Dr Iain Long

(he/him)

Publication

• Date
• Type
• Promoted

Research

Overview

Iain's research focuses on the economics of illegal activity. Some crimes create readily available data. For example, car thefts are almost always reported to the police for insurance purposes. Others, like organised crime or benefit fraud, are much more difficult to assess statistically. It is these kinds of activity that Iain researches, building theoretical models of behaviour that can be used to predict the likely effects of policy interventions.

Whilst principally an applied microeconomic theorist, Iain also conducts experimental studies and runs computer simulations of unemployment insurance schemes.

Areas of expertise

• Economics of crime;
• Unemployment insurance;
• Economics of conflict;
• Applied microeconomic theory.

Current projects

Iain is currently working on projects relating to:

• Conditions under which overconfidence can lead to conflict.
• The role alcohol intoxication and the drinking environment play in changing behaviour.
• How police remmuneration schemes can lead to an incentive to mis-record crime.
• Comparing universal credit to other European unemployment protection schemes.

Up-to-date working papers are available on Iain's personal website.

Funding

Successful funding applications where Iain was Principal Investigator:

• Long, I. W., K. Matthews and V. Sivarajasingam (2017): "Assessing the causes of alcohol-fuelled violence," British Academy/Leverhulme Trust Small Research Grants, SG162643, £4,330.

Successful funding applications where Iain was a Co-Investigator:

• Long, I. W., K. Matthews and V. Sivarajasingam (2016): "A novel insight into alcohol-fuelled violence among Emergency Department patients" Crime and Security Research Institute Academic Fellowship Fund, £9,000.

Teaching

Teaching commitments

Iain is currently Director of Undergraduate Economics Programmes, responsible for around 23 different degree programmes containing modules taken by around 900 students from across the University.

External activities

Iain is an Associate of the Economics Network. In this role, he has delivered training to PhD students who are going to run small group tutorials at nine different universities across the UK. He has also been involved in training new lecturers, who have recently taken up their first academic job at a UK university, to teach. He is a former winner of the Economics Network's National Outstanding Teaching Prize.

Iain is also a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Biography

Qualifications

• PhD Economics, London School of Economics
• M.Res. Economics, London School of Economics
• MSc Econometrics and Mathematical Economics, London School of Economics
• BSc Mathematics and Economics, London School of Economics

Supervisions

I am interested in supervising PhD students in the areas of:

• The economics of crime;
• The economics of conflict;
• Unemployment protection;
• Applied microeconomic theory.