Man working with a colleague at a laptop

Efficiency and Productivity Research

Explore our work in efficiency and productivity, one of the 4 areas of expertise in our Economics research area

Neoclassical economic theory predicts that agents or decision makers who perform below their ability won't survive in competitive markets. However, in reality many other factors, such as imperfect information and regulation, can cause inefficiency and damage productivity. Using state of the art techniques we investigate the driving forces of productivity across various sectors as well as related inefficiencies and other frictions and aim to provide policy recommendations driven by strong theoretical and empirical evidence.

Collaborations and partnerships

Our academic partners include the Brunel University, University of Milan, National University of Singapore, KAPSARC, Queensland University of Technology, University of Montreal, Technical University of Dresden, and University of Applied Sciences Amberg-Weidenand.

Current projects

  • Analysing sectoral productivity in the UK to identify reasons for high and low productivity
  • Measuring country’s energy and environmental inefficiency
  • Productivity effects of collaboration and specialization in research and innovation
  • Skilled-labour migration, gender and peer effects on productivity in STEM research

Recent publication highlights

  • Önder, A.S., Schweitzer, S. and Yilmazkuday, H. (2021). Journal of Informetrics, 15(4), p.101222.

  • Ghulam, Y. (2021). Technological Forecasting and Social Change, volume 171.

  • Conley, J. P., Crucini, M., Driskill, R., & Onder, A. (2020). In S. Galiani, & U. Panizza (Eds.), Publishing and Measuring Success in Economics. CEPR Press. Pages. 67-72.

  • Filippini, M., & Hunt, L. C. (2015). Energy Economics, volume 52, pages S5-S16

  • Onder, A., Chan, H., Lariviere, V., Moy, N., Schilling, D., & Torgler, B. (2022).

  • A.Onder and F.Kunuroglu (2022) Migration Letters, 19(3): 253-260

  • Oleg Badunenko, Marzio Galeotti, & Lester C. Hunt (2021).

Discover our areas of expertise

Efficiency and productivity is one of our 4 areas of expertise in our Economics research area – explore the others below.

Resource Economics and Environmental Policy

We examine how economics influences the preservation and sustainability of natural resources such as aquatic ecosystems.

Fishing boats in a harbour
Read more

Monetary Policy

We explore how central banks can keep inflation low and stable by influencing how much money there is in the economy and the cost of borrowing.

Students using finance software
Read more

Behavioural and Experimental Economics

We investigate how psychological, emotional and social factors affect economic decision-making.

Images for behavioural economics webpage. Not for any other use as not high quality image.

Requested by Zahra Murad
Read more

Our members

Lester Charles Hunt Portrait

Professor Lester Hunt

Professor of Economics

Lester.Hunt@port.ac.uk

Economics and Finance

Faculty of Business and Law

PhD Supervisor

Read more
Yaseen Ghulam Portrait

Dr Yaseen Ghulam

Senior Lecturer

Yaseen.Ghulam@port.ac.uk

Economics and Finance

Faculty of Business and Law

PhD Supervisor

Read more
Shabbar Abbas Jaffry Portrait

Professor Shabbar Jaffry

Professor of Economics

Shabbar.Jaffry@port.ac.uk

Economics and Finance

Faculty of Business and Law

PhD Supervisor

Read more
Scott Mark Romeo Mahadeo Portrait

Dr Scott Mahadeo

Senior Lecturer

scott.mahadeo@port.ac.uk

ºÚÁϳԹÏBusiness School

Faculty of Business and Law

PhD Supervisor

Read more
Ali Sina Onder Portrait

Media ready expert

Dr Ali Onder

Senior Lecturer

Ali.Onder@port.ac.uk

Economics and Finance

Faculty of Business and Law

PhD Supervisor

Read more

Interested in a PhD in Economics?

Browse our postgraduate research degrees – including PhDs and MPhils – at our Economics postgraduate research degrees page.