Economics

Shaping local, national and global policy

The Economics Research Division concentrates primarily on applied research, with strong theoretical and empirical foundations, that is of direct relevance to economic policy formation at local, national and international levels.

We work to address current socio-political issues, such as gender and ethnic inequalities in the labour market and in other aspects of life. We also study entrepreneurship, international business, organisation of firms and institutional structures, fiscal and monetary policy.

Our research clusters reflect our areas of strength:

• Behavioural economics

• Business economics and finance

• Labour and household economics

• Sport economics

We also have strong links to the Global Development Research Division through our colleagues who work on Development Economics. Together, we are part of the University’s Prosperity and Resilience research theme.

Economics research at the University of Reading.

news and events

Get the latest updates about our research on the Economics Research news and events website

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Twitter: @readingSPEIR

Economics scorecasting research at Reading uses the unusual setting of football scores forecasting to study the economic behaviour of people.

Research Highlights

Scorecasting: the economics of sport research

The work of Dr James Reade and Dr Carl Singleton on football scores forecasting provides data and an unusual setting in which to study the economic behaviour of people. Their work also demonstrates how economic modelling can help with all kinds of decisions and activity. It offers insights into labour markets, for example the impact of net migration and how it affects firms’ investment in workers, or the evidence for - and outcomes of - discrimination. Their regular blog, Scorecasting Economists, is followed by football fans and economists alike, and their work is regularly covered in the sports media.

Women of the 1950s and the effects of pension reforms

Current work by Simonetta Longhi and Marina Della Giusta is looking at how successive pension changes have affected the welfare of UK women born in the 1950s. Their research looks at the impact beyond income, which to date has been the government's sole focus, into wider issues such as their mental and physical health and the impact on their families (as carers for grandchildren, partners and other family members) and as volunteers in their communities.

Tweeting economists: scientists on social media

Marina Della Guista has used data analysis of social media trends to compare how economists and other scientists communicate with the general public. In this short video for the Royal Economic Society she discusses how economists can use social media to get the public more interested in economics.

Inequality and the gender pay gap

Professor Giovanni Razzu’s research looks at the gender pay gap. It investigates how both the jobs that women do and the pay they receive often do not reflect their personal qualification levels, at least relative to men, nor their improvement in recent years.

The work reveals that the labour market as a whole is failing to make the best use of women’s talents. Research shows that gender inequality is the product of many factors, most notably institutions and norms, and that gender intersects with other characteristics to reinforce inequalities. Gender inequality also has important life-cycle dimensions, starting at school and persisting throughout the life-course.

For policy this means that approaches are needed that are sensitive to individual circumstances, moving away from aggregate targets (all women, or all mothers, or all school girls) to focus on targeted, individual support.

Fixing Britain's broken housing market

Research from the University of Reading is being used by policymakers to help tackle the housing crisis and to expand access to the UK property market. In the early 2000s, Professor Geoff Meen and colleagues first developed a model to predict the effects of housing supply on affordability. In 2017, these findings were used by the government as the basis for its radical policy decision to target an additional 300,000 new homes per year. Reading's model-based research expanded to consider the demand side of the market and many of the results were brought together in a 2020 book co-authored by Professor Meen, Understanding Affordability: The Economics of Housing Markets.

Recent Reading work, conducted with Alex Mihailov and Yehui Wang, has concentrated on the under-researched area of housing market risk, the implications for forecasting and the reasons why house prices have failed to decline (as many predicted) during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Study opportunities

We are able to offer PhD supervision in all areas of our research including poverty, inequality, health, wellbeing, immigration, fiscal and monetary policy, housing and the environment.

We are part of the South East Network for Social Sciences, an ESRC-funded consortium of 10 leading universities offering PhD studentships and post-doctoral fellowships in the social sciences.

Find out more about our PhD programmes.

We also offer a range of master's degrees, including an MA in Public Policy.