Well over a hundred Universities in the UK teach courses in economics.  We are delighted therefore to report that in the recent 2001 evaluation of higher education research, of those Economics departments submitting all their staff only six were rated above Swansea by the Economics Panel.  Another 7 departments who failed to enter all their staff were rated as 5.  Along with only 4 others the department received a 4A research rating which equates to levels of national excellence in all areas of activity and international excellence in others.

A combination of active strategy and natural evolution has led to the development of several key areas of research specialization within the department.  The main research areas are in Labour Economics, Macroeconomics and Empirical Finance.

Within Labour Economics research has examined the inter-industry and inter-occupational wage spillovers in UK manufacturing and research is currently being undertaken analysing productivity spillovers across industries.  An ongoing programme of research analyses the magnitude of labour market discrimination faced by women, ethnic minorities and people with disabilities in the UK labour market.  Research is also in progress on the economic benefits of marriage.

The macroeconomics research group has undertaken important work on outlining the implications of central bank independence on the co-ordination of monetary and fiscal policy and how the degree of centralized wage bargaining might influence the objectives of central bankers.  Other research has analysed the regional variations in UK unemployment, the relationship between economic growth and military spending and the impact of EMU entry on economic performance and the political business cycle.

In the area of empirical finance, research using high frequency data has analysed the relationships between foreign exchange and equity markets and spillover effects between equity markets.  Work has also been undertaken on financial institutions in both Europe and the UK examining in particular the effects of technical change in banking.

Outside of these clusters important research is additionally taking place on theories of international trade and investment and the economies of sport, including investigating the relationship between team performance and managerial change.  The economics of transitional economies is also an area where the department has considerable expertise.