Highlights from 2006
ESRC Recognition for the Leicester MSc in Economics
The Economic and Social Research Council of the UK announced in February that, as part of its quality control exercise for all UK universities, recognition had been renewed for the MSc in Economics at Leicester. This recognises the high standard which has been consistently maintained for this degree. It also means that this degree is recognised as a suitable training course for potential PhD students and that students graduating from this course will be eligible to apply for ESRC funding for their PhD studies.
3 Exciting New Hires
We are very pleased to announce 3 exciting new hires at the junior level.
Dr. Carlos Carillo Tudela joined us at the start of May. He conducts research on labour market search and matching theory and contract theory and has current teaching interests in management science and finance. Carlos was given a European Young Economist Award in 2005 by the European Economic Association. Dr. Ludovic Renou and Dr. Ralf Wilke will be joining us in September. Ludovic was awarded the 2005's Louis-Andre Gerard-Varet Prize. This prize was set up by ASSET (Association of Southern European Economic Theorists) in memory of Louis-Andre Gerard-Varet. He works and teaches on games and contracts. He will have a New Blood Lectureship. Ralf won a Marie-Curie Fellowship to do pre-doctoral research at University College London. He is a microeconometrician and statistician with research and teaching interests in the microeconometrics of public policy.
The Department will be making several more appointments at all levels in the coming months.
Eleventh Annual Conference on Econometric Modelling in Africa
The United Nations African Institute for Economic Development and Planning (UN-IDEP) in association with the African Econometrics Society (AES) held their 11th Annual Conference on Quantitative Economic Analysis (QEA) in Dakar (Senegal) in July 2006. Subjects discussed included Econometrics (theoretical and applied modelling), Mathematical Economics, and Economic Modelling. Professor Stephen Hall, pictured left with the Head of the United Nations in Africa, Dr. Diery Seck, was one of the two Keynote Speakers.
Professor Hall said that 'the AES meetings have made an enormous contribution to the development of African Economics over the last decade and are helping with the whole development process'.
Launch of book "Global and National Macroeconometric Modelling A Long-Run Structural Approach" Anthony Garratt, Kevin Lee, M. Hashem Pesaran, and Yongcheol Shin
The Department is pleased to announce the publication of a new book by Professor Kevin Lee and co-authors. The book is intended for academics and graduate students with an interest in macroeconomics, finance, and econometrics and central bankers responsible for research, policymaking, and forecasting.
In brief, the book:
- Introduces the long-run structural approach to macroeconometric modelling in the context of global and national economies
- Provides a step-by-step description of the development and use of a model of the UK economy
- Is written from a real world perspective to ensure the techniques illustrated can be replicated or applied in new contexts
The book provides a comprehensive description of the state-of-the-art in modelling global and national economies. It introduces the long-run structural approach to modelling that can be readily adopted for use in understanding how economies work, and in generating forecasts for decision- and policy-makers. The book contains a thorough description of recent developments in macroeconomics and econometrics, which should be of interest to advanced students and researchers, but is also written to be accessible and helpful to practitioners in government and the private sector. The long-run structural approach is illustrated with various global and national examples, including a step-by-step description of the development and use of a model of the UK economy. Throughout, the book emphasises the use of macroeconometric modelling in the real world and is written in a way that ensures the techniques illustrated can be replicated or applied in new contexts. The transparency and pragmatism of the modelling approach used within this book will be attractive to practitioners who need manageable and interpretable models to answer specific questions.
Further information and details of how to order the book
Dae-Yang Prize prize awarded to Professor Stephen Hall
The Dae-Yang Prize for the best paper published in the Journal of Economic Integration in 2005 has been awarded to Professor Stephen Hall. The prestigious prize is worth $3000.
The paper was entitled 'Fiscal Consolidation: an exercise in the methodology of coordination' and was co-authored with S.G.B. Henry, M. Chui and G. Caporale.
The Journal of Economic Integration deals with empirical and theoretical contributions of international economic issues or national economic issues that have transnational relevance. With an emphasis on the broad issues of international economic integration, the Journal aims to provide a forum and intellectual readiness for globalization of the world economy.
Launch of new book: "Syndicated Loans, A Hybrid of Relationship Lending and Publicly Traded Debt"
Yener Altunbas, Blaise Gadanecz and Alper Kara
The Department is pleased to announce the publication of a new book by Mr. Alper Kara and co-authors.
The book examines the development of the international market for syndicated credits over the past three decades. It brings together the views of practitioners and academics on this form of financing and provides original answers to previously little-explored research questions;
- What determines banks' participation choices and supply?
- What influences the pricing of emerging country loans, particularly in times of crises?
- What are the differences with industrialized country loans and bonds?
- With its extensive coverage and thought-provoking insights, the book is of particular value for students, practitioners and academics.
Read a sample chapter of the book (pdf)
Further information and details of how to order the book
External Sites
University of Leicester, eBulletin
- Leicester student clinches gold (May 2006)
- University of Leicester ranked joint top amongst mainstream English universities for the second year (August 2006)
