Economics, Finance & Statistics

The department of Economics consists of three subdivisions: Economics, Finance and Economic Statistics.

The Economics research is mainly concentrated on various aspects of industrial economics. The research themes of Finance are an interplay between institutions, finance and economic development. The Statistics research comprises issues related to economic modeling of cross section, time series and panel data.

Economics

In Economics, research is mainly concentrated on various aspects of industrial economics with a emphasis on decision making, competitiveness and specialization, inter-regional and trans-national trade as well as multi-sectoral interaction and change. Dynamics is also highlighted along with the course of development relevant to entrepreneurship and innovations. In this way attention is focused on economic dynamics, renewal of economic structure and dynamics of specialisation and industrial organisation. This also relates to research projects in international trade and the development of international markets in general. The analysis of dynamic processes also comprises econometric techniques to estimate and detect endogenous causation.

Spatial aspects are reflected in studies of location and trade, including spatial industrial dynamics. In a set of studies spatial specifications of production, transaction and consumption activities have been used as a means to enrich the data sets for econometric studies of general problems in economics.

Head of the subdivision of Economics is Professor Börje Johansson.

Finance

Financial markets and institutions generate financing and investment opportunities for private households and firms. Better functioning financial systems (markets, intermediaries, regulation) can ease external financial constraints that would otherwise impede new firm foundation and industrial expansion.

The main research themes of Finance at JIBS are the interplay between institutions, finance and economic development. Institutions at various levels constitute the rules of the game and determine, through incentives, how financial systems work and how and what type of financial transactions are made. This in turn is crucial for economic development both at household/individual level, firm and industry level as well as for macroeconomic outcomes. The purpose is to conduct research, which allows for controlled systematic empirical quantitative analysis with the aim to provide decision support for public policy and private decision-making.

The research also focuses on corporate governance practices, which align governance structures with transactions, managing agency, and incentive problems. At the firm level, this includes investment decisions

Head of the subdivision Finance is professor Andreas Stephan

Statistics

The mission of the subdivision of Statistics is to advance the frontiers of statistical science research in both theory and applications
- to provide learning environments that produce well educated statisticians, econometricians and quantitatively literate people
- to join with others in bringing the strengths of the statistical sciences to address societal needs.

Moreover, the statistical research aims at creating advances in the statistical sciences and statistical applications by enriching education, and strengthening research on campus and in the wider community. In addition to developing fundamental theory and methodology, we are actively involved in statistical problems that arise in such diverse fields as economics, finance, sport, tourism, regional development, business cycles and international trade. Research and dissertation works within Statistics subdivision at JIBS focus on various aspects of developing inference and decision making methods within, e.g., multivariate analysis, model-based and model-independent time series analysis, multi level analysis, robust estimation and micro econometrics.