LONDON METROPOLITAN BUSINESS SCHOOL
Economics - News and Events
World Leading Research - Hollywood Film Profitability over the 20th Century
Professor John Sedgwick has had a research paper accepted for publication in the Economic History Review in 2010. The journal is ranked in the top 4* category for economics journals. The article presents an overview of the development of the US film industry from 1929 to 1999. In a volatile film production environment, in terms of rate of return and market share variability, Professor Sedgwick finds, surprisingly, that the industry has remained relatively stable and profitable. Film production by the film studios is interpreted as analogous to the construction of an investment portfolio, whereby producers diversified risk across budgetary categories. He shows how the high-budget film, which was unprofitable in the 1930s, was subsequently refined to make high-budget production the new focus for profitability. John teaches industrial economics and research methods.
Advances in Digital Technology – A Major Research Award from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)
In November 2009 the EPSRC agreed to fund a major collaborative research project worth £277,000 on supporting revenue generation and sharing value in digital music distribution. On the project Dr Thierry Rayne will work jointly with colleagues at Imperial College, London, including the principal investigator Prof. John Darlington. Thierry teaches business and industrial economics and is course leader for our postgraduate MSc/MA degrees Business Economics and Finance.
Pioneering New Learning and Teaching Methods in Economics
Dr. Gherardo Girardi obtained funding in 2009 from the Economics Network of the UK's Higher Education Authority to develop the use of film as a vehicle to teach economics. The approach explores how we can help students through identify their deeper motivations for studying. Our students are responding very positively to these new initiatives. Gherardo teaches industrial economics, international business strategy and economic development. He is course leader for our postgraduate MA degrees in International Business, Sustainability and Emerging Markets.
A Reevaluation of Thomas Chalmers
In September 2009 William Dixon and David Wilson had their paper 'Thomas Chalmers: the market, moral conduct and social order’ accepted by the leading journal in the area History of Political Economy. This work continues the authors' work on the conceptual and historical foundations of modern economics by examining 19thC economist and theologian Thomas Chalmers. It shows Chalmers to anticipate and, in some ways, surpass modern work, for example, by George Akerlof and Bruno Frey, considering the relation between economic behaviour, morality and reciprocity. William and David lead several modules on the BA Politics, Philosophy, and Economy programme.
Economics Key Note Speaker at the Major International Conference, Dec 2009
Professor Amos Witztum has been invited to be a Key Note speaker at a special conference in Israel in December 2009, related to the current financial crisis, "Perspectives on Keynes". The conference is supported by the Guggenheim Foundation (Geneva). Through 2009 Amos's papers have been accepted to five difference conferences in Edinburgh, Madrid, New York, Thessalonik and Denver.
Major Research Award From The EU
Professor Joe Pearlman has recently obtained a major research grant of around £100,000 from the EU. He is a leading member of an international team of experts developing optimal monetary and fiscal policy tools within the European monetary union. Partners include the University of Frankfurt, University of Surrey, and the European Commission. The project represents a very significant step forward towards better models and better tools for the formulation of macroeconomic policies. The work represents a continuation of a research project on robust monetary policy, funded by the UK Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), held jointly with Surrey and City universities, which achieved a verdict of ‘outstanding’ from the ESRC for its contributions in 2008. Joe teaches macroeconomics and international finance to our final year undergraduates and postgraduate students.
International Journal Success
Professor Amos Witztum has been the Editor, together with LSE’s Frank Cowell, of a Special Issue of Economica published in 2009. Economica is a leading international 3*-4* journal. Contributors to the Special Issue include Prof A.B. Atkinson, Professor Lord Goodhart, and Prof R.G. Lipsey, The papers are based on an international conference organized by Amos with colleagues at the London School of Economics to commemorate the 75th anniversary of Lord Robbins's Essay on the Nature and Significance of Economic Science in January 2008. The conference was attended by other leading international academic economists including John Sutton, Larry Blume, Ken Binmore, and Bob Sugden.
Our Student Success
At our last graduation ceremony at the Barbican in the City of London in December 2008, we celebrated the achievements of over four hundred students awarded with BA/BSc (Honours) and MA/MSc degrees in economics, finance and international business. Several graduates were also proud recipients of major awards and prizes. Katrin Biglarian, who graduated with a first class degree in Economics in June 2008, won the prestigious Vice Chancellor’s award for the best graduating student in the University. She also won the CBI Chief Economist Prize and the Norman Thacker Prize for her outstanding achievements. Katrin attended the ceremony at the Barbican Centre with her delighted parents, who travelled over from Armenia for the occasion. Katrin is currently working for Euromoney in the City of London.
Top Publication For New Appointment In Economics
Dr Abay Mulatu has recently joined the Department. He previously worked at the University of Manchester, Cambridge and the LSE. At the end of 2008 Abay published a paper in Economic History Review , a 4* leading international journal. To achieve publication in such a highly rated journal is outstanding. The paper “Were British Railway Companies Well-Managed in the Early Twentieth Century?’ was a joint paper with Prof Nicholas Crafts and Dr Timothy Leunig.
Nominated Best Paper
A paper published by Dr Photis Lysandrou in the highly regarded international journal Corporate Governance: An International Review on 'The Anachronism of the Voice-Exit Paradigm: Institutional Investors and Corporate Governance in the UK' was recently elected as one of the four top papers nominated for Best Paper published in the Journal in 2007.
Media Spotlight
Paul Bullock, Senior Lecturer in International Business Economics, was interviewed on BBC5 live in February 2008 about the evolving economic and political situation in Cuba. In the same month Paul was on a panel of experts on Press TV to debate the recent financial crisis and the impact of a declining US dollar on the world economy.
New International Research Centre
Dr John Sedgwick was recently appointed as Director of the newly established Centre for International Business and Sustainability. The Centre aims to develop research activity across various fields of International Business, including the effects on the climate, and the environment of continued economic development. The Centre will offer high-level research, consultancy and training to the international business sector.
Major International Conference Address
Professor Joe Pearlman presented a paper on his work on national monetary economic policy to the US National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) in Summer 2007 in Barcelona, Spain. The NBER is the US’s leading economic research organization and is dedicated to promoting a greater understanding of how economies work. It is highly influential and 16 of the 31 American Nobel Prize winners in Economics and six of the past Chairmen of the US President's Council of Economic Advisers have been researchers at the NBER. Professor Pearlman was awarded £45,000 by the UK Economic and Social Research Council to undertake this work in collaboration with the University of Surrey and City University.
Economics hosts major public lecture
In June the Department hosted the 2007 Eva Colorni Memorial Lecture. It was given by Professor Foster, Professor of Irish History at the University of Oxford. The lecture explored how nationalism is inculcated and examined its relationship to religion, economics, globalisation, and language. The lecture was attended by Professor Amartya Sen Harvard Professor of Economics and Nobel Laureate, chaired by writer and journalist Paul Barker, and a number of distinguished guests attended including Professor Eric Hobsbawm, Lord Desai and Professor Ronald Dworkin. Both Desai and Dworkin have previously given the Memorial Lecture.
Economics Staff Awards
Dr Amos Witztum has been elected to the Executive Council of the European Society for the History of Economic Thought. He has also recently joined the Editorial Board of the Journal of the History of Economic Thought, which is the official journal of the American Society for the History of Economics.
In summer 2007 Dr Amos Witztum was conferred an Honorary Professorship by the Academic Council of the Higher School of Economics in Moscow. The School is one of the largest and now, most significant, social science university in Russia.
Professor Nicholas Sarantis has recently published a paper in the Journal of Banking and Finance. The journal has a 4-star rating which is the highest possible international ranking. In this paper he uses advanced quantitative techniques to examine the short-term predictability of exchange rates and shows how international investors can make significant profits following an inter-day trading strategy based on his technical forecasting model. The paper represents the pinnacle of research in the area and is expected to be a primary international reference point in the field of forecasting financial markets.
In July 2007 Dr Photis Lysandrou won the Best Paper Prize (Sponsored by Blackwell) at the 5th International Conference on Corporate Governance held at Birmingham Business School. The prize was presented by Lord Cadbury. The paper on 'The Anachronism of the Voice-Exit Paradigm - Institutional Investors and Corporate Governance in the UK', was written with Denitsa Stoyanova, and can be downloaded from the Department’s research web page.
Dr Guglielmo Volpe, who was awarded a £50,000 prestigious UK National Teaching Fellow in 2006, is currently working on a project evaluating the effectiveness of using case studies in teaching in the area of International Business Strategy on the MA International Business degree. The study is supported and funded by the UK Economics Network.
In early summer 2007 Dr John Sedgwick was awarded a prestigious Visiting Research Fellowship by the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology and the Australian Film, Television and Radio School. As part of the award John will be developing our economic understanding of the nature and development of the Australian film industry and he will be giving a series of high-profile lectures and presentations to specialists in the field.