Prospective PhD students - Economics Research

As a postgraduate research student in Economics at Reading you will be part of a vibrant community, working alongside a thriving group of young and established researchers.

While we welcome research proposals on any economics topic, it is strongly recommended that your proposal lies within the research and supervision interests of one or more staff members, which you can find below. On this page you can also find specific projects that you can join as part of your PhD. We also welcome visiting PhD students, see below for more information. Also see our guide for Current and Prospective Economics PhD students.

Our PhD programme

The Department of Economics has a long and established track record of research, working with a wide variety of industrial and academic partners to achieve significant social and economic benefits. We are part of the larger School of Politics, Economics and International Relations. We have an active community of 20-30 PhD students. Find out about our current PhD students and our recent placements and Job Market Candidates.

World-leading research

The University is ranked 10th in the UK for our research impact for Business and Management Studies (Times Higher Education Institutions Ranked by Subject, 2014, based on its analysis of REF 2014), with 100% of both our research impact and research environment judged to be world-leading or internationally excellent. (Research Excellence Framework, 2014). Find out more on our research website. Research activity within the Department is broad and extensive; among our most active fields are business economics, development economics, behavioural economics, labour economics and sports economics.

We have active collaborations with other departments within the University as well as with external institutions.

WHAT WE OFFER

We offer flexible modes of study designed to fit with your needs. Our PhD is available for study on a full-time basis over three years and part-time over four to six years. Both full-time and part-time variants are available for study in Reading, or at a distance for students who live outside the UK.

Conferences

Over the course of your PhD you will also be involved in opportunities to communicate your work and network with other researchers, present a seminar, speak at conferences and workshops, and visit or host researchers from elsewhere.

Training

In the first two years of your degree course, you will benefit from a programme of relevant postgraduate courses which will be agreed between you and your supervisor/s as well as a programme of transferable skills organised by the Graduate School.

Careers

Our PhD students go on to work in academia, but also quickly find employment in industry.

Research groups

Research in the department is organised into several research groups and clusters. PhD students are assigned to one or more of these

PhD Projects

The Economics of Superstars: Wages in Sport – understanding using primary data the changes over the postwar period in sport for its foremost performers (Supervisors: Professor James Reade and Dr Sarah Jewell)

About the project: The work of Sherwin Rosen (1981) established a literature on the economics of superstars – an attempt to explain the very high premia top performers in a given field are able to attract. Rosen argued that both the vanishingly small supply of top talent and the size of the market explain the premia. Technology (television, internet), and labour market regulations (freedom of contract, salary caps), have changed dramatically over the post-war period, meaning that the market for today’s sports performers is very different to that just a few decades ago. This project attempts to understand using primary data the changes over this postwar period in sport for its foremost performers.

By and large, data on wage structures, particularly as structures dictating the pay for professional sportspeople have changed, are hard to come by. Sport inputs and outputs are highly measurable, explaining much of its attraction to economists, particularly those interested in labour markets and human capital.

This project will collect data from sporting archives (cricket and football primarily) on wages (wage books, rule books, team sheets, minute books, registration documents) for the postwar period, and merge this information with more publicly available information on sporting outcomes.

The archival data will be digitised, and analysed in order to understand more about labour market relations in sports leagues. In particular, decisions regarding employees, changes in pay structures, investment in human capital, and outcomes.
Funding note: Applicants should be able to self-fund. Once an offer is made, some bespoke support may be given with regards applying for external sources of funding to cover some costs.

Men and women in managerial leadership positions: the case of football (Supervisors: Professor Marina Della Giusta and Professor James Reade)

About the project: There is a large body of evidence on barriers to leadership positions faced by women, and a related literature on the relative benefits of the presence of women managers in firms. These range from innovation (IMF, 2016), to firm performance and pay gaps: Flabbi et al (EJ 2019) for example use panel methods and a matched employer-employee data set and find that performance in firms with female leadership increases with the share of female workers, which they interpret as a better ability of female leaders to read signals from workers of the same gender. There is however also evidence from other papers pointing to backlash from male workers who dislike being managed by a woman (Brescoll et al, 2018). To investigate these mechanisms De Paola et al (IZA, 2018) conduct a field experiment with students and find a positive and significant effect of female leadership on team performance which is driven by the higher performance of team members in female led teams but that in spite of this male members tend to evaluate female leaders as less effective, whereas female members are more sympathetic towards them. Football presents a unique opportunity to study these mechanisms in more detail as teams are by definition completely segregated by gender and therefore the manager men and women ought to equally compete for managerial roles, and be evaluated on the same criteria. The disparity between women managing in men’s football, and men managing in women’s football suggests a different reality. What can be learnt about the dynamics surrounding the sackings and quits in women’s football, relative to those in men’s football, from historical data on results? Boards of directors, and officials. Football has extremes of all men, all women teams. Are things symmetric?
Funding note: Applicants should be able to self-fund. Once an offer is made, some bespoke support may be given with regards applying for external sources of funding to cover some costs.

Applied Economics: What works for firms and the gender pay gap? (Supervisors: Professor Giovanni Razzu and Dr Carl Singleton)

About the project: A vast literature has studied the determinants of gender pay gaps (see for reviews Altonji and Blank, 1999; Weichselbaumer and Winter-Ebmer, 2005; Blau and Kahn, 2017). Explanations for the labour market differences between men and women are typically grouped into three broad categories: productivity, preferences and discrimination, which are all interrelated (Altonji and Blank, 1999). However, with the diminishing of gender gaps in the majority of developed countries, the importance and focus on explanations from the first category, especially human capital-based ones, has lessened. Nonetheless, pay gaps persist and are pervasive. More recent work has looked to gender differences in preferences and psychological attributes, and how these impact on productivity, choices and beliefs (see for reviews Croson and Gneezy, 2009; Bertrand, 2011; Azmat and Petrongolo, 2014). The role of firms, in particular where men and women work, cuts across across these sets of explanations. Early work found that women in the US were more likely to work for lower wage firms than men, and vice versa regarding higher wage firms (Blau, 1977; Groshen, 1991; Bayard et al., 2003). More recent studies have found that low wage growth within an establishment for women plays a bigger role in the US gender pay gap than how women are (not) sorted into higher wage firms (Goldin et al., 2017; Barth et al., 2017). More widely and in several countries, studies have begun to document the importance of which firms men and women work for in accounting for the level and trends of the gender pay gap (e.g. US: Sorkin, 2017; Portugal: Card et al., 2016, Cardoso et al., 2016; Germany: Bruns, 2018; France: Coudin et al., 2018; Denmark: Gallen et al., 2017; UK: Jewell et al., 2018).

Even as it becomes clearer that firms have an important role to playing in closing the gender pay gap throughout the earnings distribution, there is a significant evidence gap in understanding what particular firm-based policies and management practices work for both the individual firm and gender equality. Filling this evidence gap will allow advice to be given on effective future policy making in this area.

This project will involve working with secure access sources of UK data. Due to the nature of the datasets and access requirements, distance learning is not possible. The PhD student would benefit from working as a team n this project with at least 2 established academics in the Department of Economics at the University of Reading, one of whom would be the PhD supervisor. They can expect to co-author research outputs (publications) with these academics, which would contribute to some part to their PhD thesis. In addition, they would develop their own independent research agenda, advised by their supervision team and building on what they learn from collaboration with on the project. This would contribute to the remainder of their PhD thesis.
Pre-requisites: Ideally the PhD student would have experience of handling large datasets, statistical software such as SAS, SPSS, Stata or R, and have studied MSc level topics in microeconometrics and labour economics.
Funding note: Applicants should be able to self-fund. Once an offer is made, some bespoke support may be given with regards applying for external sources of funding to cover some costs.

Functional Data Analysis in Finance (Supervisor: Dr Shixuan Wang)

About the project: In Functional data analysis (FDA), the variable of interest can be naturally viewed as a smooth curve or function, rather than scalars in univariate analysis or vectors in multivariate analysis. The field has witnessed rapid development over the last two decades. While the central ideas and methods of FDA has achieved a certain mature level, its applications in various subjects is still in an accelerating speed. Among them, finance is one of fields that are largely benefited from the widely use of tools from FDA. In finance, some of the prominent examples that can be naturally viewed as curves include: intraday price curves (Kokoszka et al, 2015), term structure of interest rates (Barsley, 2017), forward curves of commodity futures (Horváth et al, 2019), and price signatures (Oomen, 2019).

The nature of this PhD project is employing newly developed tools in FDA to produce new insights for financial study, which cannot be revealed from the conventional methods. Thus, your first and second chapters will mainly be applied work. It is likely that you may find some limitations in the current toolkit of FDA for some specific finance problems. Then, the third chapter can develop a new method in FDA, devoting to expand the applicability of FDA in finance.
Pre-requisites: a solid background from mathematics or statistics with knowledge in finance; proficiency in using Matlab, R, and Python; a good understanding of major textbooks in FDA, including Ramsay and Silverman (2005), Horváth and Kokoszka (2012), Kokoszka and Reimherr (2017).
Reference:
Bardsley, P., Horváth, L., Kokoszka, P., & Young, G. (2017). Change point tests in functional factor models with application to yield curves. The Econometrics Journal, 20(1), 86-117.
Horváth, L., & Kokoszka, P. (2012). Inference for functional data with applications (Vol. 200). Springer Science & Business Media.
Horváth, L., Liu, Z., Rice, G., & Wang, S. (2019). A functional time series analysis of forward curves derived from commodity futures. International Journal of Forecasting.
Kokoszka, P., Miao, H., & Zhang, X. (2015). Functional dynamic factor model for Intraday price curves. Journal of Financial Econometrics, 13(2), 456-477.
Kokoszka, P., & Reimherr, M. (2017). Introduction to functional data analysis. CRC Press.
Oomen, R. (2019). Price signatures. Quantitative Finance, 19(5), 733-761.
Ramsay, J. O., & Silverman, B. W. (2005). Functional data analysis. Springer.
Funding note: Applicants should be able to self-fund. Once an offer is made, some bespoke support may be given with regards applying for external sources of funding to cover some costs.

Find a Supervisor

Steven Bosworth (s.j.bosworth@reading.ac.uk): Steven welcomes PhD applications in the field of behavioural and experimental economics, but has a particular interest in supervising proposals which investigate
- human cooperation within and between organisations and the institutions which support it,
- the economic determinants and consequences of social identity (e.g. gender, class, ethnicity, ideology).

Applicants’ comfort with a range of quantitative methods is considered essential. These may include game theory, panel data econometrics, and survey/ experimental design.

Dr Simon Burke (s.p.burke@reading.ac.uk): My research concentrates on time series methods in economics and finance, both applied and theoretical. I have specific interests in non-stationary processes and in dynamic higher order moments of time series distributions. I would be interested in co-supervision in applied settings where issues of this type arise and provide potential insight into applied problems.

Dr Vivien Burrows (v.e.burrows@reading.ac.uk): I am interested in supervising research in the fields of housing economics and household finance, in particular topics that relate to household saving and borrowing decisions, the intergenerational transmission of wealth, equity withdrawal and consumption behaviour, and house price uncertainty.

Professor Mark Casson (m.c.casson@reading.ac.uk): My main interests are in multinational enterprise, small firm growth, and global market competition from a theoretical, empirical or historical perspective.

Dr Sophie Clot (s.clot@reading.ac.uk): I welcome inquiries from research students interested in the application of behavioural economics to environmental and/or development issues.

Dr Ken Dark (k.r.dark@reading.ac.uk): I am happy to supervise research students working on the archaeology or history of Europe (including Britain) and the Mediterranean region in the 1st millennium AD.

Professor Marina Della Giusta (m.dellagiusta@reading.ac.uk): Behavioural and labour economics, with particular focus on social norms (evolution of values, conformism, and stigma), gender (economics of sex work, economics of care) and wellbeing.

Dr Mark Guzman (m.g.guzman@reading.ac.uk): Macroeconomics, Monetary Economics, Economic Growth, Immigration Theory.

Dr Hussein Hassan (hussein.hassan@reading.ac.uk): I will be interested in supervising students interested in empirical macroeconomic models. More specifically, these are my area of interest: Time Series Econometric Modelling, Macroeconomics, Financial Markets and Monetary Policy.

Dr Neha Hui (n.hui@reading.ac.uk): I am willing to supervise students who want to do PhDs on the following
- issues of gender, intrahousehold bargaining and domestic violence
- labour markets in developing countries, especially in the informal sector
- role of institutions in development
- economic history of colonialism and development

Dr Joo Young Jeon (j.jeon@reading.ac.uk): I am happy to supervise new PhD students in behavioural/ experimental projects and empirical projects, especially in the following topics:
- social preference/charity
- gender
- conflict
- identity
- industrial organisation/competition policy

Dr Sarah Jewell (s.l.jewell@reading.ac.uk): Human capital, Labour Economics, Economics of Higher Education.

Professor Uma Kambhampati (u.s.kambhampati@reading.ac.uk): I supervise PhD students on a range of topics from Graduate returns to education in the UK to the impact of education and employment on female empowerment in Bangladesh. I would be delighted to supervise doctoral students on any of my research interests (Child labour and schooling, especially in India; Impact of institutions on development; Individual well-being and life satisfaction; Productivity and competitiveness of manufacturing firms) and am excited to receive interesting proposals in a range of areas within Development Economics.

Dr Simonetta Longhi (s.longhi@reading.ac.uk): I am interested in supervising empirical research on various aspects of internal and international migration, integration of migrants, wage and employment differentials across groups (e.g. by country of birth, ethnicity or disability), unemployment and on-the-job search.

Dr Stefania Lovo (s.lovo@reading.ac.uk): I am interested in supervising PhD students on issues that lie at the intersection between environmental and development economics including for example:
- empirical analyses of environmental policies (e.g. decentralisation of environmental regulation, governance, political economy)
- short and long term effects of pollution on development outcomes
- deforestation and land use management
- agriculture and climate change

Dr Alexander Mihailov (a.mihailov@reading.ac.uk): I am interested to supervise research students working on: (i) international macroeconomics and finance; (ii) monetary theory and policy; (iii) political macroeconomics and socioeconomic dynamics; or (iv) bounded rationality, information and learning.

Dr Tho Pham (t.pham@reading.ac.uk): I am interested in supervising research in line with my areas of interest, including international finance, banking, empirical finance, big data analytics, online prices, and emerging market economies.

Dr Samantha Rawlings (s.b.rawlings@reading.ac.uk): I am interested in supervising research on intergenerational transmission, child health, gender issues, or wider topics in applied development microeconomics.

Professor Giovanni Razzu (g.razzu@reading.ac.uk): I am interested in supervising research in the areas of Labour Economics, the economics of gender, economic inequality with a particular focus on gender and the labour market, poverty and social mobility. I am also interested in the applications of the capabilities approach as applied to inequality, particularly its operationalisation and measurement frameworks and issues of autonomy, particularly related to gender inequality.

Dr James Reade (j.j.reade@reading.ac.uk): I am interested in supervising research in applied economic areas, in particular applications in the area of sport. As sports are very well measured, and the incentives well understood, they can be ideal for the investigation of economic theories. I have published research investigating a range of economic phenomena using sports data; for example, discrimination and market efficiency. Many aspects of labour market functioning (workplace productivity, the impact of immigration and changes in regulatory oversight) and managerial decisions can, and have been investigated. Sport also enables classic economic issues to be analysed within the context of sport, for example the demand for attendance at sport, and strategic decisions made on the field. Data on sport has been extensively collected for decades, even centuries, enabling economic history analyses over long periods of time, and studies of important periods of change in sports.

Dr Carl Singleton (c.a.singleton@reading.ac.uk): I am interested in work at the intersection of macroeconomcis and labour markets. This could include: how wages are determined, wage inequality, and business cycle fluctuations. This could be theoretical (e.g. models with search frictions) or applied/empirical (e.g. measuring whether wages are sticky, or how much of wage inequality is driven by the differences between firms). I will supervise other applied research so long as it relates to the role of labour markets. I also have a growing interest in Sports Economics and would supervise work in this area. (See my personal website for the latest versions of all my publications and working papers).

Dr Nigel Wadeson (n.s.wadeson@reading.ac.uk): I am currently interested in supervising microeconomic research on international business and on entrepreneurship.

Dr Shixuan Wang (shixuan.wang@reading.ac.uk): I am interested in supervising research on functional data analysis in finance. Please click on the tag “Prospective PhD projects” for details of the project.

Dr Fangya Xu (fangya.xu@reading.ac.uk): I am interested in supervising research in the areas of international trade/FDI, finance, sustainable economic development and in particular their intersections. I am also happy to supervise broader topics in applied economics.

Dr Minyan Zhu (minyan.zhu@reading.ac.uk): Applied industrial organisation, competition policy and regulation, performance/efficiency measurement and assessment.

Visiting PhD Students

The Department of Economics welcomes applications from PhD students from other universities who wish to spend a visit period of one month to one year at Reading. We welcome applications that complement the academic interests of members of staff in our department and we recommend that you investigate staff research interests before applying.

As a visiting PhD student, you will have full access to the research and library resources of the University, will be able to audit postgraduate modules, attend research seminars, and present your research to the department. You will be assigned a supervisor with relevant expertise and similar research interest.

As a visiting PhD student, you are usually charged a fee, depending on the length of your period of visit. You can find out our fees here.

Please click here for a list of taught modules that we offer to our PhD students.

How to apply?

Once you have identified an academic whose research interests or prospective projects can fit your own interests, you can contact them directly, outlining your proposed area of research, to see if they will agree, in principle, to supervise your doctoral study or your visiting at Reading. You should then submit an online application through our Graduate School website. Please contact Dr Stefania Lovo (s.lovo@reading.ac.uk) if you would like to discuss your research interests or have questions about the admission process.

Our PhD programme

World-leading research

WHAT WE OFFER

Conferences

Training

Careers

Research groups

PhD Projects

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Find a Supervisor

Visiting PhD Students

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