Economics Research Centre

Augment theoretical training

The Economics Research Centre of the University of Cyprus (CypERC), an independent non-profitable research institution aiming at high quality policy-oriented research in economics. While emphasis is placed on matters concerning the Cyprus economy, research at CypERC has a broad perspective and aims at results of high academic standards with wide international interest.

The main objective of CypERC is to contribute to the economic debate in Cyprus by disseminating research results with policy implications obtained from in depth analysis and state of the art empirical investigation. Each year, CypERC publishes 10-12 Working Papers the results of which are summarised in a Newsletter circulated to a wide audience. Furthermore, circulated in Cyprus and abroad are monthly, quarterly and periodically published bulletins describing and analysing current economic issues. Such bulletins include the ‘Economic Sentiments’, ‘Economic Outlook’, ‘Productivity Analysis’ and ‘Economic Policy Commentary’. CypERC also publishes the bi-annual journal Cyprus Economic Policy Review, which contains articles selected through a swift but rigorous refereeing procedure aimed at safeguarding high quality research output with conclusions of policy interest.

The research activities of CypERC by sector are as follows.

Public economics and taxation

Research examines aspects of public economics, with a focus on fiscal policy and the wider role of government intervention in the economy. Current research interests include the tax gap from direct taxation in Cyprus, the re-distributional effects of public education and the implications of co-payments in national health systems.

Households and social welfare

The economic behaviour of households is examined from the point of view of its influence on the economic well-being of society and its wider social policy implications. Topics of research interest cover the redistribution effects of Guaranteed Minimum Income (GMI) and of measures included in the government budget. Furthermore, the construction of a house price index for Cyprus is on the research agenda.

Firms and productivity analysis

Research aims at providing policy conclusions for improving the institutional and economic framework where businesses operate. Currently, research activities concentrate on the construction of productivity indices for the Cyprus economy at the aggregate level as well as for sectors of economic activity. The productivity indices are published in the bulletin Productivity Analysis. Other research topics include the study of productivity in public utility organisations with a focus on the effects of privatisations as well as inter-temporal and cross sectional productivity comparisons among European countries.

Macroeconomic forecasts and analysis

Research focuses on the construction of forecasts for GDP growth and inflation, published in the quarterly bulletin Economic Outlook, along with analysis of current developments and the outlook for the Cyprus economy. Moreover, research deals with the analysis of Business and Consumer Survey data for Cyprus that record business executives' and consumers' perceptions of current economic conditions and expectations regarding the evolution of economic variables. The results of Business and Consumer Surveys are published in the monthly bulletin Business and Consumer Surveys. Other topics of research interest include the construction of forecasts for the expenditure components of GDP (private and public consumption, investment, imports and exports), the development of a dynamic system for sectors of economic activity in Cyprus and the computation of forecasts using a Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium model for the Cyprus economy.

Employment

This new field of research at CypERC is pursued under a Project funded by the European Research Council and directed by the Nobel Laureate Prof C. Pissarides. It focuses on the study of employment and unemployment in Europe and examines issues such as: job creation by sector; wage inequality; public sector employment and wage subsidisation relative to the private sector; the compatibility of welfare state with EU targets for employment and the number of jobs vis-à-vis the hours worked for each job.

Other Research Projects

In addition to the five areas listed above, study at CypERC is further diversified through the pursuance of research on specialised topics such as long term energy planning in recessionary conditions, comparisons of the distributions of “law of one price” deviations among European countries and the study of the causes of economic crisis in Cyprus.