Skip to main content

Staff Profile

Dr Tom Lane

Senior Lecturer in Economics

Background

I joined Newcastle University Business School in September 2023 as a senior lecturer specialising mostly in behavioural and experimental economics. Previously, I was assistant professor at the University of Nottingham Ningbo China from 2018-2023. I was awarded a PhD in behavioural economics in 2017 by the University of Nottingham, where I conducted my research within the world-leading behavioural economics research centre CeDEx, of which I also became local director for its China branch from 2019-2023. I maintain a position as an external Senior Fellow at CeDEx China.


My research has been published in leading journals such as the American Economic Review, the European Economic Review, Games and Economic Behavior, the Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, and the Journal of Public Economics. I use a variety of experimental and non-experimental methods to study a range of topics across economics and touching upon related social sciences. Findings have been covered by media including BBC Radio 4, The Independent, The Daily Mirror and The Conversation.


Note for prospective PhD students: I am interested in supervising projects in any area of research for which I have appropriate expertise. Please feel free to contact me so that we can see whether there's a good potential match.


You can find my Google Scholar page here, and full CV here.

Research

My research has tended to fall broadly within the fields of behavioural and experimental economics, but I have a wide range of interests, which include topics in economic discrimination, social norms, the economics of information, inequality, happiness, political economy, the effects of culture and religion on economic behaviour, and experimental methodology. I am in principle interested in research questions from all areas of economics and social science more generally.


My research uses a variety of methods, including lab experiments, online experiments, natural field experiments, discrete choice experiments, micro-econometrics, meta-analysis and systematic literature review.


Teaching

In the 2024-25 academic year, I am the module leader for ECO3035 Happiness Economics (UG Year 3) and ECO2021 The Economics of Inequality and Disadvantage (UG Year 2). I am also teaching on the modules NBS8616 Behavioural Economics (MSc) and ECO1118 Economic Applications (UG Year 1).


Previously, I have convened undergraduate courses in behavioural and experimental economics, macroeconomics, microeconomics, economic regulation, and statistics.


In June 2024, I taught on the Summer School in Experimental and Behavioural Economics at the University of Nottingham Ningbo China. Previously, I have taught extracurricular courses and summer schools in experimental economics at Zhongnan University of Economics and Law in Wuhan, China.

Publications