process, at the options assessment stage.”

In Jonathan’s experience, this particular challenge is not unique to the UK. He said: “I’m very pleased and proud about our international engagement with RegWatch Europe (a network of similar EU scrutiny bodies) our OECD counterpart and OIRA in the United States. I’ve worked closely with them over the years to share best practice and identify common problems, and there has been lot of progress made on this challenge of ex-ante assessment.

“Another challenge is the need to look back and evaluate regulations to see if they have done what they set out to do. I’ve had a long struggle to champion “post-implementation review” and I think we’ve made good progress. The UK is regarded as setting the world standard in this and we’ve been trying to maintain that. That’s been a really good thing.”

ENDS

THE features "We are Chemistry” programme as an exemplar for a practical and student-centred approach to fostering belonging at university. bit.ly/3V98dDN

Two members of the Department are taking on leadership roles in the University’s Research Spotlight programme, a new programme designed to promote collaborative work on urgent global challenges.

Professor Daniel Sgroi has been appointed Chair of the new interdisciplinary Behaviour Spotlight, and Professor Thijs van Rens is a member of the leadership team for the Health Spotlight.

A total of six interdisciplinary ‘Research Spotlights’ have been created. Each of them identifies a major global challenge: “They are all serious interdisciplinary areas that are going to make a big difference,” Daniel explains. “The University has asked, ‘what are the big issues facing the world?’ and decided to put a spotlight on each of them and bring people from every department together to work on them.

“This is important because most of the world’s big problems are problems that can only really be solved by disciplines working together – for example, how we deal with climate change, how we tackle political polarisation, how we handle pandemics.

“We know from COVID that medics worked with behavioural scientists so that they didn’t just develop vaccines, they developed strategies to ensure people would take them.

“Our Behaviour Spotlight aims to facilitate interdisciplinary collaboration between behavioural researchers that seek to understand and address some of the biggest problems faced by the world today.

“We can provide seed funding for pilot experiments or to kick-start projects, we can create and financially support new seminar series, workshops and conferences, and help fund early-stage research.

“We have a big network already, inherited from the Behaviour, Brain & Society GRP, but we now want to reach across the whole university. We’ll be inviting anyone doing behavioural research at Warwick to join us as part of our mission to build a university-wide network of active researchers.”

A new Health Spotlight has also been created. Professor Thijs van Rens is one of four academics on the leadership team. He said:

"There are many people at University working on research that is relevant to health, at Warwick Medical School, of course, but also in Business, Chemistry, Economics, Engineering, English, History, Mathematics, Physics, Psychology, Statistics and probably other departments as well.

“Our aim is to build the network and infrastructure to bring these people together so that together we can make better progress on the big questions that cannot be addressed from a single discipline.

“Some of the interdisciplinary areas that we will focus on are technologies in health, prevention and public health, mental health and wellbeing, and interdisciplinary methodologies. Warwick has strengths in all of these areas, and we hope that by providing a supportive environment for collaboration, we can further build on these strengths and encourage ‘blue-skies’ research ideas.”

“My own research on healthy and sustainable diets has made me realise how the quality of the research can benefit from an interdisciplinary team, and how much it helps to secure funding for that research."

Professor Ben Lockwood, Head of the Economics Department, said “I am delighted that Daniel and Thijs have been appointed to these leadership roles and will be contributing to the University’s ambitious interdisciplinary research programme.”

The Spotlight programme is intended to run for at least 10 years and is an indication of the University’s long-term commitment to world-changing research.

 FIND OUT MORE

• Behaviour Spotlight : Behaviour | Research at Warwick
• Health Spotlight: Health | Research at Warwick

We were delighted to attend an event at University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire last week for the official opening of their new clinical research facility.

We are proud to report that four of the best Warwick Economics student dissertations have been published in the sixth round of the Warwick Monash Economics Student Papers (WM-ESP) series.

The WM-ESP portal showcases the top innovative and original research papers written by Warwick and Monash undergraduate and postgraduate students. Over 74 papers have been published since its launch in 2021, covering the most significant topics for young economists in todays climate, including the housing market, climate change, gender inequality and healthcare.

We congratulate our four students for this fantastic achievement and for the fascinating research that they have conducted; we wish them all the best for their future endeavours.

You can find out more about their research papers below:

Relevant Links

Top Economics student research showcased on Warwick Monash portal in it's fifth release 9 October 2023

Fourth Suite of student research papers showcased on Warwick Monash portal 9 March 2023

Over the past 25 years, sustainable finance has grown from a visionary concept discussed at UN climate conferences to a multi-billion dollar market. It’s an umbrella term used to refer to an investment approach that takes environmental, social and governance factors into account when deciding where to invest.

One of the biggest names in sustainable finance today is Warwick alumna Caroline Escott. Regularly cited in lists and surveys of the industry’s most influential figures, she’s taken a range of interesting and exciting roles since graduating in the class of 2006, and is now Senior Investment Manager for one of the UK's largest pension schemes, Railpen.

We caught up with Caroline to hear about her career choices, the skills she believes are essential to make a success in the financial markets, and why she believes sustainable investment is one of the most effective ways to achieve both good outcomes for pension savers and positive change in the world.

Caroline, you have been named as one of the Top 50 Most Influential in Sustainable Finance by FinancialNews - can you explain what sustainable finance is?

Sustainable investors are responsible for allocating capital to companies where they are either doing well on environmental, social and governance issues or where they can be influenced to do better. Sustainable finance can also help drive flows of capital to those companies and sectors that are most important for the ongoing sustainability and viability of the world around us, such as new carbon emission abatement technologies or low-carbon infrastructure projects. As investors, we can – and do – try to influence individual companies, but it can be especially powerful to help shape the regulatory environment that governs how these companies behave. This is particularly the case when it comes to big, system-wide issues like climate change, biodiversity or labour rights.

Over the last few years, you have come to specialise in sustainable finance, especially within the area of pension schemes. What has brought you to this focus? What impact would you like to have within this?

If you are interested in influence and effecting positive change, then you need to be at an organisation where the decisions which are made matter to people’s lives. Pension schemes are perfect for this in two main ways. Firstly, they have a privileged role as large capital allocators, sitting at the top of the investment chain. Secondly, people rely on their pension schemes for their retirement income. In the UK, there are huge numbers of people at risk of an inadequate income in retirement, making this one of the biggest challenges we face as a country – and a vital field to work in.

I hope that the contributions I make to this work – including setting up and leading large global initiatives like the Investor Coalition for Equal Votes (ICEV) and the Workforce Directors Coalition (WDC) – will help bring about much-needed change in the best interest of pension scheme members.

You have made a few different career changes, from Parliamentary political research to finance and investment, all within the general theme of public policy. What made you want to make these changes, and what gave you the confidence to do so?

Moving between different sectors has happened in large part because of my work to build industry networks. I enjoy meeting new people and learning new things. This has helped me build a high-quality and wide network of experts and I’ve been fortunate to have been recommended to interview for well over half of my roles by people who I’d worked with on projects in the past – even where I was, on paper, the ‘wildcard’ candidate. I’ve now moved sectors enough that I recognise for myself the huge importance of transferable skills and the right attitude in being able to adapt to, and then thrive in, a new role.

Public policy and advocacy have always been at least part of the roles I’ve taken up. While at Warwick, my studies quickly helped me understand the huge influence that flows of capital as well as the regulatory and policy framework can have on the world around us – and that the real potential for effecting change lies where these two intersect. Even now, heading up the investment stewardship programme at Railpen, I’m a keen advocate of investors learning about how to effect policy and regulatory change.

What skills did you learn during your degree at Warwick that you still use in your role at Railpen now?

Studying economics changed how I see the world and taught me to take time to consider and understand the assumptions underlying anything from a substantive piece of research to the way in which a question in a meeting has been structured. Being able to understand and then potentially question the assumptions used is fundamental to the critical thinking that has become even more important as I take on more senior and leadership positions in my career.

What is your best memory of the University of Warwick and the Department of Economics?

It’s hard to choose just one! When I think of Warwick, I think of all the times I spent sitting and chatting with my friends – or people watching, reading a book, or getting ready to go to Top Banana.

I also remember the keen thrill of anticipation at the sheer number of modules I could choose to take as part of my degree. I ended up plumping for Italian language and translation, and a few economic history modules during my time.

You were involved in a few different societies during your time at Warwick, including Latin and Ballroom Society, and Warwick Economics Society. How did your time with these societies impact you, and what skills did they develop?

First – and perhaps most importantly – I met great people, some of whom are still close friends today. However, I also found the leadership roles I took on in these societies vital to helping me get my first job without much ‘proper’ work experience. I had both learnt and was able to demonstrate an ability to think more strategically, to organise my time effectively and to motivate a diverse group of individuals to achieve a particular outcome.

Caroline Escott (BSc Economics, Politics and International Studies, 2006)

You can find Caroline's op-ed on sustainable finance in The Times here.

Aylesford Sixth Form Science students welcomed to complete practical exams and gain hands-on experience in our labs following classroom closures. More at tinyurl.com/mr4d4hpr

On Tuesday 28^th November Professor Jonathan Haskel CBE, external member of the Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), delivered a speech at Warwick University in an event jointly hosted by the Warwick Finance Societies and the Warwick Economics Society.

Oliver Greenfield, Head of Markets at the Warwick Finance Societies, reports:

"Jonathan Haskel is one of the 9 committee members who sets the UK bank rate whilst also currently being a Professor of Economics at Imperial College Business School. Professor Haskel's research interests of productivity, innovation, intangible investment and growth led him to be a distinguished member on the editorial boards of Economica, Journal of Industrial Economics and Economic Policy.

"In his speech, UK inflation since the pandemic: How did we get here and where are we going? Professor Haskel explored the drivers of the UK inflation experience since 2020 by applying the Bernanke and Blanchard (2023) model. Using this model, he explained how the exogenous shocks which hit the UK economy fed through to result in the elevated inflation figures experienced, dispelling the commonly cited narrative that the Bank of England was wrong to characterise inflation as transitory. After reflecting on his experience on the MPC, Jonathan gave some thoughts on the future of monetary policy and concluded that without a sufficient loosening of labour market conditions inflation would stay elevated and hence interest rates would remain restrictive.

"After the event, Professor Haskel generously stayed behind to answer all of the many questions that students, academics, professors and external attendees wanted to ask. The event provided an invaluable insight for all those who attended and served as a great reminder of the application possible with the economic theory taught at Warwick University."

• The text of Professor Haskel's speech and his slide deck can be found here: https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/speech/2023/november/jonathan-haskel-speech-at-warwick-university.

Dr Becky Notman, along with Co-investigators across the Chemistry Teaching and Learning, Student Experience and Postgraduate Student community, have been awarded £28k from Enhancing Research Culture Funds.