Can you tell us a little bit about your background and what brought you to UEA?
I did a PhD in Econometrics at Bristol University a long time ago. In those days, I mainly worked on the econometrics of household survey data. I moved to UEA in 1992 and I’ve been here ever since. In this time I have become more and more interested in the Econometrics of Experimental data, or “Experimetrics”.
What are you passionate about outside of Economics?
I spend a lot of time playing the piano, with a particular interest in Ragtime. I am also a keen football freestyler!
What inspired you to pursue a career in Economics?
I guess I always liked maths, and “working with numbers”. But I never aspired to being a mathematician. I wanted to be doing things in which mathematical skills are usefully applied. I definitely found this in Economics.
What excites you the most about Economics at the moment?
The subject is changing rapidly, and this is exciting to me. The most significant change has been the Behavioural Economics Revolution, in which Psychological concepts have been increasingly brought to bear on Economic Decision Making. The rapid growth in “bigdata” sources and techniques has been an important driver of these changes. The speed of change is such that it is hard to predict what Economists will be working on in ten years’ time.
What modules do you teach on?
I teach Econometrics at all levels, but recently I have been teaching postgraduates. The modules include Financial Econometrics, in which we teach students how to apply Econometric techniques to the testing of Financial Theories such as the Efficient Markets Hypothesis, and Banking Econometrics, in which we teach students how to use data on bank borrowers to predict the characteristics of a customer that make them most likely to default on their loan.
What are you researching at the moment?
Most of my research is in Experimetrics, that is, the Econometric Analysis of data from Economic Experiments. I usually work in collaboration with Experimental Economists who have carried out experiments. Without going into detail, the major econometric challenge with data from experiments is how to allow for subject heterogeneity, that is, how to allow for the fact that, for example, every subject has a different risk attitude, and can therefore be expected to respond differently to an economic stimulus. And believe me, it is a major challenge!
Have you ever worked with organisations outside of academia in your research/work?
Over the years, I have acted as a consultant for local companies such as Archant (suppliers of local newspapers) and Anglian Water (AW). Archant wanted estimates of the price elasticity of demand for their various newspapers, so they could predict the effect of a price increase on sales. AW wanted an estimate of the “Demand Effect of Metering”, that is , a measure of by how much a household’s water consumption falls when they have a meter installed. This was an important question for AW, since they are one of the leaders, among UK water companies, in the drive towards universal metering.
What do you enjoy most about the School of Economics at UEA?
It is a very friendly environment. Teachers in the School are dedicated to the learning outcomes and wellbeing of the students. At the same time, we are provided with generous support in the pursuit of our own career objectives.
What are you reading at the moment?
Lots of published Articles!
What is your favourite place in Norwich?
My favourite coffee house is Strangers on Pottergate, and my favourite pubs are the White Lion on Oak Street and the Fat Cat on Nelson Street.