As 2025 draws to a close, we round up some of the new book releases in the field of finance. 

As 2025 draws to a close, we round up some of the new book releases in the field of economics. 

Recently, I applied to PhD programs in the UK and Europe. I’m from the USA originally, but I got my Master’s in Economics and Management Science in Berlin, Germany. So, when it came time to apply for economics PhDs, I cast a wide net across Europe. I’ve proven that I can handle applying to, moving to, and studying in a foreign country, after all.But it turns out that I still had a lot to learn about applying to PhDs! That’s partly because US-style PhD programs are different from UK- or European-style PhD programs, and partly because applying for a PhD is just different than applying for a Master’s degree. 

Food lies at the heart of Christmas celebrations around the globe. Whether it’s tamales steaming in Mexican kitchens, turkey roasting in American ovens, or spiced mulled wine warming hands in Germany, the holiday season sparks a global surge in demand for traditional foods. This demand doesn’t just shape family traditions—it drives agriculture, small businesses, and supply chains worldwide. Let’s explore how festive feasts influence the economies of countries like the UK, Mexico, Germany, and more.

Economists often need PhDs to reach their career goals. According to INOMICS’ Salary Report data — and as Figure 3 in our PhD pay premium article shows — the vast majority of professional economists earn a PhD at some point in their careers. Academic economists are expected to acquire one in order to do research, while a PhD can often be a prerequisite for high-level industry economist jobs.But no matter how experienced, all PhD economists, at one point, were mere students searching for a good place to study. While important, how to search for the right place to study is seldom discussed…and there are thousands of universities with great economics departments out there.Feeling overwhelmed, and curious for some tips for your own search? Read on!

Towards the end of my undergraduate degree, I had the chance to work with upper-level managers on a strategy retreat as part of a summer finance internship. The internship was at TIAA-CREF (now known as just TIAA), and the retreat intended to help the firm strategize about the direction they should take in several aspects of the company. As a Bachelor’s student specializing in consulting, it was my responsibility to help them make use of a management consulting framework and mindset while doing it.This experience was my first foray into the finance industry. As I’ve progressed in my own studies, it’s given me plenty to reflect on as I’ve encountered various economic theories of the firm.Read on for the top three things I learned about economics from my finance internship!

You are about to start your journey as a PhD student this fall. Congratulations! It must feel like you now have all the time in the world to turn that research proposal you submitted with your application into reality. So, how do you make the most of that experience?

The academic year has finished, the weather is good, half the department is on holiday, and the next academic year seems an age away. But the summer is a deceptively important period, both for recruiters on the one hand, and candidates on the other.

The first half of 2025 brought with it a renewed focus on global trade wars, particularly as the United States government began to (again) question many long-standing global trade agreements — whether formally inked or traditionally observed. As a result, discourse about tariffs reached a fever pitch in the news and across social media.So, let’s ask a simple question: are tariffs good or bad for an economy, and the people within it? 

The word "model" is used a lot in discussions about economics. However, economics courses often don’t spend a lot of time defining the word or what exactly it means. Rather, students usually end up piecing together their idea of what models are after learning several specific examples (such as the Solow-Swan or OLG models).This article fills in the gap by discussing the fundamentals of models and how they’re used in economics. There are many similarities between the myriad models utilized in the field, including common use cases and common assumptions. Understanding these commonalities will help you use and interpret economic models effectively, avoid misconceptions, and identify when these models are not necessarily relevant or useful.

Publishing journal articles in economics can be slow and challenging, and effective peer review plays a critical role in shaping the efficiency and fairness of the process. Despite its importance, many researchers receive little guidance on how to be a constructive peer reviewer. In this article, I provide advice on how to approach peer review thoughtfully and professionally, with the goal of improving the experience for both authors and reviewers. 

Victoria Vanasco is a Senior Researcher at CREI (Centre de Recerca en Economia Internacional) in Barcelona, Spain, as well as Adjunct Professor at Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF) and and Affiliated Professor at Barcelona School of Economics.As a newly tenured economist, she talks to Christopher Nash, Managing Director of INOMICS, about her career path. For readers currently working in academia with an ambition to achieve tenure, her experience offers valuable insight.

IntroductionAcademic advising refers to the process where appointed members of staff provide academic guidance, information signposting and other relevant non-academic forms of support to students to help promote their success and improve their overall higher education experience (Medernach, 2018).Its role has long been recognised as crucial for supporting students, especially those from under-represented minorities (Smith et al, 2009; Young-Jones et al, 2013).While practices across the UK and Europe appear similar in their foundations, the diverse nature of student cohorts suggests some different institutional priorities.At the university of Exeter, taking into account these different approaches, we introduced a handbook for academic advisors in the Economics Department. Here we share our experience. 

AI tools have become widespread since news of ChatGPT-3.5 prompted me, in early 2023, to make an OpenAI account. I remember sitting in a coffee shop, sipping on a latte, and holding a half-dozen “conversations” with the newly released model.I asked it a series of math questions. I asked it about politics and about poetry. I asked it to write me a short story. I even asked it questions about niche topics like Settlers of Catan to see if it “understood” strategy in the context of a game. And, of course, I asked it about economics.