The School of Economics has a long history of research leadership in theoretical and applied industrial economics, competition policy and regulation. The Journal of Industrial Economics was first edited from UEA as long ago as the 1980s. 

The Industrial Economics group is closely aligned with the Centre for Competition Policy (CCP) which facilitates close collaboration with competition economists located in the Law School and Norwich Business School, as well as researchers in other disciplines working on other perspectives of competition policy. Research undertaken in CCP has real-world application and value while retaining its academic rigour.

Our group members maintain on-going advisory/membership links with competition agencies and regulatory bodies including the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), the OECD, and the European Commission (EC). Most of the sector regulators (e.g. Ofwat, Ofcom, Ofgem) regularly consult us.

Our research is rooted in competition and regulatory policy, where practice often runs alongside theory. Engagement with practitioners both informs research, and leads to dissemination of results to non-academic audiences. For example, our research on policy evaluation flows directly out of close understanding of the issues facing practitioners. CCP researchers feed research findings into commissioned reports and responses to consultations e.g. contributions to European Commission and UK Competition guidelines on merger control, and on the methodology of allocating resources within the competition agencies.