Research in the Department of Economics

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The Department fosters a strong research environment and has an international research reputation in various areas.

We host a modern experimental lab known as LExEL and, the UK Housing Market Observatory, which provides real-time monitoring of the UK national and regional real estate markets.

Our publications

Research areas

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Public lectures

Andrews and Brunner Lecture Series

The Andrews and Brunner lecture series began with an inaugural lecture in 2019. This series commemorates PWS Andrews and Elizabeth Brunner, two leading figures who significantly contributed to the success of the Economics Department from 1967 to 1983.

Both Andrews and Brunner supported the nascent University’s growing reputation in Economics. They are fondly remembered by former students who benefitted from their teaching.

Andrews and Brunner Lectures

June 2024

Eric Maskin, 2007 Nobel Laureate - Harvard University

“How Should Members of Parliament Be Elected?”

May 2023

Professor Bob Aumann (Nobel Laureate), Hebrew University of Jerusalem

“Behavioral Economics and Mainstream Economics”

May 2020

Professor Vernon Smith (Nobel Laureate), Chapman University and Professor Roberto Aumann (Nobel Laureate), Hebrew University of Jerusalem

“Behavioural Insights on the Corona Crisis” (online)

September 2019

Professor Alvin Roth (Nobel Laureate), Stanford University

“Policy Symposium on School Choice”

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Esmée Fairbairn Lecture Series

The Esmée Fairbairn Lecture Series has been run by Lancaster's Department of Economics since 1981. It has attracted many eminent speakers from business, politics, think tanks, the media and academia. The Esmée Fairbairn Foundation was one of the earliest supporters of Lancaster University.

The support of the Foundation was a vote of confidence by a respected charitable foundation, itself in its early days, to our new institution, and is remembered with great appreciation.

The annual lecture has become a major date in the Lancaster University calendar, attracting large audiences with strong student representation.

Esmée Fairbairn lectures, 1981 – present

November 2023

Dr Eleanor Power, London School of Economics

Reputational Poverty Traps and the Reproduction of Social Inequality in South Asia and the World

May 2023

Professor Klaus Adam, University of Mannheim

What Inflation Rate Should Central Banks Target?

October 2022

Ali Hortacsu, University of Chicago

Organizational Structure and Pricing: Evidence from a Large U.S. Airline

October 2019

Andy Haldane, Bank of England

Central Bank Communications

November 2018

Professor Paul De Grauwe, London School of Economics

Behavioural Macroeconomics. Towards a New Paradigm

November 2017

Professor Peter Neary, University of Oxford

From Ricardo to Brexit and Beyond

November 2016

Professor Stefan Dercon, University of Oxford and UK Department for International Development

The Politics and Behavioural Economics of Expert Advice in Development Policy Making

November 2015

Professor Carol Propper, Imperial College Business School

Competition in Healthcare: And what we can learn from the UK?

November 2014

Professor John Hey, University of York

What Experiments can tell us about Human Economic Behaviour

November 2013

Professor Martin Ravallion, Georgetown University, USA

The Idea of Antipoverty Policy

October 2012

Professor Ken Binmore CBE, University College London

An evolutionary theory of fairness

November 2011

Professor John Van Reenen, London School of Economics

'Boss-onomics': does Management really matter?

November 2010

Professor Dieter Helm, University of Oxford

Climate change policy after Copenhagen

January 2009

Professor Tim Besley, London School of Economics

Policy Making in the Crisis

October 2008

Professor Steve Machin, University College London

Education and Inequality

October 2007

Professor David Blanchflower, Dartmouth College, USA

Fear, Unemployment and Migration

November 2006

Professor Andrew Oswald, University of Warwick

Happiness

December 2005

Professor Julian Le Grand, London School of Economics

Choice, Competition and Public Services

November 2004

Professor Nicholas Crafts, London School of Economics

The Economic Impact of ICT: a Perspective from the Age of Steam

November 2003

John Elkington, Chairman, SustainAbility

Sustainable Business: Useful or Dangerously Misleading Oxymoron?

November 2002

Professor Alison Wolf, Institute of Education, University of London

Education and Economic Growth: Some Modern Myths

January 2002

Frances Cairncross, CBE, Chair, Economic and Social Research Council

The Economics of Drugs

November 2000

Dr Derek Morris, Chairman, Competition Commission

Competition Policy and Regulation in the UK: a New Era

November 1999

Professor David Cannadine, Institute of Historical Research

Empire and Hierarchy in Modern Britain

November 1998

Sir Alan Walters, Vice-Chairman, AIG Trading Group; former Chief Economic Adviser to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher

UK Interest Rate Policy: in Pounds and Euros

January 1998

Professor Ivor Crewe, Vice-Chancellor, University of Essex

How Bribable is the British Voter?

January 1997

Professor CAE Goodhart, London School of Economics

The Nature of Money, and Fiscal Problems in the EU Monetary Union

December 1995

Professor David Greenaway, University of Nottingham

EU + ERM ≠ EMU: So Why Have a Single Currency in Europe?

December 1994

Professor the Lord Skidelsky, University of Warwick

The Legacy of Keynes

January 1994

Professor the Lord Peston, Queen Mary and Westfield College, London

Problems of the Finance of Higher Education

November 1992

Dr Walter Eltis, Chief Economic Adviser, Board of Trade

The Financial Foundations of Industrial Success

November 1991

Professor John Kay, London Business School

The Economics of Business

November 1990

Professor David Pearce, University College London

The Economic Challenge of Global Environmental Problems

November 1989

The Rt. Hon. Lord Jenkins of Hillhead, Former Chancellor of the Exchequer

The 1929 Wall Street Crash and its Effects on British Politics

January 1989

Samuel Brittan, The Financial Times

The Government’s Economic Policy

December 1987

Sir Alan Peacock, Heriot-Watt University

Cultural Economics and the Finance of the Arts

November 1985

Professor Jagdish Bhagwati, Columbia University, New York

Investing Abroad

December 1984

Mary Goldring, Economist, writer and broadcaster

Post-Recession Britain

December 1983

Alistair McIntyre, Deputy Secretary-General, UN Conference on Trade and Development

Foreign Direct Investment in Developing Countries

January 1983

Sir Arthur Knight, Former Chairman, National Enterprise Board

Ideas and Action in Industrial Strategy

February 1982

Christopher Tugendhat, Vice-President, Commission of the European Communities

The Common Market and the National Economy

February 1981

Dick Taverne, QC, Director-General of the Institute for Fiscal Studies

Tax Savings and Incentives

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