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June 20, 2025

Rising house prices can reduce productivity: study identifies key economic distortion mechanism

The spectacular growth of house prices in Spain between 2003 and 2007 not only strained the real estate market and accelerated private indebtedness. A study published in The Economic Journal, titled “House Prices and Misallocation: The Impact of Collateral Channel on Productivity” reveals that this dynamic also had less obvious but profoundly relevant consequences: a significant fall in aggregate productivity caused by a misallocation of capital within industrial sectors. The…

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June 19, 2025

Laura Guitart takes office as Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Business

Laura Guitart Tarrés, tenured professor in the Department of Business, director of the UB Chair of Family Business, and until now Academic Vice-Dean, has taken office as Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Business at the University of Barcelona in a ceremony held at the historic building on 19 June 2025. Guitart Tarrés is a researcher with the Business Research Group (SGR 0361), head of the Teaching Innovation Group…

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May 30, 2025

One of our PhD in Economics alumni receives the Extraordinary Doctorate Award

On May 13th, the Extraordinary Doctorate Awards were presented to recognize the best doctoral theses of the 2022–2023 academic year. We are proud to announce that one of our PhD in Economics alumni, Ignacio Garrón, received this prestigious award. Dr. Ignacio Garrón was recognized for his thesis “Essays on Tail Risks in Macroeconomics”, which explores how U.S. financial conditions influence global credit and equity markets, especially in vulnerable contexts. His…

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May 30, 2025

Researchers from several countries discuss language policies and their social and economic consequences

The rector of the University of Barcelona, Joan Guàrdia, and the Catalan minister for Language Policy, Francesc Xavier Vila, opened an international meeting on the economics of language, a discipline that analyses issues such as the social and economic effects of language use and language policies. The event will take place at the Faculty of Economics and Business. Experts from all over the world will discuss topics such as the…

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May 22, 2025

Historic city centers hold back suburban sprawl—new study shows how cultural heritage shapes urban form

Why do some European cities remain compact and vibrant, while others have hollowed out under the weight of suburbanization? A new paper by our researcher Elisabet Viladecans-Marsal and Miquel-Àngel Garcia-López (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona) reveals a key factor: historic urban amenities. Using geolocated data on over 2,600 historic buildings from the Roman, Medieval, and Renaissance-Baroque periods across 579 European cities, the authors test whether cultural heritage influences where people choose…

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April 29, 2025

The Transformative Power of Urban Food Governance

A new study led by our researcher Ana Moragues-Faus, alongside Jill K. Clark (Ohio State University), Jane Battersby (University of Cape Town), and Anna R. Davies (Trinity College Dublin) explores the potential of urban food governance to drive more just and sustainable food systems. As cities play an increasingly central role in tackling global challenges such as climate change and food insecurity, the study highlights the need for more integrated…

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