Reflections on a visit to ESCoE
Craig is a third year PhD student at the Paris School of Economics, affiliated to the Measurement in Economics Chair. We caught up with him a few weeks into his 3-month visit to ESCoE and King’s College London. We spoke about his PhD, the importance of new perspectives and his future plans.
Why did you want to visit ESCoE?
My field of study is measurement in economics and I would say it’s quite niche. I wanted to be in an environment with people around doing similar things to me and ESCoE is a place where you have expertise on this specific topic. I knew about ESCoE because Diane Coyle, Rebecca Riley and Martin Weale came to my university in France for a seminar. And I knew there were some professors working on similar research questions to me.
Tell me a bit more about your PhD and how it links with ESCoE’s work
I would say there are two parts to economic measurement. The first part is to define theoretically what to measure – so how do we want to define GDP, inflation, real income etc? The second step is practically measuring these theoretical concepts as precisely as possible. My PhD focuses mainly on the first part: for a given indicator, what should the theoretical baseline be that we try to estimate? I focus in particular on how the green transition may challenge our current definitions: for example, how should we measure GDP when people green their consumption over time (by eating less meat or flying less)? This links with ESCoE research on net-zero, climate change and the environment and beyond GDP and inclusive wealth.
What have you learnt from your visit to ESCoE so far and what are you enjoying about the experience?
I’ve had the chance to talk to people working here, including other PhD students so I know what other people at ESCoE are working on. I’m also building an understanding of the link between statistics and economics research in the UK. In France it works a bit differently. It’s nice to be in an office where everyone around you is working on economic measurement. There are lots of big names associated with ESCoE, so there are also opportunities to discuss research with leading experts. Being in this environment is sparking new ideas.
Why is economic measurement so important?
Economic measurement is all about understanding the state of the economy. Understanding what’s going on correctly is the first step to making sure we’re going in the right direction as a society. If we’re measuring things incorrectly we might think we’re going in the right direction but we’re not really. For appropriate policy you need good measurement, particularly when the economy is getting more and more complex with the development of the digital economy and climate change. These are new challenges which can make measurement even more difficult. This is why we need more research on this topic. We need to look at a full dashboard of economic indicators of what makes a prosperous society to have a clear picture – GDP is just one dimension.
Tell us about your plans for after you finish your PhD
The more I work on my research, the more I feel like there’s work to do and the more I want to dig deeper. So I think I’d like to carry on working on measurement. This could either be through academia, or it could be working in institutions in France, for example INSEE.
What would you say to another PhD student thinking of visiting ESCoE
I would say definitely come if your research is linked to economic measurement. You’ll get to meet people who know a lot about the subject and I think doing exchanges during your PhD is a great opportunity to change environment and meet new people. As a researcher, I think it’s very important to change where you’re working and the people you interact with because it’s a way of getting new feedback on what you’re doing and also getting new ideas on things to work on. From a human perspective, the atmosphere is also very welcoming so it’s a nice place to work.
ESCoE blogs are published to further debate. Any views expressed are solely those of the author(s) and so cannot be taken to represent those of the ESCoE, its partner institutions or the Office for National Statistics.