Area contact Prof Stan Siebert, Department of Management, Birmingham Business School. s.siebert@bham.ac.uk

The research focus of this area is on the operation of labour markets and on examining how firms, industries and countries achieve sustained economic growth in the context of the global economy. Current research interests include labour market outcomes for various groups in society including gender, skill and age aspects and how the operation of labour markets impact on productivity. Measuring and explaining international comparative productivity is a particular interest with strong links with international researchers through EC funded projects.

Specific topics of interest are:

• Education and training of the workforce
• Work life balance
• Labour market regulation
• The employment experience of women
• International migration, employment practices in new migrant businesses,  
• International comparative productivity and its drivers

 

Area contact Prof Helen Rainbird, Department of Management, Birmingham Business School. h.rainbird@bham.ac.uk

This theme brings together a range of research interests in the Department of Management,  focussing on the changing nature of globalisation, the internationalisation of business and the shifting of production to locales in developing and emerging economies - changes, which subsequently impact on the organisation of firms, knowledge-sharing, quality of work, skills development and employment conditions. Local, national and international studies are in progress or being developed for Europe, China, Latin America and the USA. Topics covered by this research include:

• Financial capitalism and the diffusion of the private equity business model and its implications for human resource management and employment relations.
• Product markets, new firm start ups and growth, the insertion of small firms in global value chains.
• Gender and entrepreneurship.
• The implications of company insertion in global value chains for skills and  innovation.

Area contact: Prof Brit Grosskopt, Department of Economics, Birmingham Business School b.grosskopf@bham.ac.uk

The Department of Economics at the University of Birmingham has an active group of researchers conducting cutting-edge behavioural research seeking to develop theories that are consistent with realistic aspects of human judgement and decision making. Experiments are conducted in the Birmingham Experimental Economics Laboratory (BEEL) studying a broad range of topics incorporating limits on computation, memory, willpower and self-interest (to name just a few) to inform economic analysis.

Specific research topics include:

• Learning in Individual Decision Making Tasks and Games
• The Role of Emotions in Economic Decision Making
• Reputation Building in Strategic Interactions
• Behaviour in Auctions and Contests
• Gender Effects in Decisions and Games
• Existence and Evolution of Social Norms in Social Dilemma Games
• The Effects of Framing on Cooperation in Social Dilemma Games
• The Attractiveness of Focal Points in Coordination Games

An attractive feature of joining the University of Birmingham is the access to state-of-the-art resources, with MRI,  fMRI,  EEG,  infant EEG, multiple TMS platforms, and multiple facilities for eye tracking and kinematic analysis as well as the Birmingham Experimental Economics Laboratory (BEEL).

Area contact: Prof Matthew Cole, Department of Economics, Birmingham Business School, m.a.cole@bham.ac.uk

Within the Departments of Economics and Management there is an active group of researchers examining what we broadly term 'the Economics of Globalisation'. This encompasses a wide range of issues relating to aspects of international trade, foreign direct investment (FDI) and development. We have a specific interest in the impact of globalisation on the environment.

Specific research topics include:

• The impact of economic growth, international trade and FDI on the environment
• The impact of differences in environmental regulations on patterns of international trade and investment
• Multinationals and the environment
• Industrial specialisation and its effects on the spatial distribution of pollution
• The economic impacts of climate change on development in Africa
• Intra-industry trade
• Empirical analyses of productivity and labour market effects of trade and investment liberalisation in developed and developing countries
• Environmental policy, technological change and development
• The economics of China and East Asia  

 

EC Seventh Framework Programme, e-frame: European framework for Measuring Progress, January 2012-December 2015, Mary O’Mahony and Stan Siebert

EC Seventh Framework Programme, SERVICEGAP: The Impact of Service Sector Innovation and Internationalisation on Growth and Productivity, March 2010- February 2013, Coordinated by Mary O’Mahony

EC Seventh Framework Programme, INDICSER: Indicators for evaluating international performance in service sectors, January 2010- December 2012, Coordinated by Mary O’Mahony

DG Enterprise, European Commission:, Education, Training and Productivity, Contributions to Competitiveness report 2009, PI: Mary O’Mahony 

EC Sixth Framework Programme: EUKLEMS: growth accounts at the industry level, 2004-2007, academic coordinator: Mary O’Mahony ( with B van Ark and M. Timmer, University of Groningen).

ESRC: Bilateral (ESRC-Hong Kong), “Innovative management practices and firm performance in a large private manufacturing firm in China”; PI: Stan Siebert 

ESRC: The Dynamics of International Trade: Sequencing, Experimenting and Quality, June 2010 to November 2011, PI: Robert Elliott 

The Leverhulme Trust: Industrial Activity and the Environment: A Spatial Analysis , June 2010 to June 2012, PI: Matthew Cole

ESRC: International Dimensions of Political Regime Dynamics, October 2008 to March 2011, PI: Facundo Albornoz 

The Leverhulme Trust: Globalisation and the Environment: Causes, Consequences and Policy Implications, June 2004 to June 2007, PI: Matthew Cole

 

The research teams in Birmingham Business School publish in major 4* and 3* international journals. These include recent publications in the Academy of Management Journal; American Economic Review; British Journal of Industrial Relations; British Journal of Management, Canadian Journal of Economics; Ecological Economics; Economic Journal; Economic Theory; Entrepreneurship, Theory and Practice; European Economic Review; Experimental Economics; Games and Economic Behaviour; Human Relations; Human Resource Management; Industrial Relations; International Journal of Human Resource Management;Journal of Business Ethics;Journal of Development Economics; Journal of Economic Perspectives; Journal of Health Economics; Journal of International Business Studies; Journal of International Economics; Journal of Management Studies, Journal of Public Economics; Journal of Risk and Uncertainty; Journal of the Royal Statistical Society A; Labour Economics; Management Science; Review of Economics and Statistics; World Development; Work Employment and Society.

 

Research undertaken in Birmingham Business School impacts on a wide range of users including UK and International policy makers, Businesses and consumers, in addition to the academic community. Research results have recently fed into policy or deliberations by the Treasury Select Committee, The European Central Bank and Eurostat.  

Labour Markets and Productivity

• Dr Fiona Carmichael
• Dr Marco Ercolani
• Dr Paul Lewis
• Professor Mary O’Mahony
• Professor Stan Siebert

Global Business

• Dr Ian Clark
• Dr Lisa dePropris
• Professor Paul Edwards
• Professor Francis Greene
• Dr Jason Heyes
• Professor Helen Rainbird
• Professor Sue Marlow
• Dr Paulina Ramirez
• Dr Pamela Robinson
• Dr Yufeng Zhang

Behavioural Economics

•  Dr. Giovanna D’Adda
•  Dr. Michalis Drouvelis
•  Professor Brit Grosskopf
•  Professor Indrajit Ray
•  Professor Rajiv Sarin

Economics of Globalisation

• Dr. Facundo Albornoz Crespo
• Professor Matt Cole
• Dr. Corrado di Maria
• Professor Rob Elliott
• Dr. Michael Henry
• Dr Liza Jabbour