Departmental website: lse.ac.uk/economics|
Number of graduate students (full-time equivalent)
Taught: 224
Research: 68
Number of faculty (full-time equivalent): 68
RAE: 95% of the Department's research was rated world leading or internationally excellent
Location: St Clements
About the Department
The Department is one of the largest in the world, and offers an unusually rich choice of courses. It is also one of the leading research departments: in the 2008 review of university research by the UK Higher Education Funding Councils, the Department came top, whether ranked by grade point average or by the percentage of research receiving the top 4* grade. 60 per cent of our research activity was considered world leading and a further 35 per cent considered internationally excellent.
Ten former members of staff and students have been awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics including Friedrich von Hayek, Amartya Sen and the 2010 prize winner Christopher Pissarides. Important figures in the discipline such as Atkinson, Besley, Layard, King, Sutton and Stern are, or have been, members of the Department.
In rankings of departments, based on publications in leading journals and peer review, the Department is consistently placed in the top 20 worldwide, far ahead of any other department in Europe. The Journal of Economic Literature (1994) investigated institutional affiliations of authors in some top journals. Of the top 30 schools, LSE is the only non-US institution to feature in every list. A recent ranking by Tilburg University of publications in top economics journals 2004-2009 places the Department equal 8th worldwide. Members of the Department are current or former editors of some of the leading journals, including the American Economic Review, Review of Economics Studies, the Economic Journal and Economica.
There is a cosmopolitan feel to the Department as well over half the members of staff were born or educated outside the UK and nearly three-quarters of graduate students come from overseas.
Former students are employed as economists in a wide range of national and international organisations, in government, international institutions, business and finance.
Staff and their academic interests
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Professor Oriana Bandiera: Development economics; labour economics; public economics.
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Dr Gianluca Benigno: International macroeconomics; monetary economics.
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Professor Timothy Besley: Public economics; development economics; political economy.
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Dr Margaret Bray: Portfolio theory; agency problems in financial markets; expectation formation.
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Dr Gharad Bryan: Development economics; behavioural economics; microeconomic theory.
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Professor Robin Burgess: Development economics; public economics; political economy.
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Professor Francesco Caselli: Macroeconomics; development economics; economic growth; economics and politics.
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Professor Frank Cowell: Income and wealth distribution; inequality and poverty; issues in taxation.
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Professor Wouter Den Haan: Macroeconomics; dynamic stochastic equilibrium models; matching models; frictions; numerical solution techniques
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Dr Swati Dhingra: International economics; trade policy; industrial development
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Dr Christopher Dougherty: Planning of education and training; manpower analysis.
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Dr Erik Eyster: Behavioural economics; political economy.
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Professor Leonardo Felli: Contract theory; theory of the firm; labour economics and application to human capital investment and incentives; game theory.
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Dr Greg Fischer: Development; applied microeconomics; experimental econmics.
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Professor Maitreesh Ghatak: Development economics; economics of organisation; contract theory; public economics.
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Dr Vassillis Hajivassilou: Applied and theoretical econometrics; simulation based inference.
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Professor John Hardman Moore: Economic theory.
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Professor Javier Hidalgo: Time series analysis; semiparametric estimation; specification testing; econometric theory.
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Dr Ethan Ilzetzki: International finance; macroeconomics.
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Dr Radha Iyengar: Labour economics; development economics.
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Professor Richard Jackman: Economics of the labour market; unemployment; wage determination; local government finance; labour markets in eastern Europe.
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Dr Keyu Jin: International finance; macroeconomics; finance; the Chinese economy.
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Dr Philipp Kircher: Labour markets; unemployment and mismatch; search and matching theory; economic theory.
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Dr Henrik Kleven: Public economics; labour economics; applied microeconomics.
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Dr Tatiana Komarova: Econometric theory; applied econometrics.
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Dr Jonathan Leape: Capital flows in emerging economies; financial regulation; regional integration; economies of Africa; economics of public policy; taxation; savings and portfolios.
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Professor Gilat Levy: Applied microeconomic theory; political economy; information economics.
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Dr Matthew Levy: Behavioural economics; public economics; health economics.
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Professor Oliver Linton: Econometric theory.
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Professor Alan Manning: Labour economics; minimum wages; wages councils; low pay.
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Dr Guy Michaels: Labour economics; economic development; economic geography.
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Dr Pascal Michaillat: Macroeconomics; contract theory; game theory; psychology and economics.
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Dr Francesco Nava: Economic theory; contract theory; political economy; industrial organisation; computational economics.
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Dr Rachel Ngai: Development economics; macroeconomics; labour economics.
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Dr Gerard Padro I Miquel: Economic development; conflict; economics of institutions; political economy.
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Professor Gianmarco Ottaviano: Capital movement and multinationals; development and growth; economic integration; international trade; migration, regional cohesion.
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Professor Martin Pesendorfer: Industrial organisation; auctions; information economics; strategic interaction.
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Professor Michele Piccione: Microeconomic theory; game theory; bounded rationality.
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Professor Jörn-Steffen Pischke: Labour economics; applied econometrics; economics of education.
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Professor Christopher Pissarides: Macroeconomics; unemployment; growth.
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Professor Andrea Prat: Microeconomic theory; public economics; political economy; game theory; organisation theory.
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Professor Danny Quah: Economic growth; income inequality; new technology; intellectual assets; information technology; the weightless economy.
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Professor Ronny Razin: Political economy; applied microeconomics; industrial organisation.
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Professor Peter Robinson: Econometrics; time series analysis; nonparametric inference; semiparametric inference.
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Dr Thomas Sampson: International trade; growth and development.
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Dr Marcia Schafgans: Theoretical and applied microeconometrics; semiparametric and nonparametric estimation techniques; limited dependent variable models; sample selection.
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Professor Mark Schankerman: Research and development; patents, intellectual property rights; regulation in telecommunications; capital growth; applied microeconometrics.
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Dr Pasquale Schiraldi: Industrial organisation; microeconomic theory; applied econometrics.
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Dr Myunghwan Seo: Econometric theory; time series analysis; bootstrap.
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Dr Kevin Sheedy: Macroeconomics; monetary economics; applied econometrics.
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Dr Johannes Spinnewijn: Public finance; theory; behavioural economics, organisational economics.
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Professor Nicholas Stern: the economics of climate change.
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Dr Daniel Sturm: International trade; economic geography; political economy; environmental economics.
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Professor John Sutton: Theories of industrial structure and empirical implementation.
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Professor Balazs Szentes: Microeconomic theory.
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Dr Silvana Tenreyro: Macroeconomics; international economics.
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Professor John Van Reenen: Productivity; innovation; public policy; labour, industrial organisation; competition policy.
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Professor Christine Whitehead: Housing economics and finance; urban economics; privatisation and regulation.
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Professor Alwyn Young: Growth in East Asia; cross-country comparisons of productivity growth; international trade and specialisation; the economics of AIDS in Africa.
Opportunities for research
Our Department pioneered the development of systematic research training in economics in Britain and our PhD programme aims for the highest international standard of achievement and professional competence. The intellectual climate created by a substantial number of able and enthusiastic students, along with the input of an encouraging and skilled staff are the most important assets of the programme.
Many research students are associated with the work of one of LSE's research centres. The largest are: the Suntory and Toyota International Centres for Economics and Related Disciplines, with major groups working on distributional analysis, economics of industry, econometrics, economic theory, economic organisation and public policy; the Centre for Economic Performance, looking at technology and growth, globalisation, labour markets and financial stability; and the Financial Markets Group, specialising in risk management, asset pricing, financial institutions and corporate finance.
During the past two decades, LSE has developed a remarkable record of placing its PhD students in academic positions in the United States, as well as in the best research universities in Europe. A 2005 study by the Université Catholique de Louvain ranked LSE 10th worldwide for placing students in prestigious economics departments. For details of recent placements, see econ.lse.ac.uk/phdc|
A PhD in Economics from LSE consists of six coursework credits, largely completed over two years, followed by a thesis which is expected to take either two or (more usually) three years. There are two routes by which the coursework requirement can be completed; direct entry to the MRes/PhD programme (Track one), or entry via one of our prestigious MSc degrees (Track two).
An overview of the two routes is given below. Detailed information coursework requirements and financial support is available at econ.lse.ac.uk/study/programmes/apply/applyphd.html|
Direct entry MRes/PhD (Track one)
Direct entry to the MRes/PhD programme (Track one) is aimed at students with exceptional undergraduate grades in economics, mathematics, econometrics and other quantitative subjects.
In the first year of the programme you will take advanced core courses in microeconomics, macroeconomics and econometrics, to equip you with the theoretical knowledge and analytical techniques necessary for research.
In the second year, you will take a course and write a research paper in your major field; students making good progress will also take their minor field course in this year. Currently, there are field courses covering: microeconomics, macroeconomics, econometrics, financial markets, and international, labour, public, industrial, and development economics. From the second year onwards, you will also participate in a departmental research seminar and a work in progress seminar allied to your research field.
An MRes (Master of Research) degree will be awarded to students who pass the three core courses, the field course and the research paper. Those who perform well enough in all five elements will progress to PhD registration at the start of year three. Students are required to complete their minor field course by the end of year three but will otherwise be involved in research full-time for the remainder of the programme.
Direct entry MRes/PhD (Track 2)
Admission to Track 2 is restricted to applicants who have demonstrated exceptional performance in an existing graduate qualification in economics. Any credit for coursework is given at the discretion of the selectors. These applications are automatically considered for Track 1 if the selectors decide that Track 2 is not appropriate.
An MRes (Master of Research) degree is awarded to students who pass the required four coursework elements. Those who perform well enough will progress to PhD registration, at which stage any outstanding coursework requirements must be completed
Applying
Admission to these programmes is highly selective. Applicants are therefore advised to choose only the track best suited to their academic qualifications and to consider carefully their second choice selection. (For MSc plus MRes/PhD (Track 2), see below)
All graduates of non-UK institutions must have taken the GRE General Test no more than five years before applying, and must include the test score with their application. Most successful MRes/PhD applicants have scores of 800 in the quantitative section.
All students are required to attend the Introductory Course in Mathematics and Statistics.
See also: econ.lse.ac.uk/study/programmes/apply/applyphd.html|
MSc plus MRes/PhD (Track 2)
This route is recommended by selectors for applicants who would first need to take our core courses at MSc level before moving on to the advanced MRes/PhD core courses. Students take either the MSc Economics (Research) or the MSc Econometrics and Mathematical Economics (Research) in their first year. Both programmes are long-established and highly prestigious degrees in their own right.
Students on these programmes have a conditional offer of admission to Track 2 of the MRes, subject to meeting progression requirements. MSc Economics graduates can carry a credit for their MSc field course to the MRes. MSc Econometrics and Mathematical Economics graduates can carry credits for their compulsory econometrics paper and any MRes core course taken as part of their MSc.
Students interested in the MSc plus Track 2 route should apply either to the MSc Economics (Research), course code L1U3 or the MSc Econometrics and Mathematical Economics (Research), course code L1U7. A place on one of these programmes will include a conditional offer of progression to Track 2 of the MRes/PhD, subject to the attainment of a Distinction grade in the MSc.
Taught programmes
The Department also contributes to: