Behavioural, Experimental, and Development Economics

Understanding economic behaviour using the experimental method

The cluster is active in areas such as development economics, behavioural economics, financial economics, political economy, strategic interaction, and industrial organization. Experiments allow us to test how incentives or psychological and emotional shape economic behaviour.

Behavioural, Experimental, and Development economics research at Essex has a distinguished record. Members of the cluster produce research that is published in the best economics, social sciences, and multidisciplinary journals internationally. The work of cluster members is supported by national and international funding bodies such as the ESRC, British Academy, Leverhulme Trust, EC, ERC, IPA, and IFREE and has led to impact on policy. Visit our Departmental research page to learn more about our research funding and our research impact on policy. Our members also hold editorial positions at leading economics journals, as well as the top field journals in experimental economics.

Multidisciplinary research is common in the cluster, with several members working with political scientists, management scholars, and other disciplines. Members of the cluster have leading roles in the founding and running of the Essex Centre for Experimental Social Sciences (ExCESS) and the EssexLab.

Cluster members teach modules in all undergraduate and masters courses offered by the Department of Economics and have been at the forefront of curriculum innovation and redesign. Research students are an integral part of the cluster and students supervised by cluster members have gone on to careers in academia and policy organisations internationally.

The cluster hosts the Behavioural, Experimental, and Development Economics Seminar Series in which external speakers from leading universities and internal speakers – staff and research students – from Essex present their research. The cluster also organises an internal workshop for team-building and feedback on research. To view all events taking place within the Department, please visit our Departmental events calendar.

Please browse our list of members below and visit their academic staff profiles to discover individual details of their research and supervision status.