Applied Research in Economics Group:
Dr Don J Webber

 

Don is associate professor in the Department of Economics, Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand.

 

Email:              Don.Webber[no]@[spam]aut.ac.nz

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He is an approved researcher at the UK’s Office for National Statistics, associate researcher at the UK’s Countryside and Community Research Institute, external research fellow at the UK’s Policy Research Institute, affiliated scientist at the Internationales Institüt für Management (University of Flensburg, Germany) and member of the New Zealand Work and Labour Market Institute.

 

Don has been a consultant for, amongst others, the UK government’s department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, the Welsh Assembly Government and the UK’s South West Regional Development Agency.

 

Don is a member of the UK’s Office for National Statistics South West Regional Team Advisory Group.

 

He is also the New Zealand country representative for the Regional Studies Association.

 

 

Research:

 

Don’s research interests cover:

 

Ø      Regional economic analysis

Ø      Labour and education economics

Ø      Analyses of large (and small) data sets

 

Regional productivity issues:

 

45)    Curry, N. and Webber, Don J. “Economic performance in rural England”, Regional Studies (forthcoming)

44)    White, P., Webber, Don J. and Helvin, A. “Testing for a structural change of gradient in regression modelling”, Empirical Economics Letters (forthcoming)

43)    Mearman, A., Wakeley, T., Shoib, G. and Webber, Don J. “Pluralism in economics education: Better educated, happier students?”, International Review of Economics Education (forthcoming)

42)    Whitfield, J. E. and Webber, Don J. “Which exhibition attributes create repeat visitation for attendees?”, Tourism and Hospitality Planning and Development (forthcoming)

41)    Webber, Don J. and White, P. “Productivity and proximity”, Empirical Economics Letters (forthcoming)

40)    Webber, Don J., Johnson, S. and Fargher, S. “Sector variations in SMEs’ use of external business advice”, Local Economy (forthcoming)

39)    Cutts, D. and Webber, Don J. “Voting patterns, party spending and relative location in England and Wales”, Regional Studies (forthcoming)

 

 

38)    Whitfield, J. E. and Webber, Don J. (2010) “Sector differences in conference facility refurbishment”, Tourism and Hospitality Planning and Development 7(2), 163-178

37)    Webber, Don J. and Allen, D. O. (2010) “Environmental Kuznets curves: Mess or meaning?”, International Journal of Sustainable Development & World Ecology 17(3), 198-207

36)    Allen, D. O. and Webber, Don J. (2010) “Attendance and exam performance at university: A case study”, Research in Post-compulsory Education 15(1), 33-47

35)    Plumridge, A. and Webber, Don J. (2010) “Why does labour productivity vary across regions?”, Economic Review 27(3), 28-31

34)    Webber, Don J. and White, P. (2009) “An alternative test to check the validity of convergence results”, Applied Economics Letters 16(18), 1805-1808

33)    Webber, Don. J. (2009) “Who stopped flying around September 11th?”, Applied Economics Letters 16(13), 1375-1381

32)    Webber, Don J., Hudson, J., Plumridge, A. and Boddy, M. (2009) “Regional productivity differentials: Explaining the gap”, Papers in Regional Science 88(3), 609-621

31)    Milliner, I., White, P. and Webber, Don J. (2009) “A statistical development of fixed odds betting rules in soccer”, Journal of Gambling, Business and Economics 3(1), 89-99

30)    Webber, Don J., Curry, N. and Plumridge, A. (2009) “Business productivity and area productivity in rural England”, Regional Studies 43(5) 661-675

29)    Perlo-Freeman, S. and Webber, Don J. (2009) “Basic needs, government debt and economic growth”, World Economy 32(6) 965-994

28)    Thomas, W. and Webber, Don J. (2009) “Choice at sixteen: School, parental and peer group effects”, Research in Post-compulsory Education 14(2), 119-141

27)    Webber, Don J. and Mearman, A. (2009) “Student participation in sporting activities”, Applied Economics 41(9), 1183-1190

26)    Webber, Don J. and Allen, D. O. (2008) “EKCs: Mess or meaning?”, Economic Review, 26(2), 17-20

25)    Webber, Don J. and Cutts, D. (2008) “Voting patterns, party spending and space in England and Wales”, Congress of the European Regional Science Association (48th congress), Liverpool August 27th – 31st

24)    Devins, D.; Darlow, A. and Webber, Don J. (2008) “Beyond ‘access’: Internet use and take up of online services by adults living in disadvantaged areas in England”, Local Economy 23(1), 47-57

23)    Plumridge, A., Webber, Don J., Boddy, M. and Hudson, J. (2008) “Regional disparities in UK business performance”, in Europe and its Regions: The usage of European regionalized social science data (Eds: Grözinger, G., Matiaske, W. and Spieß, C. K.) Cambridge Scholars Publishing, pp. 205-225, ISBN: 1-84718-434-0

22)    Plumridge, A., Webber, Don J., Boddy, M. and Hudson, J. (2008) “Country-level business performance and policy asymmetries in Great Britain”, International Journal of Business Performance Management 10(4), 305-317

21)    Webber, Don J., Boddy, M. and Plumridge, A. (2007) “Explaining spatial variation in business performance in Great Britain”, European Journal of Comparative Economics 4(2), 319-332

20)    Webber, Don J. and White, P. (2007) “Convergence towards a steady state distribution”, Economics Letters 94(3), 338-341

19)    Webber, Don J. and Boddy, M. (2007) “Disparities in UK business performance: A case for regional policy”, Joint congress of the European Regional Science Association (47th congress) and ASRDLF (44th congress), Paris August 29th – September 2nd

18)    Johnson, S., Webber, Don J. and Thomas, W. (2007) “Which SMEs use external business advice? A multivariate sub-regional study”, Environment and Planning A 39(8), 1981-1997

17)    Webber, Don. J. and Gore, T. (2006) “Ad hoc governance and growth in dematerialising economies”, Ch. 4 in European Governance: Policy Making between Politicization and Control (Editor: Walzenbach, G.P.E.), 53-67, ISBN: 0-75464-594-0

16)    Webber, Don J. and Freke, M. (2006) “Church organists: Analysing their willingness to play”, Journal of Socio-Economics 35(5), 854-867

15)    Webber, Don J. and Walton, F. (2006) “Gender specific peer groups and choice at sixteen”; Research in Post-compulsory Education 11(1), 65-84

14)    Webber, Don J., White, P. and Allen, D. O. (2005) “Income convergence across US states: An analysis using measures of concordance and discordance”, Journal of Regional Science 45(3), 565-589

13)    Webber, Don J. (2005) “Reflections on curriculum development, pedagogy and assessment by a new academic”, International Review of Economics Education 4(1), 58-73

12)    Webber, Don J. (2004) “Unique regions, factor abundance and labour markets” in: Boneschansker, E., van Dijk, J., Jansma, L. G. and Verhaar, K. (Eds.) Cultural Uniqueness and Rural Economy, Fryske Akademy, Leeuwarden, Holland.

11)    Johnson, S., Webber, Don. J. and Thomas, W. (2004) “Factors influencing the use of external business advice by SMEs”, Ch.2 in: European Council for Small Business Inter-RENT Online Journal, 17-35

10)    Thomas, W., Webber, Don J. and Walton, F. (2003) “School effects that shape student’s intentions to stay-on in education”, Research in Post-compulsory Education 8(2), 197-212

9)      Webber, Don J. and White, P. (2003) “Regional factor price convergence across four major European countries”, Regional Studies 37(8), 773-782

8)      Webber, Don J. (2002) “Policies to stimulate growth: Should we invest in health or education?”, Applied Economics 34(13), 1633-1643

7)      Thomas, W., Webber, Don J. and Walton, F. (2002) “School leaving intentions at the age of 16: Evidence from a multicultural city environment”, Economic Issues 7(1), 1-14

6)      Webber, Don. J. (2002) “Rendement des facteurs et hétérogénéité régionale: Quels sont les effets des échanges commerciaux et des marchés du travail sur le salaire moyen dans les diverses régions d’Europe?” in Innovations: Cahiers d’économie de l’innovation, L’Harmattan, Paris, 151-171, ISBN: 2-74751-764-0

5)      Webber, Don J. and Gore, T. (2002) “Dematerialising local economies: A case for ad hoc governance”, Local Economy 17(2), 96-110

4)      Webber, Don J. (2002) “Pay across EU regions: Contributory effects of labour markets and regional heterogeneity”, Journal of Income Distribution 10(3-4), 40-58

3)      Webber, Don J. (2001) “A slowing of national income convergence”, Applied Economics Letters 8(11), 709-711

2)      Thomas, W. and Webber, Don J. (2001) “‘Because my friends are’: The impact of peer groups on the intention to stay-on at sixteen”, Research in Post-compulsory Education 6(3) 339-354

1)      Webber, Don J. (2001) “Convergence of labour’s factor reward between regions of the EU”, Applied Economics Letters 8(5), 355-357

 

 

Successful Bids / Grants:

 

I have led or been involved in over £400,000 worth of externally funded research (often consultancy) work for various bodies, which include the UK’s North West Regional Development Agency, UK’s West of England Partnership, UK Government’s department of Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, Welsh Assembly Government, Royal Economic Society, UK’s South West Regional Development Agency, UK’s Department of Trade and Industry and UK’s Chelmsford & Brentwood Borough Councils, & Maldon & Braintree District Councils.

 

 

Teaching Duties:

Don’s responsible for three papers: Quantitative Methods for Decision Making (MBA), Human Resource Economics (UG) and Economic Evaluations for Business (UG). He supervises undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral dissertations.

 

Special Commendation:

Don was successful in achieving a special commendation from the UK’s Learning and Teaching Support Network for ‘outstanding teaching’ in 2004.

 

 

Other links:

Academic stuff

Jobs: Inomics, Jobs.ac.uk,

Resources: JEL Numbers, WebEc, WoPEc, Resources for Economists, CIA World Factbook, ESDS, SW Observatory, World Bank Economics of Education, ECONbase, University Sensitive Map, Economic Links, International Data and Econometric Resources, Academic Google, GeoDA, MLwiN

 

Non-academic stuff:

Probably the best football team in the South West? Bristol Rovers Football Club

Tourism: Minehead; Exmoor; Pembrokeshire; Brecon Beacons;

Other: AA Route Planner; House price finder; Did you know…; Babel Fish Translator; Currency Converter; Map My Run; Worldmapper

 
Donald Webber

10-June-2010 09.35 NZT