Professor Robert Elliott

Professor Robert Elliott

Business School
Professor of Economics
Director of Research - Department of Economics

Contact details

Telephone
+44 (0) 121 414 7700
Email
r.j.elliott@bham.ac.uk
Twitter
Address
Birmingham Business School
University House
University 麻豆精选
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Professor Robert Elliott is an applied economist who works at the intersection of international economics, development economics, environmental and energy economics and international business. He has a particular interest in the Chinese economy, firm behaviour, natural disasters and the impact of globalisation on the environment.

He is an editor for the , a Director of the Trade, Environment, Development and Energy (TEDE) research group, a Co-I on ReLIB as part of the Faraday Institute, a member of Water Challenges in a Changing World IGI and an Affiliate of the Lloyds Bank Centre for Responsible Business.

Professor Robert Elliott is also a part of the Birmingham Plastics Network, an interdisciplinary team of more than 40 academics working together to shape the fate and sustainable future of plastics.  This unique team brings together chemists, environmental scientists, engineers, philosophers, linguists, economists, artists, writers, lawyers, and experts in many other fields, to holistically address the global plastics problem.

Qualifications

Professor Robert Elliott joined the Department in September 2003. He obtained a BA (Economics) and MA (Economics) at the Universities of Leicester and Essex and studied for his PhD with Professor David Greenaway, Dr Peter Wright and Robert Hine at the University of Nottingham.

Teaching

  • The Global Economy - Year 1
  • China and the World Economy - Year 2

Postgraduate supervision

Professor Elliott is available to supervise PhD students across a broad range of topics including international and development economics and environmental and energy economics. Interdisciplinary topics are encouraged and students will need to be familar with the manipulation of large data sets and econometric techniques and methods.

Research

Professor Elliott is currently working on the “” project. Read the policy brief for further information.

Robert is part of the Birmingham Plastics Network, an interdisciplinary team of more than 40 academics working together to shape the fate and sustainable future of plastics. This unique team brings together chemists, environmental scientists, philosophers, linguists, economists, and experts in many other fields, to holistically address the global plastics problem.

Trade, environment, development and energy (TEDE) group

Robert Elliott's main research covers empirical environmental, international trade, development, energy and labour economics. Specific topics include: Specific topics include:

  • Economics of China and East Asia
  • Empirical environmental economics
  • Empirical international economics
  • Empirical development economics
  • Environmental economic history
  • Globalisation and the environment
  • Economics of natural disasters (floods, typhoons, earthquakes)
  • Biodiversity and deforestation
  • Trade, the environment, FDI and industrial restructuring
  • Economic geography (spatial econometrics)
  • Geographical specialisation and clustering
  • International business and the study of multinationals
  • Global value chains
  • Energy economics

He is currently involved in a related, Leverhulme Trustresearch projects in the general area of "Globalisation and the Environment" with Matthew Cole at the University 麻豆精选. 

Read more about “”.

Grants

ERSC “China – UK energy issues”. Approximately £1 million. Joint with TEDE group members.

Other activities

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Elliott, RJR & Urquhart, A 2025, '', Financial Review.

Tong, C, Dai, Y, Cole, M, Elliott, RJR, Bartington, SE, Liu, B & Shi, Z 2025, '', npj Clean Air, vol. 1, no. 1, 29.

Zhang, J, Elliott, RJR, Zhang, B & Liu, M 2025, '', Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, vol. 134, 103221.

Nguyen-Tien, V, Zhang, C, Strobl, E & Elliott, RJR 2025, '', Nature Energy.

Cheng, K, Bensassi, S, Elliott, RJR & Strobl, E 2024, '', Historical Methods: A Journal of Quantitative and Interdisciplinary History.

Elliott, R, Maddison, D, Kuai, W & Ozgen, C 2024, '', Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, vol. 127, 103015.

Elliott, RJR, Sun, P & Zhu, T 2024, '', Review of World Economics.

Meier, S, Strobl, E & Elliott, RJR 2024, '', Cliometrica.

Liu, B, Bryson, JR, Sevinc, D, Cole, M, Elliott, R, Bartington, S, Bloss, W & Shi, Z 2023, '', Environmental and Resource Economics, vol. 86, no. 1-2, pp. 203-231. ,

Song, C, Liu, B, Cheng, K, Cole, MA, Dai, Q, Elliott, RJR & Shi, Z 2023, '', Environmental Science and Technology.

Lander, L, Tagnon, C, Nguyen-Tien, V, Kendrick, E, Elliott, RJR, Abbott, AP, Edge, JS & Offer, GJ 2023, '', Applied Energy, vol. 331, 120437.

Elliott, RJR, Nguyen-Tien, V, Strobl, EA & Tveit, T 2023, '', Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 10, no. 3, pp. 753-786.

Meier, S, Strobl, E, Elliott, RJR & Kettridge, N 2023, '', Risk Analysis, vol. 43, no. 9, pp. 1745-1762.

Comment/debate

Meier, S, Elliott, RJR & Strobl, E 2023, '', Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, vol. 119, 102823.

Commissioned report

Cole, M, Elliott, R & Zhang, L 2023, 2023 edn, Asian Development Bank, Philippines.

Expertise

Economic and trade policy

Professor Robert Elliott is an applied economist who works at the intersection of international economics, development economics, environmental and energy economics and international business. He has a particular interest in the Chinese economy, firm behaviour, natural disasters and the impact of globalisation on the environment.