Dr Sara le Roux

PhD in Economics (University of Exeter)

Reader in Applied Economics and Decision; Programme Lead in Economics

Oxford Brookes Business School

Sara le Roux

Role

Dr. Sara le Roux is Reader in Applied Economics and Decision at Oxford Brookes Business School (since January 2021). As an applied economist, her research focusses on decision-making in various contexts, with a view of providing policy recommendations or strategic guidance that can be used to improve decision-making outcomes. 

Sara has a PhD in Economics from the University of Exeter (2012). Her thesis focused mainly on experiments in decision-making and was conducted under the supervisory team of  Prof. David Kelsey and Prof. Dieter Balkenborg. She has received a Masters diploma in Economics from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and an MSc degree in Economics and Experimental Economics from the University of Exeter (2009), for which she was awarded a Dean's Commendation.

She joined Oxford Brookes University in 2012, as a Senior Lecturer in Economics. 

Teaching and supervision

Courses

She has previously taught on:

  • Microeconomics I
  • Microeconomics II
  • Mathematics for Economics & Finance
  • Statistics for Economics & Finance
  • Econometrics
  • Industrial Organisation
  • Economics & Society in Context
  • ​Applied Game Theory
  • Behavioural Economics

Sara has lead Post-Graduate modules on Industrial Organisation and supervised Undergraduate and Masters dissertations in Economics & Finance. 

Supervision

Sara is currently supervising four PhD students on topics related to experimental economics, industrial organisation and development economics. 

She would be interested in supervising PhD dissertations in Game Theory, Industrial Organisation, Decision Theory, Behavioural and Experimental Economics, Development Economics and Climate Change.

Research

Sara's research interests include the theoretical and experimental analysis of individual's perception of ambiguity and risk; decision choices made by individuals in the presence of ambiguity; threshold effects in environment (climate change); game theory; public economics; behavioural and neuro-economics.

She has published papers in the Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Theory and Decision, Journal of Public Economic Theory, Technology Forecasting and Social Change, Energy Policy, Journal of Business Ethics and in a feschrift in honour of Professor Reinhard Selten (1994 Nobel Laureate in Economics), among many others.

 

Research impact

As an applied economist, Sara has worked on developing a methodology that assesses the contribution that organisations (heritage estates in particular) can make to their local and national communities. The economic impact assessment projects advise organisations on ways in which they can maximise their impact on local stakeholders, their local economy as well as the UK GDP. 

The reports have been showcased to wider external audiences through a variety of media outlets – including on BBC South Today, various regional radio stations as well as a number of newspaper and journal outlets.  

Centres and institutes

Publications

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Professional information

Memberships of professional bodies

  • Economics Network

Conferences

External Invited Talks

  • 2023 EDAMBA Summer Research Academy, Athens, Greece.
  • 2022 Grenoble applied Economics Lab (GAEL), Université Grenoble Alpes, France; IÉSEG Research Center on Risk and Uncertainty, France;     Centre for Environmental and Resource Economics, Sweden (virtual talk); Carbon Monsters Sustainability Conference, UK.
  • 2021 University of Paderborn (virtual talk); Centre for Environmental and Resource Economics, Sweden (virtual talk)
  • 2019 Centre for Environmental and Resource Economics, Sweden; University of Exeter, UK
  • 2018 Centre for Environmental and Resource Economics, Sweden
  • 2017 WU Competence Center for Experimental Research, Austria
  • 2016 GW4 Meet, University of Bristol, UK
  • 2014 Department of Economics, University of Birmingham, UK
  • 2011 Sixth International Developments in Economic Education Conference, LSE, London, UK

Conference Papers

  • 2019 ‘The effects of information asymmetry in a modified threshold public goods game’, Public Economic Theory Conference, Strasbourg, France.
  • 2018 ‘Climate Change Catastrophes and Insuring Decisions’, Foundations of Utility and Risk Conference, York
  • 2017 ‘Climate Change Catastrophes and Insuring Decisions’, International Meeting on Experimental and Behavioral Social Sciences, Barcelona, Spain; European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, Athens, Greece; Economic Science Association, Vienna, Austria.
  • 2016 ‘Strategic Ambiguity and Decision-making: An Experimental Study’, Foundations of Utility and Risk Conference, Warwick.
  • 2015 ‘Strategic Ambiguity and Decision-making: An Experimental Study’, Public Economic Theory Conference, Luxembourg; Economic Science Association, Conference, Heidelberg, Germany.
  • 2014 ‘Dragon Slaying with Ambiguity: Theory and Experiments’, Public Economic Theory Conference, Seattle, USA; Foundations of Utility and Risk, Conference, Rotterdam, Netherlands, Royal Economic Society Conference, Manchester, UK.
  • 2013 ‘An Experimental Study on the Effect of Ambiguity in a Coordination Game’, Risk, Uncertainty and Decision Conference, Paris, France; Brookes-Burgundy Research Conference, Dijon, France.
  • 2011 ‘Deviations from Equilibrium in an Experiment on Signaling Games: First Results’, NUS Behavioural Economics Summer Institute, Singapore;  SABE/ IAREP Conference, Exeter, UK. 
  • 2010 ‘Deviations from Equilibrium in an Experiment on Signaling Games: First Results’, Economic Science Association Conference, Copenhagen; Europäische Wissenschaftstage,Steyr, Austria. 

Consultancy

  • 2023 Research Lead for Project : ‘Blenheim Estate: Economic Impact Study 2022-2023’
  • 2022 Research Lead for Project : ‘Blenheim Estate: Economic Impact Study 2021-2022’
  • 2022 Research Lead for Project : ‘Santapod Raceway Economic Impact Study 2018'
  • 2021 Research Lead for Project : ‘Blenheim Estates: Economic Impact Study 2020-21’
  • 2020 Research Lead for Project : ‘Blenheim Estates: Economic Impact Study 2019-20’.
  • 2020 Research Lead for Project : ‘Bicester Motion: Economic Impact Study 2’.
  • 2019 Research Lead for Project : ‘Blenheim Estates: Economic Impact Study 2018-19’.
  • 2019 Research Lead for Project : ‘Bicester Motion: Economic Impact Study 1’.
  • 2018 Research Lead for Project : ‘Oxford Business Visitor Economy Study’.
  • 2018 Research Lead for Project : ‘Blenheim Estates: Economic Impact Study 2017-18’.
  • 2017 Research Lead for Project : ‘Blenheim Estates: Economic Impact Study 2016-17’.

Further details

Successful External Grants:

  • 2023 Research Lead for Project :‘Blenheim Estate: Economic Impact Study 2022-2023’, funded by Blenheim Supporting Ltd. 
  • 2022 Research Lead for Project :‘Blenheim Estate: Economic Impact Study 2021-2022’, funded by Blenheim Supporting Ltd. Costing tool ID – 834344, Project ID: A-195717666.
  • 2022 Research Lead for Project : ‘Santapod Raceway Economic Impact Study 2018”, funded by Trakbak Racing Ltd.  Costing tool ID – 720787, Project ID: A183657684
  • 2021 Research Lead for Project : ‘Blenheim Estate: Economic Impact Study 2020-21’, funded by Blenheim Supporting Ltd. Costing tool ID – 806047, Project ID: A-190597817
  • 2020 Research Lead for Project : ‘Bicester Motion: Economic Impact Study’, funded by Bicester Motion Ltd. Costing tool ID – 773289, Project ID: A186677627
  • 2020 Research Lead for Project : ‘Blenheim Estate: Economic Impact Study 2019-20’, funded by Blenheim Supporting Ltd. Costing tool ID – 721172,  Project ID: A-183657684
  • 2019 Research Lead for Project : ‘Santapod Raceway Economic Impact Assessment”, 
  • funded by Trakbak Racing Ltd. Costing tool ID – 720787, Project ID: A183657684
  • 2019 Research Lead for Project : ‘Blenheim Estate: Economic Impact Study 2018-19’, funded by Blenheim Supporting Ltd. pFACT ID – 9921, Project ID: A180380898.
  • 2019 Research Lead for Project : ‘Bicester Motion: Economic Impact Study’, funded by Bicester Heritage Ltd. pFACT ID – 9660, Project ID: A180505486.
  • 2018 Research Lead for Project : ‘Blenheim Estate: Economic Impact Study 2017-18’, funded by Blenheim Supporting Ltd. pFACT ID – 9353, Project ID: A-27883. 
  • 2017 Research Lead for Project : ‘Blenheim Estate: Economic Impact Study  2016-17’, funded by Blenheim Supporting Ltd. pFACT ID – 9018, Project ID: A-27668.

Successful Internal Grants:

  • 2022 Oxford Brookes University CRF award: Participatory Research Initiative (principal investigator) £9,066
  • 2014 Oxford Brookes University Central Research grant (principal investigator)      £7,500
  • 2015 Oxford Brookes Business School Internal Small Grant (principal investigator)      £2,866
  • 2016 Oxford Brookes Business School Internal Small Grant (principal investigator)      £4,862
  • 2017 Royal Economic Society Conference Grant      £300