RGS Econ | Research

Research Program

The Ruhr Graduate School in Economics (RGS Econ) provides research-oriented training to doctoral researchers in a distinguished Ph.D. programme. It funds around eight excellent doctoral students per year with scholarships and teaching and research assistantships. Doctoral students at the RGS Econ are provided with thorough training in advanced methods in economics. They are taken to the frontier of state-of-the-art research in all fields of Economics. Members are integrated into a stimulating research environment composed of three universities and an independent research institute, which harbour an ambitious and excellent faculty. 

This unique environment offers students numerous research opportunities ranging from theoretical to applied, policy oriented research - conducted in large or small teams of researchers. Our students often utilize these opportunities to collaborate and engage in different environments as well as working on projects that build bridges between theoretical and applied work or between sub-disciplines. You can find a selection of our current students' recent publications here. They also often publish in a discussion paper series provided by RGS Econ's cooperating partners.

Faculty members of RGS Econ can be grouped into three major clusters of research interset. These research interests and their expertise cover almost all areas of economics.  Interactions and cooperation within and across clusters is extensive; doctoral students are usually assigned to a (primary) supervisor at entry, but are of course invited to contribute to these exchanges by following their own interests and working with a specific set of colleagues.

Cluster 1: Applied Microeconometrics, Labour & Population Economics, Health Economics

This cluster is comprised of twelve faculty members who cover the applied research fields of labour economics, population economics, and health economics. Microeconometric methods are the main tools in these research areas, sometimes complemented by microsimulation and computable equilibrium analysis. (Field) Experimental methods are increasingly used. Often, research in this cluster involves policy evaluation.

Examples for research in cluster 1 are projects in the DFG Research Unit (Forschergruppe) 655 on “prioritization in decisions in health services” at the University of Duisburg-Essen and projects in the DFG SPP 4429 (“Schwerpunktprogramm”) at the University of Bochum and the RWI on “Firm Wages and Market Wages”. Further projects on the evaluation of economic policy are conducted in applied policy analysis.

Research Interests: Migration, Population Economics, Applied Microeconometrics

Research Interests: Applied Microeconomics, International Trade, International Finance, Urban Economics, Labour Economics, Economic History, Economics of Creativity

Research interests: Labor Economics, Applied Microeconometrics

Research Interests: Applied Econometrics, in particular Labor and Population Economics

Cluster 2: Macroeconomics, Monetary & International Economics, Financial Markets, Econometrics

Beyond the core area of macroeconomic policy analysis and (time-series) econometrics, research interests of the members of this cluster include related fields such as international trade, economic geography, or behavioural macroeconomics. Research within this cluster is mainly based on general equilibrium analysis and in quantitative terms; and econometric and computational methods are extensively used.Examples for research in cluster 2 are the projects “Asset Pricing and Macroeconomic Allocations under Aggregate Risk” and “Dynamic Dependence Structures in Risky Asset Returns” within the SFB 823 at the TU Dortmund founded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG).

JProf. Dr. Antonia Arsova 

Research interests: Macroeconomics, European Economic and Monetary Union, International Financial Markets, General Equilibrium Models, Quantitative Economic Research

Research interest: Quantitative Finance, Financial Economics, Risk- and Resource Management

Cluster 3: Microeconomics, Game Theory, Mechanism Design, Public Finance

This cluster covers broad areas of theoretical, applied and experimental Microeconomics, Public Finance and Economic Policy recommendations based on microeconomic modelling. These areas include Industrial Organization, Public Finance and pure game theory. Examples of  research topics include the theory of contests and its applications (see recent publications in journals such as Economic Theory, European Journal of Political Economy or Public Choice), theory of taxation (see recent publications in the Journal of Public Economics,  European Economic Review, International Tax or Public Finance) and market entry and regulation (see recent publications in Games and Economic Behavior or Review of International Economics).

Prof. Dr. Erwin Amann

Research interests: Public Goods, Industrial Organization, Economics of Innovation, Network Economics

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