Economics & Management
Course overview
BA Economics & Management
Typical intake: 3
The course in Economics and Management provides an opportunity to combine the discipline of Economics with a range of subjects in Management Studies.
In the first year undergraduates take introductory courses in economics, general management and financial management. In the final two years undergraduates take at least one of microeconomics, macroeconomics and quantitative economics, two papers in management (chosen from a list of seven) and optional papers from a broad range of options in both economics and management. It is also possible to offer a thesis in place of one optional paper.
Tutors
Wigmore Clarendon Fellow & Tutor in Economics
Dr Simon Cowan
Dr Simon Cowan
Wigmore Clarendon Fellow & Tutor in Economics
Associate Professor of Economics
Senior Fellow
Education
MA MPhil DPhil (Oxford)
I am an Associate Professor in Economics and Wigmore Clarendon Fellow in Economics at Worcester College. My research is on theoretical models of pricing in imperfect competition, with a recent focus on price discrimination and its welfare effects. I have also worked on the regulation of privately-owned utilities. Regulatory Reform: Economic Analysis and British Experience (MIT Press), written with co-authors Mark Armstrong and John Vickers, was published in 1994. I have papers in the American Economic Review, The Economic Journal and the Rand Journal of Economics, and am a former editor of Oxford Economic Papers.
For undergraduates I have taught Introductory Economics, Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, the Economics of Industry and International Economics. I have also taught environmental economics, and have taught Industrial Organization to graduate students. I was Head of Department between October 2019 and September 2020.
Lloyd’s Research Fellow & Tutor in Management Studies
Dr Nir Vulkan
Dr Nir Vulkan
Lloyd’s Research Fellow & Tutor in Management Studies
Associate Professor of Business Economics
Education
BSc (Tel Aviv), MA (Oxford), PhD (London)
Nir is a leading authority on fin tech, e-commerce and market design, and on applied research and teaching on hedge funds. Alongside his role at Saïd Business School, Nir is also a Fellow of Worcester College and a member of the Oxford Man Institute for Quantitative Finance.
In 2020 Nir chaired the Banking and Finance Committee on Ethical AI, which made recommendations to the European President and Parliament. Nir was also a member of the Insurance Committee on Ethical AI. Nir engages widely with industry: he acts as a consultant to technology companies and has developed software for specific applications within companies. He has developed models widely used in e-commerce, trading and hedge funds. Nir travels extensively to give seminars and talks and to participate in conferences, and has spoken at numerous universities in Europe, the Middle East and the USA. He acts as referee for a number of academic journals on economics.
Nir has a BSc in Mathematics and Computer Science from Tel Aviv University and gained a doctorate in Economics at University College, London, where he was awarded the Dean Scholarship for excellence in PhD studies. He became a Lecturer at Bristol University in 1997, and in 2001 moved to Saïd Business School. He was the Executive Director of the Oxford Centre for Entrepreneurship between 2009 and 2011 and the co-founder and Director of OxLab, a laboratory for social science experiments, both at Saїd Business School.
Nir created the first UK course on fin tech in 2016 which runs annually as an MBA and EMBA elective. Nir created the first UK course on fin tech in 2016 which runs annually as an MBA and EMBA elective. Before that he wrote and developed the core Managerial Economics course for the MBA and EMBA programmes.
He has also been involved in designing and developing the Entrepreneurial Project and now runs this course. He supervises DPhil and MPhil students. He has also taught a popular MBA elective course on hedge funds and trading, and a course on e-commerce.
Nir believes that students learn by doing, and therefore games, role-plays and projects form a large part of his courses. The Managerial Economics course features a trading game, while both this course and the Entrepreneurial Project draw on current case studies, which are discussed and analysed by students.
Nir is also the course convenor for two new online programmes: Fintech and Algorithmic Trading.
In 2003 Nir wrote one of the leading texts on the microeconomics of e-commerce, The Economics of E-Commerce: A Strategic Guide to Understanding and Designing the Online Marketplace. In 2013, Nir edited, with Al Roth and Zvika Neeman, The Handbook of Market Design. The handbook contains a selection of the latest research in the growing field of market design, and draws on Vulkan’s interest and expertise in markets, both virtual and those confined to particular geographical locations. He is particularly interested in how lessons from successful and unsuccessful markets can be learned and transferred to different environments. Part of the book examines issues raised by the fact that the internet is now the preferred platform for most markets, and the wide choice this gives consumers. He also examines markets linked to geography where participants have little choice.
Applying
The College aims to admit 3 undergraduates each year. It is not necessary to have studied Economics or Management previously. Candidates are, however, required to have Mathematics to A-level, Advanced Higher, or Higher Level in the IB, or another equivalent.
Read more on the University website Department of Economics Saïd Business School
