Department of Economics
Strategy
Mission and vision
The mission of the Department of Economics (ECON) is to provide research, teaching and knowledge transfer at the highest level within the core areas of economics, i.e. microeconomics, macroeconomics, and quantitative methods. The Department is especially active in business-related economic research and hosts three cross-disciplinary research centers promoting these activities. The Department offers high quality education within an extensive number of full-time and part-time programs available at Copenhagen Business School, including a structured PhD program.
The vision of the Department of Economics is to be recognized as one of the leading economics departments at European business schools.
Research
The Department of Economics is an internationally oriented department that engages in research, teaching, and dissemination within economics and quantitative methods.
Our research is solidly grounded in economic theory and quantitative methodology, and covers a wide range of economic topics, including, but not restricted to, issues related to microeconomics, macroeconomics, and international economics. Within quantitative methods, our primary research focus is the study of models that are applicable within the disciplines of economics and management science. Our research is theoretical, empirical, and/or experimental. Our research is relevant and sought-after, and both industry and policy makers are interested in our field and in the expertise of our faculty.
ECON engages in interdisciplinary, thematic research, founded in economic theory and quantitative methods with extensive use of the rich data that are available. We give high priority to give the best possible infrastructure and support for using Danish register data in our research and teaching.
The Department hosts three centers conducting interdisciplinary, thematic research: Pension Research Centre (PeRCent) (joint with the Department of Finance), Centre for Innovation (CFI) and Copenhagen School of Energy Infrastructure (CSEI).
PeRCent was launched with the aim of developing analytical capacity to seriously address the challenges faced by the pension system in a broad sense. The centre’s research draws on a combination of scholarly approaches within economics and finance, thus aiming at a wide coverage of topics relevant to public and private pensions.
CFI focuses largely on empirical economic research on innovation, performance and productivity. The research results are aimed at improving the basis for decision makers while being of such a standard that they can be published in internationally recognized journals.
Find more information about all the research activities of ECON and our centres here
Teaching
In terms of teaching ECON’s vision is to give CBS’s students – i.e. future business leaders and market analysts – valuable and necessary knowledge of the interaction between companies in their economic frame in a still more globalized and complex world.
In the past years we have expanded teaching of economics especially at the masters’ level and especially through the Cand.Merc.program of Applied Economics and Finance and the Cand.Oecon.program of Advanced Economics and Finance.
At CBS’s bachelor programs we teach microeconomics and macroeconomics. We also teach either international economics or industrial organization, or both. In a few programs we teach quantitative methods.
We also teach at MBA programs, including executive MBA (E-MBA) programs. At full time MBA (FT-MBA) we currently hold the program directorship and we teach economics and two elective courses.
We are involved in the first part of the HD program. We are responsible for a few compulsory and some eligible courses (Economics/Samfundsøkonomi, Public Economics/Offentlig Økonomi and others).
ECON offers a range of elective courses and our faculty is supervising projects and theses at both the bachelor and master level.
ECONs research centres are also part of the department’s teaching profile.
Dissemination
ECON has a strong focus on disseminating its research results and other achievements. We see dissemination through formalized structures, partners, networks, website, social media, seminars, conferences, and media outlets in Denmark and internationally as an important way of making our results and achievements available to all relevant stakeholders as well as a means to ensure knowledge interaction with the surrounding world. We aim to maintain a strong media presence in Denmark and to strengthen our international media presence.
Promoting ECON’s publications through networks and via the CBS library and our own website and social media is a key element in ECON’s dissemination approach.
ECONs research centres play an active and important role in terms of dissemination.
Dissemination
ECON is highly active in and has a good track record in terms of attracting external funding from public and private funders, nationally and internationally, due to a year-long ambitious effort in terms of good applications and focus at the department. It is ECONs goal to strengthen its fundraising performance even further and we encourage junior as well as senior faculty to actively take part in the fund raising.
Our website offers a good overview of ECONs externally funded research activities
Our research centres are by definition large-scale externally funded research entities
Staff
Top-notch human resource management is the sine qua non of ECONs strategy. Our key focus in is on retaining and nurturing good staff through a combination of attractive teaching assignments, research support, collegiality, access to data and flexibility. ECON is very active in recruiting at the international job market, and our faculty members consist of a broad mix of the most skilled economists from around the world.
Find an overview of ECON and centre staff here
PhD training is an integral part of the research environment at ECON. We have a strong PhD environment at the department, and we give considerable attention to secure funding for new scholarships and to provide PhD level courses, supervise and in other ways support our PhD students. ECON offers regular PhD courses. Still for a number of reasons, including overall financing prospects at CBS, ECONs PhD program is in the process of being redesigned to match the new realities.
Read more about our PhD program here
Part time external lecturers (DVIP) are an important part of ECON. Currently ECON employs around 80 External Lecturers (EL), Teaching Assistants (TA), and Instructors. As part of the employment procedure we assess DVIP qualifications and offer support in the start phase of their employment. All courses have an internal faculty member as course responsible. The faculty member holds the responsibility for securing that the teaching is well organized and executed. Performance is monitored both from the course responsible but also for the HoD and the Course Coordinator at ECON. ECON is organizing and annual “ECON Day” with all DVIP as part of sustaining a good collaboration and securing a strong level of the qualifications of our DVIPs. ECON also encourages our DVIP to participate in professional conferences and meetings, e.g. meetings arranged by Nationaløkonomisk Forening,
External relations
ECON engages in numerous external relations. Our researchers have individual relations with colleagues and universities in Europe and abroad. Here, we will just mention some of the external partners who relates to our centres and networks.
Pension Research Centre (PeRCent) is heavily engaged with a number of external partners, including the pension industry, the central administration, the Danish Central Bank, Statistics Denmark, and scholars at Danish and international universities and other knowledge institutions.
Centre for Innovation (CFI) collaborates closely with project partners and research partners. The center currently hosts three research projects which are being done in collaboration with numerous Danish .
ECON staff members are also co-organizers of the Copenhagen Education Network (CEN). CEN is a group of economic researchers interested in education. The network has members both from academia, from other public research institutes and from the private sector. Read more about CEN here