Economics Research Services
Economics—from macro and growth to labour, health, development, and public economics—is the home discipline of modern econometrics and causal inference. MAS Research brings the full time-series, panel, and quasi-experimental toolkit these questions require, matched to the structure of the data and the identification the claim needs.
Economics research applies econometric and causal-inference methods to questions about growth, policy, markets, and behaviour—such as the long-run link between variables, whether a reform caused an effect, or how an outcome responds to a shock. Because the data range from trending macro series to firm and household panels, and identification is central, the field relies on time-series econometrics, panel methods, and quasi-experimental designs.
Economics as a research domain
Economics is the discipline where modern econometrics and the “credibility revolution” in causal inference were largely developed, and its empirical standards are correspondingly high. The domain spans macroeconomics (growth, inflation, monetary and fiscal policy, business cycles, exchange rates), microeconomics (consumer and firm behaviour, market structure, competition, pricing, productivity), and a wide range of applied fields—development, labour, health, public, environmental, energy, international, and regional economics, along with behavioural economics and political economy.
Methodologically, two things define the domain. First, the data vary enormously in structure: trending macro time series, cross-country and household panels, high-frequency financial data, and experimental or quasi-experimental samples—each demanding different tools. Second, and above all, economics is identification-first: a credible empirical paper must make clear why its estimate reflects a causal effect rather than a correlation, and reviewers judge the identification strategy before the results. Matching the method to both the data structure and the identification need is the core of credible economics research.
How we work in this domain
Our role is to bring the right econometric or causal method to an economics research question and execute it to the standard economics journals demand—where the identification strategy, diagnostics, and robustness are scrutinised closely. We work with doctoral researchers, faculty, and research teams in economics departments, policy institutes, and business schools, on individual papers, dissertation chapters, and larger programmes.
The through-line is methodological fit. A long-run macro relationship is a cointegration or VAR problem; a cross-country panel is a panel time-series or panel-data problem; and a policy question is a quasi-experimental one—difference-in-differences, regression discontinuity, or instrumental variables, depending on how treatment was assigned. Below we map the domain’s recurring questions to the methods that answer them.
Matching economics questions to methods
The recurring empirical questions in economics research, and the methods best suited to each. Every method links to its dedicated service page.
| Research question | Why it’s hard | Method |
|---|---|---|
| Do macro variables share a long-run relationship? | Trending, non-stationary series; spurious regression | ARDL & cointegration |
| How do macro series interact and respond to shocks? | Interdependent dynamic system | VAR / SVAR / VECM |
| A cross-country panel with common global shocks? | Cross-sectional dependence & heterogeneity | Panel time-series |
| Effects across units (countries, firms, households)? | Stable unit differences confound estimates | Panel data / GMM |
| Did a reform or programme cause an effect? | Non-random adoption; need a counterfactual | Difference-in-differences |
| Treatment assigned by an eligibility cutoff? | Confounding, except right at the threshold | Regression discontinuity |
| A key regressor is endogenous? | Omitted variables, simultaneity, selection | Instrumental variables |
| A single country adopted a policy? | One treated unit; no clean comparison | Synthetic control |
Across the economics landscape
We support quantitative research across the breadth of economics—each sub-field tending to lean on a characteristic set of methods.
Macroeconomics & Policy
Growth, inflation, monetary and fiscal policy, and business cycles—time-series, cointegration, and VAR questions about long-run links and shock transmission.
Development Economics
Programme and policy evaluation and cross-country growth—quasi-experimental designs and country/household panels.
Labour & Health Economics
Effects of policies and interventions on individuals—a heartland of difference-in-differences, RDD, and IV.
Public & Environmental Economics
Taxes, regulation, and environmental policy—policy-evaluation designs and panel methods across regions and countries.
Microeconomics & Industrial Organization
Firm and consumer behaviour, market structure, and competition—panel, cross-sectional, and structural approaches.
Regional, Urban & Behavioural
Spatial and regional questions and behavioural economics—panel, spatial, and experimental methods.
From question to publishable result
We start from your research question and data, and—before any estimation—work through the identification strategy and the data’s structure, because in economics these decide whether a finding is credible. For time-series we establish stationarity and cointegration; for panels we test for dependence and heterogeneity; for causal questions we pin down what makes the comparison valid (parallel trends, a clean cutoff, a defensible instrument). We then execute the analysis with the diagnostics and robustness checks economics reviewers expect.
Whether you are writing a single paper, a dissertation chapter, or running a larger programme, we provide the econometric work—estimation, testing, identification checks, and clear interpretation—alongside reproducible code and analysis-ready files where appropriate and permitted. Our publication support helps carry the analysis through peer review.
In economics, the identification strategy is judged before the results. A coefficient is only as credible as the argument for why it is causal—trending series need cointegration, not naive regression; policy effects need a valid counterfactual; endogenous regressors need an instrument. Matching method to data and identification is the whole game.
Who we work with
Doctoral researchers and faculty in economics departments, policy and development institutes, central banks, and business schools—across macro, micro, and applied fields—as well as research teams needing econometric depth, from single studies to multi-paper programmes.
Economics research: common questions
Working on an economics study?
Tell us the question and the data, and we will work through the identification and match it to the right method—cointegration and VAR, panel and GMM, or a quasi-experimental design—executed to a standard that stands up to economics-journal review.