Anthony Heyes
Professor of Economics, University of Birmingham
Background
I currently teach economics at the University of Birmingham.
Before joining Birmingham in 2022 I was Full Professor and Senior Canada Research Chair (Tier 1 CRC) (2011-2022) at the University of Ottawa, in the Canadian capital, and concurrently a Distinguished Professor of Economics at the University of Exeter Business School.
I was appointed a Professor (Full Professor) at the University of London in 1998, at the age of 30, and before that was a Fellow at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies and Nuffield College, University of Oxford. In London I taught at RHUL which is one of the main five colleges that comprise University of London was also Head of the Department of Economics, Director of Undergraduate Programs, Deputy Dean and Interim Dean for the Faculty of History & Social Sciences (which included the School of Management), etc..
At other times I was a part-time Research Professor at the University of Sussex for 7 years, and have held various visiting or other associations (e.g. the Department of Agricultural Economics (AREC) at the University of Maryland, an S.T. Lee Fellowship at University of Wellington in New Zealand, Senior Research Fellow at UCL, and Sabbatical Visitor at the Centre for the Analysis of Risk and Regulation (CARR) at LSE).
Education
I attended a comprehensive high school on the Isle of Wight before going on to a BA (1st Class) in Economics at Trinity College, University of Cambridge. In Cambridge I graduated as top student in economics in my year (awarded the Wrenbury Scholarship) and top student in any discipline at Trinity College (van Heyden de Lancey Prize).
My PhD is from McGill University in Montreal, where I was full-funded by a McGill Major and later an Alma Mater Fellowship and was supervised by the wonderful Robert Cairns and Ngo van Long.
Research
My research and teaching interests are mainly in environmental economics, public policy as it relates to the environment, industrial organization and regulation, business and the environment and the application of behavioral economics. I have published 35+ papers in journals ranked A* and 35+ in journals ranked A by the 2025 edition of the widely-applied journal ranking of the Australian Business Deans Council (ABDC) https://abdc.edu.au/abdc-journal-quality-list/.
I also have an evolving research interest in research credibility, the academic publication process, and the role of procedural and managerial bloat as drivers of the decline in UK HE and the wider public sector.
Outside Activities
I co-edit the ABDC-A* rated Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists (2024-2028), which is the top journal in my field, am a past coeditor of Environmental & Resource Economics (ABDC-A) and serve on the editorial boards of Journal of Environmental Economics & Management (ABDC-A*) and Journal of Regulatory Economics (ABDC-A), among others.
I am a past chair of the Insight Grants Committee of SSHRC, the primary funder for social science research in Canada (equivalent of the ARC in Australia or ESRC in the UK).
I currently teach economics at the University of Birmingham.
Before joining Birmingham in 2022 I was Full Professor and Senior Canada Research Chair (Tier 1 CRC) (2011-2022) at the University of Ottawa, in the Canadian capital, and concurrently a Distinguished Professor of Economics at the University of Exeter Business School.
I was appointed a Professor (Full Professor) at the University of London in 1998, at the age of 30, and before that was a Fellow at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies and Nuffield College, University of Oxford. In London I taught at RHUL which is one of the main five colleges that comprise University of London was also Head of the Department of Economics, Director of Undergraduate Programs, Deputy Dean and Interim Dean for the Faculty of History & Social Sciences (which included the School of Management), etc..
At other times I was a part-time Research Professor at the University of Sussex for 7 years, and have held various visiting or other associations (e.g. the Department of Agricultural Economics (AREC) at the University of Maryland, an S.T. Lee Fellowship at University of Wellington in New Zealand, Senior Research Fellow at UCL, and Sabbatical Visitor at the Centre for the Analysis of Risk and Regulation (CARR) at LSE).
Education
I attended a comprehensive high school on the Isle of Wight before going on to a BA (1st Class) in Economics at Trinity College, University of Cambridge. In Cambridge I graduated as top student in economics in my year (awarded the Wrenbury Scholarship) and top student in any discipline at Trinity College (van Heyden de Lancey Prize).
My PhD is from McGill University in Montreal, where I was full-funded by a McGill Major and later an Alma Mater Fellowship and was supervised by the wonderful Robert Cairns and Ngo van Long.
Research
My research and teaching interests are mainly in environmental economics, public policy as it relates to the environment, industrial organization and regulation, business and the environment and the application of behavioral economics. I have published 35+ papers in journals ranked A* and 35+ in journals ranked A by the 2025 edition of the widely-applied journal ranking of the Australian Business Deans Council (ABDC) https://abdc.edu.au/abdc-journal-quality-list/.
I also have an evolving research interest in research credibility, the academic publication process, and the role of procedural and managerial bloat as drivers of the decline in UK HE and the wider public sector.
Outside Activities
I co-edit the ABDC-A* rated Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists (2024-2028), which is the top journal in my field, am a past coeditor of Environmental & Resource Economics (ABDC-A) and serve on the editorial boards of Journal of Environmental Economics & Management (ABDC-A*) and Journal of Regulatory Economics (ABDC-A), among others.
I am a past chair of the Insight Grants Committee of SSHRC, the primary funder for social science research in Canada (equivalent of the ARC in Australia or ESRC in the UK).
Outside academia I have consulted widely, particularly when I had a large mortgage. I was for over a decade a member of the Advisory Panels of HM Department of Environment, the Department of Environment, Transport and the Regions, and later DEFRA. Before moving to Canada I was a senior consultant (on retainer) at RBB Economics, the leading markets and competition consultancy, at their London office. In 2018 I was Chair of the Province of Ontario’s Clean Technology Panel. I've provided advice or training to many parts of the UK government (HM Treasury, Home Office, Ministry of Justice, the Cabinet Office, Department of Health, Department for Transport, Better Regulation Executive, etc.) the OECD, the European Commission, etc... On the student-facing side I have been on many selection panels for the Government Economic Service (GES) Fast-stream.
Teaching
I teach a first-year undergraduate class at Birmingham called Contemporary Economic Challenges and an elective MSc module in Environmental Economics. If you are a current student all module material is at https://canvas.bham.ac.uk/.
Supervision
I currently supervise 5 PhD students, and have many past completions (some of which remain coauthors). Since 2023 I have been co-director of the PhD Economics program at University of Birmingham.
Teaching
I teach a first-year undergraduate class at Birmingham called Contemporary Economic Challenges and an elective MSc module in Environmental Economics. If you are a current student all module material is at https://canvas.bham.ac.uk/.
Supervision
I currently supervise 5 PhD students, and have many past completions (some of which remain coauthors). Since 2023 I have been co-director of the PhD Economics program at University of Birmingham.