Biography

Robert Witt is Professor of Economics and Head of the School of Economics. He graduated from Kingston Polytechnic with a B.A. (Hons) (CNAA) in Economics in 1974 and received an M.Sc. in Financial Economics from the University of Wales (Bangor) in 1975. He also spent time as a Masters student at Essex University. He completed his Ph.D. in Economics at Essex in 1991. Before coming to Surrey he worked as an economic analyst in the City, lectured at the Polytechnics of North London, Portsmouth, City of London and at the University of St. Andrews. He has been a visiting professor at Florida International University in the United States.

Research Interests

My main research area covers empirical work in labour economics, the economics of crime and the economics of sport.

He has served as a consultant to the US Department of Health and Human Services, the Home Office and the Department for Business Innovation and Skills.

Research Collaborations

Stephen Machin (UCL), Barry Reilly (Sussex), Neil Rickman (Surrey)

Publications

Current Publications

• Panic on the streets of London: police, crime and the July 2005 terror attacks (with Mirko Draca and Stephen Machin), American Economic Review, 2011, Vol. 101, No. 5, pp.2157-81
• Disciplinary Sanctions in English Premiership Football: Is There a Racial Dimension? (with Barry Reilly), Labour Economics, 2011, Vol. 18, Issue 3, pp.360-370
• Crime displacement and police interventions: Evidence from London's "Operation Theseus"(with Mirko Draca and Stephen Machin); chapter in NBER book The Economics of Crime: Lessons for and from Latin America, 2010, R. DiTella, S. Edwards and E. Schargrodsky (editors), pp.359-374, University of Chicago Press.
• Domestic burglaries and the real price of audio-visual goods: some time series evidence for Britain (with Barry Reilly), Economics Letters, 2008, Vol. 100, Issue 1, pp.96-100.
• The hazard of being an English football league manager: empirical estimates for three recent league seasons (with Ray Bachan and Barry Reilly), Journal of the Operational Research Society, 2008, Vol. 59, Issue 7, pp.884-891.
• Favouritism and financial incentives: a natural experiment (with Neil Rickman), Economica, 2008, Vol. 75, Issue 298, pp.296-309.

View more publications up to 2007

Departmental Duties

Head of the School of Economics