Do you want to learn about a new topic, to brush up on your skills, or to meet more people in your field? Summer schools are an ideal opportunity for you! Many reputable universities run intensive but stimulating summer courses that give students the chance to increase their academic standing in the most vibrant and culturally-enriched cities in the world. Here we're listing our top recommendations of summer schools for Economics students taking place this year.

If you're an economics student currently doing your undergraduate or Master's degree, you might be considering doing a PhD at some point. The idea of dedicating another three years or more of your life to original research is both exciting and terrifying, and the experience of actually doing it can be both exhilarating and harrowing. Taking the step towards doing a PhD is a big decision, and one that shouldn't be made without the proper research and consideration. Once taken, however, it can be an extremely valuable experience and one that can set you up nicely in the future.

If you're an economist looking for the very best think tanks and research institutes in Europe, look no further, you're in the right place. Here's our top ten list to help you out: Check out our economics job listings

Since its inception in the 1970s, microfinance has become the darling of development organisations the world over - the idea with the potential to save the planet’s poor. Pioneered by Bangladeshi social entrepreneur and Nobel Peace Prize Winner Muhammad Yunus, it provides the financially marginalized with banking services that, given their impoverishment, would otherwise be out of reach.

While you may have gotten used to the daily routine of graduate school or teaching, presenting at a conference, or even just attending one, can be a whole different activity. The preparatory checklist is long enough as it is, however, without having the added conundrum of worrying about your appearance. If you’re in business school, perhaps you’re used to ironing your button-down shirt and slacks every day, but most academics cringe when they hear the term 'business casual.'

With the European elections just two weeks away the EU’s future is looking far from certain - the union is beset by crises and the resolve of its member states is being tested like never before. Much has changed since Europeans last took to the polls: Ukraine had its borders forcibly redrawn when an increasingly hawkish Russia invaded and annexed Crimea; global drought, poverty and violence drove record numbers of refugees to the shores of the Mediterranean; and China has continued its march as a formidable economic and political force.

Gross Domestic Product, or GDP, is the sum of all goods and services that a country produces in a given year, adjusted - to make it comparable to previous years - for inflation. In many ways, though, it has become much more than that. It has become the barometer of a country’s progress, an indicator of a land’s prosperity, and the ultimate yardstick for assessing living standards. Some have even gone as far as describing it as 'the statistic to end all statistics'.

There are many excellent economics blogs out there. Whether you want to read commentaries on economic policy, find out what people are currently researching, or simply keep up to date with the latest economic happenings across the world, there are blogs for all tastes. Economics bloggers vary widely from individual students and professors sharing their thoughts on the state of the profession to blogging superstars like Greg Mankiw, Paul Krugman and Tyler Cowen, whose analyses are backed by years of experience and a deep knowledge of the field.

A subject that many new economics students – and some older economics students too – struggle with is statistics. Statistics are an essential tool for economics, allowing data analysis and modelling to be accurate and mathematically correct.

Few would contest it has been the ideology of our political age. Ever since the 1980s, it has dominated western politics, underpinning governance, influencing culture, and leaving its indelible mark across society. During this time its core tenets were rarely challenged and only its peripheral aspects tweaked. The 2008 financial crash, however, changed this, and for the first time confidence in neoliberalism was shaken. With the loss of savings, skyrocketing inequality and falling living standards that followed, people began to question the system that had facilitated such a calamity.

All academics know how important it is to get your work published. The journal which you publish your work in can have a big effect on how it is perceived and on how many people it reaches, so it's important to make the right decision when submitting your work for publication. You want to make sure that you submit to a journal which has a strong professional reputation for your work to be taken seriously. Also, as a reader it's useful to know about the most popular and prestigious journals, so that you can more easily locate information which you need when doing literature reviews.

Podcasts are a great way not only to enrich your knowledge, but also to look at an already familiar matter from a different perspective. Normally, podcasts are issued in the style of lectures, talks, interviews or just short commentaries, and cover either current economic issues or pure academic topics.

After finishing a PhD, most researchers who want to stay in academia will go on to one or more postdoc positions. As a postdoc you may conduct your own research, but most likely you will be supporting a principal investigator (PI) who decides what topics will be investigated. As a postdoc you will perform research, supervise PhD students, teach undergraduate or masters students, and present work at conferences and workshops.

As every academic knows, writing a paper for submission to a journal is a long and arduous process. It is common for papers to be rejected from the first journal that you submit to, so you will have to reformat the manuscript and resubmit it to another journal.

In 2018 INOMICS released another of its Salary Reports which provides an overview of a survey conducted of 2175 people in 2017 and contains insights into the job market. Respondents came from 117 countries, 17 more than the year previously, and the figure of those asked represented an increase of 11% on the previous year.

In recent years, a crisis has enveloped university campuses across the world. Compared to any other generation of college students in history, current students experience more mental health issues than ever before. Some reports suggest that 35% of freshers in American universities experience anxiety disorders. Since the 1950s, rates of suicides on American campuses have tripled, and it’s now the second most common cause of death among students. Nearly 10% of students have considered suicide in the previous twelve months – a terrifying, appalling statistic.

Along with a border wall and vague promises of greatness, one of Trump’s key campaign pledges was to bring back jobs to the American people. He situated himself, in contrast to Clinton, as the protector of the everyman, a mystical demographic that were at the mercy of the Chinese, their jobs being poached from right under their noses.

For those considering options for studying a Bachelor’s, Master’s, or PhD degree, Scandinavia is a tempting location. With a long and rich cultural history, and specialist institutions for a range of academic disciplines, Scandinavian countries are marking out their strengths on the international academic stage.

There are lots of different types of academic event that you might want to attend, such as conferences, seminars, workshops and symposiums. Each has its own benefits and drawbacks, and generally they have a different slant. Size, for instance, is usually a big factor in whether something is regarded as a conference or a symposium. Usually the difference between a conference and a symposium is that a conference will be a larger event and a symposium a smaller one.

Learning shouldn't only be something which you do in school and university – in order to maximise your personal development and career prospects, further education is always valuable. For professionals working in economics and finance, it's especially important to stay up to date with the latest developments in these rapidly-changing fields. Today we're sharing a selection of great professional training courses in economics and finance for the 2019 year.

Having a Master's degree is a valuable way to advance your career and gain more knowledge in your chosen field. Unlike an undergraduate degree program, you may not have to go to school full time to achieve this step in your education. However, it does require some time and effort, which means you'll need to figure out how to fit it in with your lifestyle. If that lifestyle includes travel as a priority, you may wonder how you can complete your Master's without giving up your travel schedule. The good news is that you can do both.

As a policy, support for Universal Basic Income (UBI) flouts traditional political and social lines, making unlikely bedfellows of those on both the right and left wing. Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, free-market evangelist Milton Friedman, and firebrand economist Yanis Varoufakis all count among its high profile, and rather disparate, champions. With the help of their advocacy the initiative has entered into mainstream consciousness, and widespread political discussion of its implementation, in contrast to a few years ago, is now readily had.

The Brexit clock is now deafening, and the British political and media establishments seem utterly consumed by its inexorable ticking. In the public realm, little else is considered, even less discussed. And yet, despite this obsession, with just 42 days before Britain departs the European Union, negotiations for a withdrawal agreement remain in deadlock, and the hopes of breakthrough seem to be fading. At the core of the dispute is the Irish backstop and, by proxy, participation in a customs union.

When applying for a academic position as a researcher, lecturer or for a fellowship, a cover letter is usually required to accompany your CV. Stating your particular interest in the role, and showing how your experience enables you to excel at the job, is the aim of a successful cover letter. They can be one of the most important parts of your application, giving the recipient an idea of who you are and what your relevant expertise is. Essentially, it's the first impression an institution will have of you, so it's important to get it right.

Choosing your postgraduate program is a big decision – with so many Master's and PhD courses available, how can you find the right one for you? We're here to help by sharing a selection of great courses that you can find on INOMICS. CEMFI, Madrid, Spain Programs available: