Academic Research Field
Economics & Business
Research Mentorship & Seminars
For students pursuing economics or business research projects at high-school level, ScholarBridge pairs you with a doctoral-level or equivalent research mentor to develop a question that goes beyond the A-level syllabus. Whether you are targeting economics at Oxford, PPE at LSE, or undergraduate business at Bocconi or Warwick, a student-led research project demonstrates the analytical depth that distinguishes competitive applicants.
Who This Is For
Students who ask why economies work, and when they don't
This field suits students who are genuinely curious about how markets allocate resources, why some countries prosper while others stagnate, how businesses create and destroy value, or what behavioural economics reveals about human decision-making. You might be studying A-level Economics and feeling constrained by the syllabus, or you might be coming from a different background but drawn to the questions.
Economics research at this level is primarily analytical and argumentative rather than quantitative. You don't need advanced mathematics, you need the ability to engage with ideas rigorously and construct a compelling argument from evidence.
Student Profiles
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The economics applicant
Targeting economics or PPE at a competitive university and wants a personal statement grounded in a specific intellectual question rather than general enthusiasm for markets.
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The business-minded thinker
Interested in how firms make decisions, how markets work, or how innovation and entrepreneurship interact with economic structures, and wants to develop that thinking rigorously.
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The global affairs student
Drawn to international development, trade, or political economy, wanting to explore how economic forces shape societies and political outcomes at a global level.
The Admissions Advantage
Why research matters for economics & business applications
Economics is one of the most competitive undergraduate subjects in the UK and Europe. Grade profiles are exceptionally similar across applicants. A focused research project is one of the few ways to make a statement about how you actually think.
Beyond the A-level syllabus
Oxford and LSE economics interviews test whether you can apply economic reasoning to unfamiliar problems. Developing a research question forces you to think beyond textbook models, precisely the skill interviewers are testing.
Engagement with real debate
Economics is a living discipline, not a settled body of facts. Students who engage with current academic debates, on inequality, market power, behavioural economics, or development, demonstrate the intellectual orientation that universities are selecting for.
A personal statement with substance
Most economics personal statements describe an interest in finance and a love of current affairs. A student who can discuss a research question they genuinely pursued has something more specific, and more memorable, to say.
What Students Actually Explore
Example research interests & questions
Specific, intellectually serious questions that ScholarBridge students have developed, not generic topics, but focused investigable arguments.
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"Does nudge theory represent a paternalistic overreach, or a legitimate tool for improving public welfare?"
A behavioural economics and political philosophy question. Engages directly with the academic literature on Thaler and Sunstein's work and its critics, a natural fit for PPE applicants.
- 02
"To what extent does monopsony power in labour markets explain wage stagnation in high-income countries since 2000?"
A labour economics question drawing on recent empirical research into employer market power. Allows students to engage with both theory and contemporary policy debates.
- 03
"How have technology platforms exploited network effects to achieve winner-take-all market outcomes, and what does this reveal about the limits of antitrust doctrine?"
A platform economics and competition policy question at the frontier of current regulatory debate, ideal for students interested in business, law, and technology simultaneously.
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"Is microfinance a genuine tool for poverty reduction or a neoliberal imposition on communities that need structural investment?"
A development economics question with a genuine empirical dispute at its heart. Strong fit for students interested in international development, global inequality, and evidence-based policy.
Outputs & Deliverables
What you might produce
Each student leaves with a polished academic piece they can reference in applications and discuss confidently at interview.
Economic Policy Essay
A structured academic essay evaluating a specific economic policy question using theory and empirical evidence, demonstrating both technical literacy and the ability to construct a sustained argument.
Industry or Market Analysis
An analytical study of a specific market, examining competitive dynamics, pricing behaviour, or regulatory environment, applying economic frameworks to a real-world case.
Literature Review
A critical survey of the academic debate on a focused question, mapping competing schools of thought and identifying where the evidence is strongest, weakest, or unresolved.
Read Before You Begin
Super-curricular reading for economics & business
A strong economics project starts with reading that sharpens how you think about evidence and incentives. These are the books, sources, and channels ScholarBridge mentors point students towards to find a question worth pursuing.
Foundational books
- Thinking, Fast and Slow — Daniel Kahneman. The psychology beneath economic decisions.
- Poor Economics — Banerjee & Duflo. How rigorous evidence reshapes development economics.
- The Undercover Economist — Tim Harford. Everyday phenomena through an economist’s lens.
- Capital in the Twenty-First Century — Thomas Piketty. Data, inequality, and the long run.
Where to read & find data
- VoxEU (CEPR) — research-based policy commentary by economists.
- The Economist & FT — to follow the questions shaping the field now.
- Our World in Data & World Bank Open Data — datasets for evidence-led projects.
- NBER & JSTOR — working papers and academic literature.
Listen & explore
- Freakonomics Radio — economics applied to unexpected questions.
- Planet Money (NPR) — short, sharp explanations of how the economy works.
- The Rest Is Money — business and economics in plain terms.
- Marginal Revolution — a blog that models how economists reason.
For a structured approach to turning wide reading into a focused project, see our guide to writing a strong research question and our research project ideas across fields.
Go Deeper
Resources for aspiring economists & business students
Research project ideas
Worked examples of research projects across fields, including economics and business.
Standing out in applications
What competitive economics and PPE courses look for beyond strong grades.
Preparing for an Oxbridge interview
How a research project gives you something substantive to reason through under questioning.
The Research Scholar programme
How 1-to-1 mentorship works, from first interview to a completed academic project.
Common Questions
Economics & business research, answered
Do I need to have studied economics at school to start an economics research project?
No. Many strong projects come from students who arrive through history, mathematics, or current affairs. What matters is curiosity about how people, markets, and institutions behave. Mentors build the necessary concepts as part of the work.
What kind of economics or business research can a high-school student realistically do?
Most projects are data-driven or argument-driven: analysing a public economic dataset, evaluating a policy, modelling a market behaviour, or building an evidence-based case study of a firm or sector. None require resources beyond open data and rigorous thinking.
How does a research project help with economics, PPE, or business applications?
Economics and PPE courses are demanding and heavily oversubscribed. A focused research project shows a student can frame a question, handle evidence, and reason with discipline — and it gives a personal statement something specific and genuine to draw on.
Can I discuss my project in a university interview for economics or PPE?
Yes. Because the work is genuinely the student’s own, they can defend their assumptions, interpret their evidence, and respond when an interviewer pushes back — which is close to what economics and PPE interviews actually do.
Which ScholarBridge programme is best for a future economist or business student?
Students ready for a substantial individual project usually begin with Research Scholar, our 1-to-1 mentorship. Those still exploring the breadth of economics and business often start with a Field Seminar. The right path is recommended after an interview.
How long does an economics research project take?
Research Scholar runs in flexible 8–12-week formats, with weekly mentor sessions and guided work between them — enough to move from a broad interest to a focused question to a completed piece of analysis.
Begin Your Research
Start your research journey in economics & business
Not sure which is right? We assess each student's readiness and recommend the most suitable path.