Efficiency and productivity

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Efficiency and productivity research

Explore our work in efficiency and productivity, one of the 4 areas of expertise in our Economics research area

Neoclassical economic theory predicts that agents or decision makers who perform below their ability won't survive in competitive markets. However, in reality many other factors, such as imperfect information and regulation, can cause inefficiency and damage productivity. Using state of the art techniques we investigate the driving forces of productivity across various sectors as well as related inefficiencies and other frictions and aim to provide policy recommendations driven by strong theoretical and empirical evidence.

Collaborations and partnerships

Our academic partners include the Brunel University, University of Milan, National University of Singapore, KAPSARC, Queensland University of Technology, University of Montreal, Technical University of Dresden, and University of Applied Sciences Amberg-Weidenand.

Current projects

Analysing sectoral productivity in the UK to identify reasons for high and low productivity
Measuring country’s energy and environmental inefficiency
Productivity effects of collaboration and specialization in research and innovation
Skilled-labour migration, gender and peer effects on productivity in STEM research

Recent publication highlights

Specialization, field distance, and quality in economists' collaborations

Onder, A., Schweitzer, S., & Yilmazkuday, H. (Accepted/In press). Journal of Informetrics.
Institutions and firms’ technological changes and productivity growth

Ghulam, Y. (2021). Technological Forecasting and Social Change, volume 171.
Publication lags and the research output of young economists

Conley, J. P., Crucini, M., Driskill, R., & Onder, A. (2020). In S. Galiani, & U. Panizza (Eds.), Publishing and Measuring Success in Economics. CEPR Press. Pages. 67-72.
Estimation of productivity growth in the Saudi higher education sector

Ghulam, Y., & Mousa, W. I. (2019). Technological Forecasting and Social Change, volume 149.
Measuring underlying energy efficiency in the GCC countries using a newly constructed dataset

Alarenan, S., Gasim, A. A., Hunt, L. C., & Muhsen, A. R. (2019). Energy Transitions. Volume 3, pages 31-34.
Measurement of energy efficiency based on economic foundations

Filippini, M., & Hunt, L. C. (2015). Energy Economics, volume 52, pages S5-S16
Efficiency and productivity of the cement industry: Pakistani experience of deregulation and privatisation

Ghulam, Y., & Jaffry, S. (2015). Omega, volume 54, pages 101-114.

Discover our areas of expertise

Efficiency and productivity is one of our 4 areas of expertise in our Economics research area – explore the others below.

Resource economics and environmental policy

We examine how economics influences the preservation and sustainability of natural resources such as aquatic ecosystems.

Monetary policy

We explore how central banks can keep inflation low and stable by influencing how much money there is in the economy and the cost of borrowing.

people looking at finance graphs on computer screen

Behavioural and experimental economics

We investigate how psychological, emotional and social factors affect economic decision-making.

Research groups

Economics Research Group

We're undertaking cutting-edge research ranging from microeconomic level analysis of individual decision making, to global macroeconomic and monetary interactions.