Dr Ferdinand Rauch wins Excellence Award

Congratulations to Dr Ferdinand Rauch who has won the Excellence Award in Global Economic Affairs from the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, based in the north of Germany.

The aim of the Excellence Award is to build a community of the brightest young researchers in the area of global economic affairs. These researchers are given intellectual, financial, and administrative support to pursue focused programs of research. Ferdinand, who is a tutor in Economics at Brasenose College, won the jury-judged prize through submitting three research papers to the Kiel Institute, which aims to find innovative solutions to urgent problems of the world economy.

The three papers addressed issues around urbanization, economic history and economic geography and appeared in the Quarterly Journal of Economics or (forthcoming) the Economic Journal. In Resetting the Urban Network Ferdinand and his co-author argue that Britain benefitted from the temporary collapse of towns and cities following the end of the Roman Empire as it provided the opportunity to reset the urban network closer to navigable waterways, which helped grow towns as economies changed. In Benefits of Forced Experimentation: Striking Evidence from the London Underground Network Ferdinand and co-authors found that, through analysing Oyster Card information, the 2014 London tube strike ended up being beneficial for many commuters who discovered a more optimal long-term route to work through being forced to experiment with Underground line and station changes. This research was featured widely in the national and international press.

Ferdinand, who teaches microeconomics, quantitative economics and International Economics to undergraduate students, will accept his award at the Kiel Institute at a ceremony in June.

Read more about PPE, Economics and Management and History and Economics at Brasenose, and more about Ferdinand’s research.