 | |
| Established | 1828 |
|---|---|
| Head of Department | Antonio Guarino |
Academic staff | over 50 [1] |
Administrative staff | 18 [1] |
| Students | 1,129 [2] |
| Undergraduates | 906 |
| Postgraduates | 223 |
| Location | |
| Website | ucl |
The UCL Department of Economics is one of nine Departments and Institutes within the Faculty of Social and Historical Sciences at University College London. It is the oldest department of economics in England and is research-intensive, currently headed by Professor Antonio Guarino. [3]
In 1824, Jean-Baptiste Say expressed his enthusiasm for the creation of a Chair of Political Economy in London in a letter to Jeremy Bentham, reading: “Joseph Hume tells me that you are going to establish a Chair of Political Economy in London. Bravo! Teach where the true national interests lie, and those who set personal interests against them will not have it easy". Bentham was a significant influence on the creation of UCL, often described as its ‘spiritual father’, and Hume was a member of the college’s original council. [4]
The Chair of Political Economy at UCL was created in 1828 in memory of David Ricardo, establishing the first Department of Economics in England. [5] The first holder of the Chair was John Ramsay McCulloch. [5] William Stanley Jevons held a professorship of economics at UCL between 1876 and 1880. [5]
In the 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF2014), the Department received an overall grade-point average of 3.78 (out of 4) - the highest of any department in Economics and Econometrics, or any field, in the UK. [6]
REF2014 also showed that 79% of all indicators of output were rated at the highest 4* level. [7]
The department is currently involved with numerous research centres and publications:
The Department has forged a close relationship with the nearby Institute of Fiscal Studies, with many Professors holding positions at both institutions, a high degree of research collaboration, and regular talks given by faculty members at each institution.
Director of the IFS, Paul Johnson, is currently serving as a visiting professor at the department.
In the 2021 Complete University Guide , the programme is ranked fourth nationally, reentering the top five where it had been consistently from 2008 to 2020. [8]
The Tilburg University Economics Ranking is a worldwide ranking of Economics schools based on research contribution placing UCL third in Europe, and 15th globally. [9] Similarly, the Academic Ranking of World Universities sees UCL place fourth in Europe, and 16th globally. [10]
The 2020 Times Higher Education World University Rankings places UCL fourth in Europe for Economics, and 15th globally. [11]
In the 2021 QS World University Rankings by subject, UCL is ranked fourth in Europe, and 16th globally for Economics & Econometrics. [12]
The Economist’s Society is the Official Departmental Student Society, run by an elected student committee for the undergraduate population of the Economics Department. All undergraduates of the Department are automatically members. The Society puts on numerous academic and social events throughout the academic year, including a Speaker Series, the UCL Economics Conference, the inter-university Economics Debate, and the flagship social event ‘The David Ricardo Ball’.
Notably, the Society hosted Mark Carney as he gave his last public speech as Governor of the Bank of England on 5 March 2020 in the Institute of Education’s Logan Hall. [13]
The Economic Tribune, the quarterly Official UCL Economics Magazine, is published by the Senior Editorial Team of the Society.
University College London is a public research university in London, England. It is a member institution of the federal University of London, and is the second-largest university in the United Kingdom by total enrolment and the largest by postgraduate enrolment.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) is an independent economic research institute based in London, United Kingdom, which specialises in UK taxation and public policy. It produces both academic and policy-related findings.
Birkbeck, University of London, is a public research university located in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. Established in 1823 as the London Mechanics' Institute by its founder Joseph Clinton Robertson and its supporters Sir George Birkbeck, Jeremy Bentham, J. C. Hobhouse and Henry Brougham, Birkbeck is one of the few universities to specialise in evening higher education in the United Kingdom.
The golden triangle is the triangle formed by the university cities of Cambridge, London, and Oxford in the south east of England in the United Kingdom. The triangle is occasionally referred to as the Loxbridge triangle, a portmanteau of London and Oxbridge or, when limited to five members, the G5.
The UCL Faculty of Laws is the law school of University College London (UCL), a member institution of the federal University of London. It is one of UCL's 11 constituent faculties and is based in London, United Kingdom.
Sir Richard William Blundell CBE FBA is a British economist and econometrician.
Orazio Attanasio is an Italian economist and the Cowles Professor of Economics at Yale University. He was the Jeremy Bentham Chair of Economics at University College London. He graduated from the University of Bologna in 1982 and London School of Economics in 1988. He then went to teach at Stanford and was a National Fellow at Stanford's Hoover Institution and a visiting professor at the University of Chicago before arriving at University College London. Currently he is also a research director at the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) in London, co-director of the Centre for the Evaluation of Development Policies at the Institute for Fiscal Studies, and a director of the ESRC Centre for the Microeconomic Analysis of Public Policy.
Konstantinos "Costas" Meghir is a Greek-British economist. He studied at the University of Manchester where he graduated with a Ph.D. in 1985, following an MA in economics in 1980 and a BA in Economics and Econometrics in 1979. In 1997 he was awarded the Bodosakis foundation prize and in 2000 he was awarded the “Ragnar Frisch Medal” for his article “Estimating Labour Supply Responses using Tax Reforms”.
John Michael Van Reenen OBE is the Ronald Coase School Professor at the London School of Economics. He is also Director of the Programme On Innovation and Diffusion (POID) at the Centre for Economic Performance. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) and received the Yrjö Jahnsson Award. He was appointed as Chair of the Council of Economic Advisors to the UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, on July 5 2024.
The UCL Faculty of Social and Historical Sciences is one of the 11 constituent faculties of University College London (UCL). The current interim Executive Dean of the Faculty is Professor Nick Witham, having been appointed from September 2024.
The UCL School of Management is the business school of University College London (UCL). The School offers undergraduate, postgraduate, PhD and executive programmes in management, entrepreneurship, business analytics, business information systems, and finance.
Dame Rachel Susan Griffith is a British-American academic and educator. She is professor of economics at the University of Manchester and a research director at the Institute for Fiscal Studies.
Oriana Bandiera, FBA is an Italian development economist and academic, who is currently the Sir Anthony Atkinson Professor of Economics at the London School of Economics. Her research focuses on development, labour, and organisational economics. Outside of her academic appointment, she is co-editor of Econometrica, and an affiliate of the Centre for Economic Policy Research and Bureau for Research and Economic Analysis of Development. A fellow of the Econometric Society and the British Academy, she received the Yrjö Jahnsson Award in 2019, an award granted annually to the best European economist(s) under the age of 45.
Wendy Joan Carlin, is a professor of economics at University College London, expert advisor to the Office for Budget Responsibility, and research fellow at the Centre for Economic Policy Research. Her research focuses on macroeconomics, institutions and economic performance, and the economics of transition.
Christian Dustmann, FBA, is a German economist who currently serves as Professor of Economics at the Department of Economics of University College London. There, he also works as Director of the Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration (CReAM), which he helped found. Dustmann belongs to the world's foremost labour economists and migration scholars.
Lorraine Margaret Dearden is an Australo-British economist and professor of economics and social statistics at the Department of Social Science of the Institute of Education, University College London. Her research focuses on the economics of education.
Imran Rasul is a British Pakistani economist and academic. He is Professor of Economics at the University College London, managing editor of the Journal of the European Economic Association, and co-director of the Centre for the Microeconomic Analysis of Public Policy at the Institute for Fiscal Studies. His research interests include labour, development and public economics and he is considered to be one of the leaders within social norms and capital economics.
Andrew Chesher, FBA is a British economist and the William Stanley Jevons Professor of Economics and Economic Measurement at the Department of Economics, University College London and Director of the ESRC Centre for Microdata Methods and Practice (CeMMAP) at the Institute for Fiscal Studies. He is a Fellow of the Econometric Society, Foreign Honorary Member of the American Economic Association, and Fellow of the British Academy where he chaired its Economics and Economic History Section from 2009 to 2012. Additionally, Chesher was the President of the Royal Economic Society from 2016-2018 and from 2001 to 2005 he was Chair of the Economic and Social Research Council's Research Grants Board.
Barbara Sianesi is an Italian economist currently a senior research economist at the Institute for Fiscal Studies in London. She obtained her PhD from University College London and a BA in economics from Bocconi University.
The Department of Economics is an academic department of the University of Oxford within the Social Sciences Division. Relatively recently founded in 1999, the department is located in the Norman Foster-designed Manor Road Building.
