Paul Hare has been Professor of Economics at Heriot-Watt University since 1985, and having largely retired in 2010, is now Professor Emeritus. For much of his career his research focus was on the economies of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union . As soon as communist governments collapsed in the period 1989-91, the University supported him to establish CERT (Centre for Economic Reform and Transformation), which for well over a decade functioned as one of the leading research centres focusing on economic transition in the Former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, (1990 – 2012).
CERT attracted a mix of research and consultancy funding from the EU, the World Bank, the IMF, the ESRC, the EBRD and several other funders, including work on two projects for the G7. All this gave rise to many and diverse publications and reports. Paul has worked on various aspects of microeconomic policy including investment, trade policy and private sector development. On trade issues, he has advised governments in transition economies, carried out studies of trade efficiency and competitiveness, and undertook for the EU the detailed and technical foreign trade analysis for evaluating the impact of the EU-CARIFORUM EPA in 2013/14.