Dr Theodore Koutmeridis is a Senior Lecturer in Economics at the University of Glasgow’s Adam Smith Business School. He holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Warwick, where he was an Onassis Scholar and a Royal Economic Society Junior Fellow. His work on inequality, poverty and crime has earned various prizes, such as the Sir Alec Cairncross Prize in Economics and the 1st Prize in the European Science Days Interdisciplinary Award, and has featured widely, including his TEDx talk on the “Underground Economy”, his “Crime and Prices” video, and his “Democracy Lab” teaching approach. He has received awards for research, teaching, impact and engagement. Among other outputs, his work has been published in the Review of Economic Studies, funded by a £700,000 ESRC–DFID grant, and produced a “REF impact case study” saving around £1 million per year for the NHS. He has contributed to various policy reports and is affiliated with the Institute of Labor Economics, the Advanced Research Centre and Scotland Beyond Net Zero. His work spans disciplinary, methodological and national boundaries, encompassing settings ranging from Indian schools to Polish prisons, research across the USA, the UK, Japan, India and Poland, and academic engagements in Prague, Warsaw and Columbia Universities. He is the recipient of the British Academy Rising Star Award and the RSE Henry Duncan Medal, which, according to the Royal Society of Edinburgh, was awarded to him ‘‘for his outstanding work in the field of economics where he combines a clear mastery of the microeconomic methodology, a keen instinct for its empirical applications and a deep commitment to engagement activities.’’

• Personal Website

Theo Koutmeridis works on labor economics and on the interaction of economics and law, focusing mainly on crime, wage inequality and market failures, such as informational and financial frictions. 

Theo is also a member of the Applied Economics research cluster.

Areas of expertise

Research areas:

• Labour economics
• Law and economics
• Political economy
• Development and growth

Research focus:

• Inequality
• Crime
• Disadvantage
• Technology and innovation
• Behavioural economics and finance

List by: Type | Date

Grants and Awards

• ESRC-DFID research grant, "Disadvantage and Participation Accountability Processes: Theory and Evidence from School Development and Management Committees in Karnataka, India", (with S. Ghosal, C. Chapman, M. Schweisfurth, P. Dalton) £700,000, 2018-2024.
• Royal Society of Edinburgh, Henry Duncan Medal, 2018-2019 
• British Academy Rising Star Engagement Award, £15,000, 2017-2018
• ESRC Impact Acceleration Account Grant, Copyright in the Digital Economy, £10,000, 2016-2017
• "Behaviour, Structure and Interventions" Interdisciplinary Research Network Grant, Research Strategy & Innovation Office, with S. Ghosal, £8,000 per year, 2014-
• Principal’s Early Career Mobility Award, £3,500, 2016
• Elected Member, Royal Society of Edinburgh’s Young Academy, £2,500, 2014-2019
• Sir Alec Cairncross Prize in Economics, £1,000, 2014
• Royal Economic Society Junior Fellowship, £8,000, 2012-2013
• Interdisciplinary ESD Award for the Best Paper, 1st Prize, €3,000, 2011
• Award for Teaching Excellence, University of Warwick, 2010-11

PhD Supervision

• Praveen, Anandu (PhD in Economics, 2025-2029), “Socio-economic Impact of Return Migration: A Study of Kerala with Special Reference to the COVID-19 Pandemic”.
• Selassi Spence (PhD in Economics, 2024-2028, fully funded with a James McCune Smith PhD Scholarship), “Essays in Applied Economics”.
• Anh Ngo (PhD in Economics, 2020-2025), “Essays on Poverty Traps”.
• Tao Xinyu (PhD in Economics, 2020-2025), “Causal Inference in Policy Evaluation: Methods and Applications”.
• Kaizhao Guo (PhD in Economics, 2019-2024, completed), “Automation Technologies and Labour Market Outcomes”, Adam Smith Business School Excellence in Research Award.
• Daniel Siwecki (PhD in Economics, 2019-2023, fully funded with a College of Social Sciences PhD Scholarship - completed), “Essays on Universal Basic Income”.
• Erika Leigh Anderson (PhD in Economic and Social History, 2018-2022 - completed), “Essays on Corporate Social Responsibility”.
• Jinglin Wen, (PhD in Economics, 2018-2022, fully funded with a PhD Scholarship - completed), “Essays on Gender and Criminal Justice”, Adam Smith Business School Excellence in Research Award.
• Prateek Chandra Bhan (PhD in Economics, 2017-2021, College of Social Sciences PhD Scholarship - completed), “Essays in the Economics of Hope”, Adam Smith Excellence in Research Award. Jaakko Miettinen (PhD in Economics, 2014-2018, fully funded with a CREATe Microeconomics Scholarship - completed), “Essays on the Economics of Copyright”.

PhD Thesis Examiner

• Antonio Parlavecchio - "Essays on a frictional labour market with inactive workers" (PhD in Economics, 2013-2017)
• Seemanti Ghosh - "Socioeconomic adversity and perseverance: a role for locus of control? Impact, mitigation and welfare analysis" (PhD in Economics, Adam Smith Award for Best PhD Thesis, 2014-2018)
• Moritz Mosenhauer - "Essays on counter strategies against mistakes in information processing with various applications" (PhD in Economics, 2015-2020)
• Andres Azqueta-Gavaldon - "Text-mining in macroeconomics: the wealth of words" (PhD in Economics, 2015-2020)

PhD Topics Supervised

• Praveen, Anandu
  Socio-economic Impact of Return Migration: A Study of Kerala with Special Reference to the COVID-19 Pandemic

Past PhD Supervised Projects:

• Kaizhao Guo (PhD in Economics, 2019-2024, completed), “Automation Technologies and Labour Market Outcomes”, Adam Smith Business School Excellence in Research Award.
• Daniel Siwecki (PhD in Economics, 2019-2023, fully funded with a College of Social Sciences PhD Scholarship - completed), “Essays on Universal Basic Income”.
• Erika Leigh Anderson (PhD in Economic and Social History, 2018-2022 - completed), “Essays on Corporate Social Responsibility”.
• Jinglin Wen, (PhD in Economics, 2018-2022, fully funded with a PhD Scholarship - completed), “Essays on Gender and Criminal Justice”, Adam Smith Business School Excellence in Research Award.
• Prateek Chandra Bhan (PhD in Economics, 2017-2021, College of Social Sciences PhD Scholarship - completed), “Essays in the Economics of Hope”, Adam Smith Excellence in Research Award. Jaakko Miettinen (PhD in Economics, 2014-2018, fully funded with a CREATe Microeconomics Scholarship - completed), “Essays on the Economics of Copyright”.

Teaching Economics using the “Democracy Lab” approach – Watch the “video”

Courses taught

• Labour economics
• Development and growth
• Behavioural economics & finance
• Economics of innovation
• Macroeconomics
• Econometrics
• Research methods

PhD research methods training

• Identifying causal effects
• Finding gaps in the related literature
• Advice for PhD thesis viva

Current teaching

• ECON5073 Behavioural economics: Theory and applications (PG) | University of Glasgow, Adam Smith Business School, Department of Economics
• ECON5101 Understanding development: A multidisciplinary approach (PG) | University of Glasgow, Adam Smith Business School, Department of Economics

Office hours

• Wednesdays 16:30-18:30 (please sign up here before passing by) or email me for an appointment

Contact details

• Adam Smith Business School & PGT Hub, 2 Discovery Place, Glasgow G11 6EY
• Office 534, Floor 5

Teaching Economics using the “Democracy Lab” approach – Watch the “video”

Large-scale fieldwork

• In Karnataka, India, to examine the impact and the channels through which such impact occurs, of empowerment training (e.g. ReflectionAction!) on the ability of disadvantaged groups to engage in collective action (ensuring effective participation in School Management and Development Committees) in the presence of more socially and optically powerful agents and groups. Funded by ESRC-DFID, £700,000, 2018-2021. In collaboration with Sayantan Ghosal (Glasgow), Patricio Dalton (Tilburg), Chris Chapman (Glasgow), Michelle Schweisfurth (Glasgow), Meena Nair (Public Affairs Centre) and Satyajeet Nanda (Public Affairs Centre).

Impact and knowledge exchange

• NHS Scotland, Project for Counter Fraud Services to recover, £1-£5 million per year, 2016 onwards, ongoing project, potential impact case study for REF (funded by the NHS).
• Copyright and Digital Innovation: Supplying Copyright Evidence to Industry, Policy and Media, 2017-2018 (ESRC-IAA, £10,000).

Policy work and outreach

Policy papers

• Brexit and the Scottish Economy: Risks, Opportunities and the Revenge of the Disadvantaged. In Royal Society of Edinburgh’s Young Academy of Scotland’s Brexit Report: “Brexit: The Impact on Scotland”, September 2017. Authored the section on “The Economy” (2017).
• Inequality: Good for the Rich, Bad for the Economy? Royal Society of Edinburgh, Advice Paper (16-23), September 2016. Co-authored this paper as a member of the Royal Society of Edinburgh’s Young Academy (2016).
• Public consultation by the European Commission on the evaluation and modernisation of the legal framework for the enforcement of intellectual property rights. CREATe Centre: University of Glasgow. April 2016. Co-authored this paper on behalf of the CREATe Centre (2016).

Consultancy and policy advising

• National Health Service (NHS Prevention Team, Counter Fraud Services, fieldwork to recover £1-£5 million per year).
• Her Majesty’s Government (Intellectual Property Office at the UK Government).
• Royal Society of Edinburgh (Working Groups on "Inequality", "Brexit and the Economy", ”Review of Financial Support for Students”, "Brexit and Migration" & "Brexit and International Students").

Media coverage and interviews

• “Talking Headlines with Theo Koutmeridis: Media, Brexit and the Scottish Economy”, Research the Headlines, 21 September 2017, Interviewed by Dr Emma Carroll for RSE’s Young Academy of Scotland’s online blog.
• “Rising Star - Dr Theodore Koutmeridis”, ReSourcE, August 2017, Royal Society of Edinburgh’s magazine.
• “Increasing HE participation increases wage inequality”, Times Higher Education, Issue 2,270, 1-6 Sept 2016.