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Study Ranks BSE Research Output between Second and Third in Continental Europe
The Barcelona School of Economics ranks between 2nd and 3rd in economics research output in Europe when the research of its founding universities, the UPF and UAB, is combined. This finding was published in the Journal of the European Economic Association in an article titled "Research and Higher Education in Economics: Can We Deliver The Lisbon Objectives? ” (May 2007) by Jacques H. Drèze and Fernanda Estevan of CORE and Université Catholique de Louvain.
The ranking was based on the number of pages (co)authored and published in a selection of 30 top economics journals by researchers from various economics departments over the course of a decade. According to the analysis, the BSE has an average of 578 pages published in these journals, placing it above comparable European universities such as LSE, Cambridge, Oxford, and Toulouse (549, 372, 370, and 322 pages, respectively). Depending on whether the Dutch Tinbergen Institute is included in the ranking, the GSE position moves from 2nd to 3rd place in research in continental Europe. When economics departments from universities in the US are included in the ranking, the BSE comes in at 20th place.
The high research output of the BSE is testament to the prominence of the greater Barcelona Economics research network, which includes researchers from its four founding academic institutions: the UAB, UPF, IAE-CSIC and CREI. The school’s master programs unite top researchers from each of these institutions, who come to the BSE to teach, collaborate on projects, and share resources. The cooperation among the founding institutions has earned the city of Barcelona its reputation as an emerging powerhouse in economics research and postgraduate education.
BSE students will have the opportunity to study economics with leading academics and world-class resources as part of the dynamic Barcelona Economics community.
One of the primary links of the BSE community is the Reference Network in Analytic Economics (CREA), the BSE sister support network which coordinates and funds research groups that have an international impact in their fields. This research network is composed of three BSE academic institutions: the IAE-CSIC and the economics departments of the UAB and UPF. With the integration of these groups, the Barcelona Economics community is one of the leading research groups in Europe. For example, according to a May 2002 article by P. Kalaitzidakis, T.P. Mamuneas and T. Stengos, titled "Ranking of Academic Journals and Institutions in Economics", the Barcelona Economics research network is ranked #2 when their top 30 journals are included (period 1995-1999).
The Barcelona Economics community has been strengthened enormously in the past decade due in part to several initiatives that have attracted top economists to the four founding academic institutions. The ICREA Program was established in 2001 through a joint initiative of the government of Catalonia and the Catalan Foundation for Research and Innovation (FCRI) to promote excellence in Research and Development throughout Catalonia. Additionally, in 2001 the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science established the Ramon y Cajal Program to attract promising young researchers from abroad to do research throughout Spain.
The success of these initiatives is visible by the prestige and potential of the researchers they have attracted. Two of the eight ICREA Research Professors affiliated with the BSE, Hans-Joachim Voth (UPF) and Rosemarie Nagel (UPF), recently appeared on a list of the 100 most productive German researchers (Handelsblatt, April 2007) at numbers 36 and 52, respectively. Also included in the ranking of German economists are Esther Hauk (IAE-CSIC) and Kurt Schmidheiny (UPF), who both received Ramon y Cajal Grants to conduct research in Barcelona.
Earlier this year, the Barcelona Economics community received substantial support from the Consolidating Economics project, which aims to enhance the prestige of economics research through various initiatives, including the support and promotion of the Barcelona School of Economics. The project, which is part of the Consolider-Ingenio 2010 program of the Spanish government, has been granted 6 million euros for the period 2006–2011.
The top international standing the BSE has garnered reflects the research and teaching excellence of its greater network of founding institutions. The school draws from the world-class faculty in each of these institutions and collaborates with the Barcelona Economics community. The official start of the school in September 2007 will further strengthen the network and continue to establish Barcelona as an attractive center for economics research, teaching, and postgraduate education.