The Department of Economics is an academic department of the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

within the Social Sciences Division. Relatively recently founded in 1999, the department is located in the

Norman Foster Norman Robert Foster, Baron Foster of Thames Bank (born 1 June 1935) is an English architect. Closely associated with the development of high-tech architecture, Lord Foster is recognised as a key figure in British modernist architecture. Hi ...

-designed Manor Road Building.

History of Economics in Oxford

Despite the department's relatively recent establishment, Oxford has a long history within Economics. The 19th century saw an expansion of economics within Oxford, with ''political economy'' being offered as an option to Greats students, and the Drummond Chair in Political Economy being established in 1825 at

All Souls College All Souls College (official name: The College of All Souls of the Faithful Departed, of Oxford) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Unique to All Souls, all of its members automatically become fellows (i.e., full me ...

, first being held by

Nassau William Senior Nassau William Senior (26 September 1790 – 4 June 1864), was an English lawyer and economist. He was also a government adviser over several decades on economic and social policy on which he wrote extensively. In his writings, he made early co ...

. Other notable 19th century Oxford economists include Arnold Toynbee,

Francis Ysidro Edgeworth Francis Ysidro Edgeworth (8 February 1845 – 13 February 1926) was an Anglo-Irish philosopher and political economist who made significant contributions to the methods of statistics during the 1880s. From 1891 onward, he was appointed th ...

. The 20th century saw the first economics programme, a postgraduate ''Diploma in Economics'', in 1904. Economics was later introduced as part of a degree programme as part of the ''“modern greats”'' course in 1920, later ''

Philosophy, Politics and Economics Philosophy, politics and economics, or politics, philosophy and economics (PPE), is an interdisciplinary undergraduate or postgraduate academic degree, degree which combines study from three disciplines. The first institution to offer degrees in P ...

''. Economist L.L. Price argued that this emphasised Oxford's stance of treating economics ''“pretty.. but unimportant”''. 20th century Oxford economists include Sir Roy Harrod,

Jacob Marschak Jacob Marschak (23 July 1898 – 27 July 1977) was an American economist. Life Born in a Jewish family of Kyiv, Jacob Marschak (until 1933 ''Jakob'') was the son of a jeweler. During his studies, he joined the social democratic Menshevik P ...

, Nicholas Stern, Sir David Hendry, Stephen Nickell,

David Soskice David William Soskice, FBA (born 6 July 1942) is a British political economist and academic. He is currently the LSE School Professor of Political Science and Economics at the London School of Economics. Early life and education Soskice was b ...

Tim Harford Timothy Douglas Harford (born 27 September 1973) is an English economic journalist who lives in Oxford.Mark Carney Mark Joseph Carney (born March 16, 1965) is a Canadian politician and economist who has served as the 24th and current Prime Minister of Canada, prime minister of Canada since 2025. He has served as Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, lead ...

Nobel Prizes

Nine academics affiliated with Oxford have won the

Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, officially the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel (), commonly referred to as the Nobel Prize in Economics(), is an award in the field of economic sciences adminis ...

: * Sir John Hicks (1972; MA, Balliol; Drummond Professor of Political Economy) *

Gunnar Myrdal Karl Gunnar Myrdal ( ; ; 6 December 1898 – 17 May 1987) was a Swedish economist and sociologist. In 1974, he received the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences along with Friedrich Hayek for "their pioneering work in the theory of money an ...

(1974; Fellow of Balliol) *

James Meade James Edward Meade FBA (23 June 1907 – 22 December 1995) was a British economist who made major contributions to the theory of international trade and welfare economics. Along with Richard Kahn, James Meade helped develop the concept of ...

(1977; MA, Oriel) *

Lawrence Klein Lawrence Robert Klein (September 14, 1920 – October 20, 2013) was an American economist. For his work in creating computer models to forecast economic trends in the field of econometrics in the Department of Economics at the University of Penn ...

(1980; Lincoln) *

Robert Solow Robert Merton Solow, GCIH (; August 23, 1924 – December 21, 2023) was an American economist who received the 1987 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, and whose work on the theory of economic growth culminated in the exogenous growth ...

(1987; George Eastman Visiting Professor; Fellow of Balliol) * Sir James Mirrlees (1996; Edgeworth Professor of Economics; Fellow of Nuffield) *

Amartya Sen Amartya Kumar Sen (; born 3 November 1933) is an Indian economist and philosopher. Sen has taught and worked in England and the United States since 1972. In 1998, Sen received the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for his contributions ...

(1998; Fellow of Nuffield; Drummond Professor of Political Economy; Fellow of All Souls) *

Michael Spence Andrew Michael Spence (born November 7, 1943) is a Canadian-American economist and Nobel laureate. Spence is the William R. Berkley Professor in Economics and Business at the Stern School of Business at New York University, and the Philip H. Kn ...

(2001; Rhodes Scholar; MA, Magdalen) *

Joseph Stiglitz Joseph Eugene Stiglitz (; born February 9, 1943) is an American New Keynesian economist, a public policy analyst, political activist, and a professor at Columbia University. He is a recipient of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences (2 ...

(2001; Drummond Professor of Political Economy; Fellow of All Souls, Visiting Fellow of St Catherine's)

Courses

The department offers three undergraduate courses in economics, but notably no straight economics option: * BA History & Economics, run jointly with the History Faculty *BA Economics & Management, run jointly with the

Saïd Business School Saïd Business School (Oxford Saïd or SBS) is the business school of the University of Oxford. The school is a provider of management education. Business and management classes started at Oxford in 1965 when the Centre of Management Studies, ...

*BA Philosophy, Politics & Economics, run jointly with the Philosophy Faculty, and Politics Department At graduate level, the department offers six courses: * MSc Economics for Development, jointly offered by the Department of International Development *MSc Financial Economics, jointly offered by the Saïd Business School *MSc Economic and Social History, jointly offered by the Faculty of History *

MPhil A Master of Philosophy (MPhil or PhM; Latin ' or ') is a postgraduate degree. The name of the degree is most often abbreviated MPhil (or, at times, as PhM in other countries). MPhil are awarded to postgraduate students after completing at least ...

in Economics and Social History, jointly offered by the Faculty of History *MPhil Economics *

DPhil A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

Economics

Research

In the 2014

Research Excellence Framework The Research Excellence Framework (REF) is a research impact evaluation of British Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). It is the successor to the Research Assessment Exercise and it was first used in 2014 to assess the period 2008–2013. REF is ...

(REF2014), the Department received an overall grade-point average of 3.44 (out of 4) - the third highest of any department in Economics and Econometrics in the UK, behind UCL and the

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...

Research groups and centres

The department currently houses nine research groups, and is involved with five different research centres: Research groups: Research centres:
Centre for the Study of African Economies (CSAE)
— directed by Stefan Dercon
Oxford Centre for the Analysis of Resource-Rich economies (OxCarre)
— directed by Anthony Venables
Economic Modelling (EMoD)
at the Institute for New Economic Thinking (INET)
Urbanising in Developing Countries
— directed by Anthony Venables, jointly with the

International Growth Centre The International Growth Centre (IGC) is an economic research centre based at the London School of Economics, operated in partnership with University of Oxford's Blavatnik School of Government. The centre was launched in December 2008 and is fun ...

Rankings

In the 2021 ''

Complete University Guide Three national rankings of universities in the United Kingdom are published annually by the ''Complete University Guide'' and ''The Guardian'', as well as a collaborative list by ''The Times'' and ''The Sunday Times''. Rankings have also been pro ...

'', the programme is ranked second nationally, behind the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

. The ''

Tilburg University Tilburg University is a Catholic research university specializing in the social and behavioral sciences, economics, law, business sciences, theology and humanities, located in Tilburg, Netherlands. Tilburg has a student population of about 19,1 ...

Economics Ranking'' is a worldwide ranking of Economics schools based on research contribution placing Oxford second in Europe, and 11th globally. Similarly, the ''

Academic Ranking of World Universities The ''Academic Ranking of World Universities'' (''ARWU''), also known as the Shanghai Ranking, is one of the annual publications of world university rankings. The league table was originally compiled and issued by Shanghai Jiao Tong Universi ...

'' sees Oxford place third in Europe, and 15th globally. The 2020 ''

Times Higher Education World University Rankings The ''Times Higher Education World University Rankings'', often referred to as the THE Rankings, is the annual publication of university rankings by the ''Times Higher Education'' magazine. The publisher had collaborated with Quacquarelli Symon ...

'' places Oxford first in the UK, and third globally. In the 2020 ''

QS World University Rankings The ''QS World University Rankings'' is a portfolio of comparative college and university rankings compiled by Quacquarelli Symonds, a higher education analytics firm. Its first and earliest edition was published in collaboration with '' Times ...

by subject'', Oxford is ranked second in Europe, and ninth globally for Economics & Econometrics.

Notable current faculty

Current faculty includes the Director of Policy Research at the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and Grant (money), grants to the governments of Least developed countries, low- and Developing country, middle-income countries for the purposes of economic development ...

, Chief Economists at the

Department for International Development The Department for International Development (DFID) was a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the government of the United Kingdom, from 1997 to 2020. It was responsible for administering foreign aid ...

, and Members of the

Monetary Policy Committee The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is a committee of the Bank of England, which meets for three and a half days, eight times a year, to decide the official interest rate in the United Kingdom (the Bank of England Base Rate). It is also respo ...

, among many other prominent roles.

Notable former faculty

References

External links

Social Sciences DivisionUniversity of Oxford
{{DEFAULTSORT:Department of Economics, University of Oxford

Economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

Educational institutions established in 1999 1999 establishments in England