I am an economist and my research interests include economic policy, regional economics, corporate performance and innovation (further information is here). My research is primarily concerned with new developments in innovation policy and analysing knowledge exchange between academics and the private, public and third sectors. My current research project is concerned with analysing business-university relationships in the UK. You can find further information about this project on the Centre for Business Research (CBR) website here.
I am University Associate Professor in International Macroeconomics at the Judge Business School, Cambridge; Director, The Cambridge MBA; Assistant Director of the Centre for Business Research, Cambridge; and Fellow of St Catharine’s College, Cambridge.
What’s New
Article: Understanding the post-COVID state and its geographies, Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, March 2023, (with Mia Gray, Linda Lobao and Ron Martin).
Blog: UK to perform worst of major economies in 2023, says IMF – here’s how to achieve long-term growth, 2 February 2023
Dataset: Cambridge Centre for Business Research Survey of Knowledge Exchange Activity with Universities by United Kingdom Companies, 2017-2021. SN:9037, December 2022 (with Alan Hughes, Ammon Salter, David Angenendt and Robert Hughes). DOI: 10.5255/UKDA-SN-9037-1
Report: The Changing State of Business-University Interactions in the UK 2005 to 2021, NCUB and CBR, March 2022 (with Alan Hughes, Ammon Salter, David Angenendt and Robert Hughes).
Editorial Activities
I am one of the editors of the Cambridge Journal of Economics and of the Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society.
Political Economy Seminars
I organise the St Catharine’s Political Economy Seminars with Professor Philip Arestis. You can find details of past seminars here. The details of future seminars are here, and the next seminar will be by Professor Sir Paul Collier – ‘A New Economics for Left Behind Places: how downward spirals can be reversed’ on 29th April 2024.
Videos
How should a government be? The new levers of state power (with Tanya Filer, Jaideep Prabhu and Stephen Taylor), Cambridge Alumni Festival, 27 September 2021
The shift from West to East, Cambridge Risk Summit, 15 June 2020
The economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic: some initial comments
Podcasts (Judge podcast series unless otherwise indicated)
Technology and work 10 June 2020
Post-Brexit Britain 29 April 2020
The gig economy 20 January 2020
Gold and the future of the global reserve currency system OMFIF (Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum) podcast, 14 January 2020
Office politics 28 November 2019
Skills: what skills are required for the 21st Century, and what is the role for technology and governments? 18 September 2019
Leadership 15 July 2019
Innovation ecosystems 14 May 2019
The Brexit dilemma EBRD’s podcast: Pocket Dilemmas, 4 April 2019
Business opportunities and challenges in Brazil 3 April 2019
Healthcare policy and drug development 18 March 2019
Energy and energy policy 4 February 2019
Corporate governance 12 December 2018
Innovation 14 November 2018
Alternative finance 10 October 2018
The return of industrial policy 15 August 2018
Dealing with risk 20 June 2018
Gender inequality in the workplace 1 June 2018
The rise of Silicon Valley 25 April 2018
Inequality of income and wealth 12 March 2018
Is globalisation going into reverse? 1 February 2018
Blogs
A strong but uneven government response to COVID-19 20 July 2023
UK to perform worst of major economies in 2023, says IMF – here’s how to achieve long-term growth 2 February 2023
Biden’s US$1.9 trillion stimulus won’t be enough to reignite world economy 16 March 2021
A £50 billion ‘Remain bonus’? 3 December 2019
George Osborne at the IMF? 5 July 2019
G20 will be about Donald Trump and his tariffs – but China will dominate the new world order 30 November 2018
The ‘shrinking state’ 28 November, 2018
UK Budget 2018: experts respond
Budget 2017 (part 2): experts respond
UK budget 2017: experts respond
Global cooperation is at risk just when our economies need it most
Bank of England signals price rises as pound in Britons’ pockets gets smaller
Forget Super Thursday, the Bank of England can only offer Mildly Useful Thursday
Ignore the mudslinging – Corbyn would be a sound option for Labour
Budget 2015: cuts to make Daily Mail readers wince, but not just yet
David Cameron’s red light zone is closer to home than he thinks
How to shape economic policy when we move beyond GDP
Osborne’s four myths mean he hits the poor and helps the rich
Immigration rhetoric is a threat to Britain’s long-term growth
Does economics need less maths or more?
Economics: an art not a science
Budget 2014: how good politics can trump good economics
US Politics and the health of a nation
The UK Economy: the retreat of the makers
Immigration: lies, dammed lies and the Daily Mail
The FT: defending zombie economics
The OBR and the impact of austerity
Time for TINA to turn: myths of austerity
Prospects for the world economy
More quantitative easing is not the answer to stagnation
The Great Divergence: the state of the regions in the UK
Where are the exports going to come from? Confusion at the Bank of England
More unfounded optimism from the Bank of England?
The Benefits of a Plan B: lessons from the interwar period
Recent Papers
The Changing State of Business-University Interactions in the UK 2005 to 2021, NCUB and CBR, March 2022 (with Alan Hughes, Ammon Salter, David Angenendt and Robert Hughes).
Innovation policy and place: a critical assessment, Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, Volume 12, Issue 2, July 2019. Pre-print version.
Citizens of somewhere: Examining the geography of foreign and native-born academics’ engagement with external actors, Research Policy, December 2018 (with Cornelia Lawson, Ammon Salter and Alan Hughes). OPEN ACCESS
The shrinking state? Understanding the assault on the public sector, Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, Volume 11, Issue 3, October 2018 (with Linda Lobao, Mia Gray and Kevin Cox). OPEN ACCESS
Perceptions of entrepreneurial ecosystems in remote islands and core regions, Island Studies Journal,13, 2018, 267-284 (with C. Freitas).
Ambidextrous academics and persistence in knowledge exchange: new findings for the UK and their implications for HEI strategic management of collaborative R&D and related activities, February 2018 (with Alan Hughes, Cornelia Lawson and Ammon Salter).
Knowledge Exchange and Research Council Institutes: Interactions with External Organisations, 2012-2015, NCUB, October 2016 (with Alan Hughes, Robert Hughes and Anna Bullock)
The Changing State of Knowledge Exchange UK Academic Interactions with External Organisations, 2005 -2015, February 2016 (with Alan Hughes, Cornelia Lawson, Ammon Salter, Anna Bullock and Robert B. Hughes)
Knowledge Exchange in UK Universities: Results from a Panel of Academics 2005 – 2015, February 2016 (with Cornelia Lawson, Alan Hughes, Ammon Salter, Anna Bullock and Robert B. Hughes)
Cultural Connections: The Role of the Arts and Humanities in Competitiveness and Local Development, March 2014 (with Alan Hughes, Jocelyn Prober, Royce Turner, Anna Bullock and Isobel Milner)
Connecting with the Ivory Tower: Business Perspectives on Knowledge Exchange in the UK, November 2013 (with A. Hughes)
The Dual Funding Structure for Research in the UK: Research Council and Funding Council Allocation Methods and the Pathways to Impact of UK Academics, Report for the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), May 2013 (with A. Hughes, A. Bullock and I.Milner).
Britain’s withdrawl from the Gold standard: the end of an epoch. Why plan A in the 1920s did not work and how a resort to plan B promoted recovery in the 1930s.
Presentations
2010-2020: a lost decade for the world economy?
The myth of the ivory tower: the role of academics in the innovation ecosystem.
Michael Kitson: Economist 