World Bank Senior Behavioural Scientist Nina Mazar was the keynote speaker at the inaugural Warwick Behavioural Science Summit, attended by about 200 delegates from the academic community, the civil service, and industry. The Summit was created and organised by the student-run Warwick Behavioural Insights Team (WBIT), with academic support from Professor Daniel Read, Professor of Behavioural Science, and funding from the University of Warwick’s Behavioural Science Global Research Priority.

Improved regulation has deterred a greater amount of financial misconduct in the UK since the global financial crisis, according to a new study by researchers at UEA, Bangor University, and the Universities of Warwick and Otago. The authors applied a new method of quantifying the detection and deterrence effect of financial regulation on financial misconduct, using a statistical approach employed in biological, ecological and demographic research.

In 16^th century Portugal, the crown’s preferences favoured enormous ships that carried merchandise but also projected royal glory and prestige rather than serving purely market oriented objectives. This technological choice resulted in Portugal losing its leadership in world trade to the Dutch, according to research by Dr Claudia Rei of the University of Warwick being presented today to the Royal Economic Society annual conference.

A new book by Professor Ben Clift, Professor of Political Economy in the University of Warwick’s Department of Politics and International Studies, explores how the International Monetary Fund (IMF) used its resources and reputation to shape economic policy in response to the biggest financial crash since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

A major University of Warwick study analysing how official UK growth assessments are constructed, and their impact on economic policy and public finances, is to be supported by funding from the Leverhulme Trust.

With the effects of the 2007 credit crunch still being felt around the world, a new book by Dr Andreas Kokkinis, Assistant Professor in the University of Warwick’s School of Law, explores whether traditional models of corporate governance fail to promote financial stability. Corporate Law and Financial Instability explores the tension between corporate governance systems focused around shareholders who want to maximise their returns, and prudential regulation where risk-taking must be controlled in order to safeguard financial stability.