GRK 2484:  Regional disparities and economic policy

• Subject Area: Economics
• Term: since 2019
• Website: Homepage
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 397383192

The overarching goals of the RTG “Regional Disparities and Economic Policy” are to provide an outstanding education for doctoral researchers in regional economics while at the same time contributing to frontier research on regional disparities and the implications for public policy. We aim to achieve these goals by combining an innovative research agenda relating to numerous relevant questions on the origins and consequences of regional disparities with an excellent and comprehensive qualification program. This combination promotes careers in academia, research institutes, the private economy, and the public sector, including international organizations. The RTG brings together internationally visible researchers from different sub-disciplines within economics (e.g. labor, macro, regional, health) at three universities in the Ruhr Area. All PIs share a genuine interest in regional economic aspects so the RTG allows for better interactions across fields and locations. The combination of methodological and topical knowledge from these different sub-fields strongly stimulates innovation in both research and qualification, making this RTG unique. Based on joint projects and frequent exchange during the first funding period, the group has identified four main interrelated research areas in which researchers plan to specialize further in the second funding period: A. Gender and mobility, B. Trade and production networks, C. Development and long-run disparities, and D. Political economy. The qualification program is designed to match the research agenda and to account for the general requirement to prepare doctoral and postdoctoral researchers for both academic and alternative career paths. We have only made marginal adjustments to the proposed concept during the first funding period, based on experience and frequent feedback from our doctoral researchers. We will continue to teach core courses on methodology and topics that were novel at the time of the RTG establishment and that complement existing qualification programs in the Ruhr Area. Teaching and research are closely connected within the RTG. The RTG is embedded in a dynamic and supportive environment including, among others, the Ruhr Graduate School in Economics, the RWI-Leibniz Institute for Economic Research with its research data center focusing on unique spatial data at small grids or the UA Ruhr competence fields Empirical Economic Research and Metropolitan Research. The topic of the RTG fits very well into this environment, fosters scientific exchange between these networks and thereby strengthens quantitative economic research in the Ruhr Area.

• DFG Programme: Research Training Groups
• Applicant Institution: Universität Duisburg-Essen
• Co-Applicant Institution: Ruhr-Universität Bochum; Technische Universität Dortmund
• Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Tobias Seidel
• Participating Researchers: Professor Dr. Thushyanthan Baskaran; Professor Dr. Thomas K. Bauer; Professor Dr. Lukas Buchheim; Professorin Dr. Christiane Hellmanzik; Professor Dr. Philip Jung; Professor Dr. Martin Karlsson; Professorin Dr. Marie Paul; Professorin Dr. Nadine Riedel; Professor Dr. Jens Wrona; Professorin Galina Zudenkova, Ph.D.