Economics & Finance Impact Strategy
Strategy for impact
Academics in Economics and Finance have worked with government bodies, international organisations, firms and charities to ensure that their research impacts on public policy, quality of life and wellbeing in society. The association of the staff with public bodies and firms through the work placement scheme, along with regular consultancy and secondments keeps us closely engaged with our impact community. Impact on the economy comes in part through the use of high quality academic work designed for use in the policy community. We have worked for and maintained contacts with regulators (OFT, FSA, the Low Pay Commission, BIS Basel, European Commission) and international bodies (IMF, OECD, World Bank) as well as with government departments (BIS, HM Treasury, DfID, DWP, HMRC). We also work closely with industry in the UK and elsewhere. Recent projects include influencing behaviour in electricity generation in China, and affecting accounting behaviour in the UK.
Channels for impact
Impact comes through dialogue with the public, using media in various forms.
- Staff have written newspaper articles and been consulted by journalists from the Financial Times, the Guardian, the Daily Telegraph and the Times. They have been interviewed for the BBC Today programme, the World Service and other radio and television news and current affairs programmes.
- Direct interaction with UK policy makers is also common. For example, the implications of work on consumption, saving and pensions was presented to coalition cabinet ministers responsible for pensions policy and to shadow ministers at the Labour Party conference, both in 2011.
- Active involvement with officials is also part of our strategy. The department organises three conferences a year through its Macroeconomics (BMRC), Finance (CEF) and Development (CEDI) Centres. Here, academic work and policy discussion are combined, with participation from and presentations by representatives of bodies such as the Bank of England, the Centre for Research in Financial Regulation and the Bank of Cyprus.
Contributing to public discourse and policy making
Over the last fifteen years economists in Economics and Finance have frequently designed their work to have impacts on decision takers and policy makers.
- We have contributed significantly to macro-economic policy making through our work on financial regulation (Barrell, Davis and Karim) and on consumption, savings and pensions (Barrell, Davis).
- We have affected the efficiency of the public sector through our work on debt management (Canepa), on the management of risk (Moro) and on the design of auditing strategies to increase HM Revenue and Customs effectiveness (Rablen).
- We have changed the debate on development through our work on Piracy in Somalia (Shortland) and through our direct involvement in DfID (Campos).
There are many other areas such as financial standards (Hassan, Qiwei), consumer protection (Hunter) and minimum wages (Fidrmuc) where staff have directly contributed both to the discussion and the making of policy. These studies can be traced on individual websites. Two of our major strands of impact related work are summarised here.
1. Financial Regulation. Staff working in this area with the intention of changing policy and increasing public understanding of financial markets include Barrell, Davis, Karim, Karanasos, Liu, Moore, Shortland, and Ventouri. Barrell and Davies started work on financial regulation and financial crises in 2002 when they undertook a study for the European Commission (with PWC) of the effect on the financial sector and the economy of Basel II banking capital regulations. They were joined by Karim who completed a PhD on financial crises in 2008 after working on an undergraduate placement at the Foreign Office on the Jamaican Financial Crisis. As a consequence of this expertise the Financial Services Authority commissioned Barrell, Davis and Karim to undertake a sequence of projects to evaluate the costs and benefits of tighter financial regulation. The group were the first to show that increases in bank capital and liquidity reduced the probability of financial crises. The work was presented at the ECB by Davis (2010), Barrell (2011) and Karim (2012); at the Bank of England, the BIS Basel, the European Commission and the OECD by Barrell (2010); and subsequently at other central banks and policy institutions. It formed the basis for changes in the structure of banking regulation at the FSA, the BIS Basel and the Commission. In addition Shortland’s work on state banking has influenced policy and regulation through its impact on World Bank actions.
2. Development and Growth. Many staff in the department have published academic papers on related topics, but they have been motivated by a desire to have impact. Campos has worked on the factors affecting growth in Brazil and elsewhere, looking at the impacts of Foreign Direct Investment and education. This work led to a secondment to the Department for International Development where the work of staff in economics at Brunel is having a major impact on government policy. Liu has worked with the European Commission to give technical support to transform electricity distribution in China, building on his industrial research. Shortland has studied the relationship between finance and development and has investigated the link between economic activity and income. In particular, the links between revenue from piracy in Somali and economic activity as measured by light intensity in urban areas has been both interesting and influential. The World Bank, the European Parliament and NATO have all used this work and it has had a significant impact on policy in all these bodies. Fidrmuc, Ghosh, and Bennett have also impacted directly on policy making in DfID, the European Commission and the World Bank.
For further information contact the Departmental Impact Coordinator, Professor Ray Barrell, or the individuals noted above. Please check individual websites for details of work as there are many other areas where Economics and Finance staff have active involvements in policy and strategic decisions by firms. We seek to use careful empirical analysis to impact on the polity and decision making.
Last updated August 2012
