Blog

Partisan geographic sorting in the UK: do political views influence to where we choose to move?

Georgios Efthyvoulou, Vincenzo Bove & Harry Pickard - 11 September 2023

New research shows that, when we move within the UK, we tend to move to areas that share our political values and ideals. 

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Social media as a site of social conflict

Winnie Lam & Remi Edwards - 15 August 2023

Online spaces are designed for fast content consumption, rather than meaningful political debate, which can fuel social conflict. This blog is the second in the series The Political Economy of Conflict by members of SPERI's Doctoral Researcher Network.

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In a post-Brexit world, we need health policy reform that respects the NHS

Matt Wood, Ivanka Antova, Mark Flear and Tamara Hervey - 19 July 2023

New research shows preferences for increased NHS investment in so-called left behind communities in a post-Brexit context - despite Brexit, not because of it.

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The dynamics of conflict and distance in financialised affordable housing

Michael Marshall - 16 May 2023

Speculation in affordable housing by an opaque investment community has produced new housing conflicts, but also new tactics among activists. This blog is the first in an upcoming series The Political Economy of Conflict by members of SPERI's Doctoral Researcher Network.

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Worker resistance and the gig economy: lessons from the Sheffield courier strike

Guy Cowman Sharpe & Christopher Leach - 29 March 2023

For eight months, platform workers in Sheffield organised the longest strike in the history of the gig economy. History and Politics student Christopher Leach spoke to striking platform workers as part of a Sheffield Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE) project. 

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Panoramic view of Paris with the Eiffel Tower in the background

Ben Clift & Sean McDaniel - 3 October 2022

European pressures manifestly constrain and shape national capitalisms, yet they are fragmented and differentiating, producing capitalist variegation rather than convergence.

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Overlooking the Obelisk in the city of Buenos Aires

Matt Barlow - 29 September 2022

Paying for the energy price guarantee has highlighted a deep political cleavage around tax ideology. Reframing windfall as emergency will be critical to leverage a change in direction. 

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Birds eye view of rooftops and housing

Nick Kotucha - 22 September 2022

The implementation of the macroprudential policy programme in individual countries has been remarkably uneven. A closer look at the importance of national growth models and housing systems for issues of financial stability helps us understand why.

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Industrial pipes and tubes

James Silverwood & Richard Woodward - 14 September 2022

Drawing on newly published research, this blog argues that while Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak both stated a desire to introduce tax cuts and reduce the size of the British state, history suggests that once in office either candidate would have resorted to industrial policy in the shadows.

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Scottish castle with a Scottish flag

Thomas Chappell - 13 July 2022

Devolution, combined with error-strewn Westminster governance, has led to the growth of pro-independence sentiment north of the border. Could we witness the break-up of Britain over the next decade?

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A London street with a red bus on the road. EU flags and Great Britain flags are with crowds of people and police on the roadside.

Lourdes Sales-Piera - 12 July 2022

Brexit may have come as a surprise to many commentators, but there are long-standing historical reasons why it was entirely predictable.

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Red heart balloons with a Ukrainian flag in the background

11 July 2022

Pro-Brexit campaigners claimed Britain unshackled from the EU would project its power and influence internationally. The UK’s slow and ineffective response to the war in Ukraine suggests the opposite.

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An occupied lecture theatre

Ed Pemberton - 5 July 2022

In Reclaiming Economics, a group of activists and scholars present a compelling case against mainstream economics education. They highlight the role of this orthodoxy in many societal crises, but may overstate its potential as a domain of radical change.

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Signpost directing walkers two different directions

Georgios Efthyvoulou - 27 June 2022

New research shows that a shift towards more left-leaning positions in receiving country governments relative to the sending country governments is associated with increased immigration.

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Wind turbines in a field at sunset.

Chris Saltmarsh - 15 June 2022

While the Green New Deal is a point of strategic unity for those committed to political-economic transformation, it is also site of political contestation across the capitalism-growth debate.

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Imitation crypto currency coins

Georgette Fernandez Laris - 19 May 2022

Wary of unruly private global digital currency mavericks that monetise on people’s privacy, several central banks are developing their own digital legal tenders – but we should question how and by whom our money is controlled.

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Oil rig at sea

Nerea Amisi Okong’o - 17 May 2022

This piece, based on original research in Kenya’s oil and gas industry, explores experiences of difference and belonging among black African women in the extractive industry.

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Great Britain flag above the EU flag

George Asiamah - 12 May 2022

Brexit and the new Trade and Cooperation Agreement offer the UK an opportunity to diverge from the EU’s agri-food regulatory regime. However, it will benefit UK consumers in particular to maintain its alignment with EU food standards.

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A person's arm holding a large vegan burger on a bright purple background.

Remi Edwards & James Jackson - 10 May 2022

Veganism offers a deep critique of contemporary food systems, but is susceptible to corporate co-optation that may reduce its transformative potential.

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A person using a multi-coloured, light up computer keyboard and mouse

Guy Cowman-Sharpe - 5 May 2022

Digital platforms continue to create new spatial networks for capital accumulation and surveillance. Creators and users alike are deeply embedded within these networks.

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A shop wall with tops, jumpers and dresses hung on rails.

Winnie Lam & Kara Ng - 3 May 2022

This piece explores the varying conflicts, contradictions and possibilities of ethical clothes shopping, and offers some tips on how to navigate the growing trend of conscious consumerism.

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MyZeil advertisement in Frankfurt am Main, December 2021. Taken by the author.

Nina Lotze - 28 April 2022

Modern LGBT+ movements may have advanced civil rights and improved queer lives, but they have also allowed queer issues to be co-opted by politics and corporations in mainstream discourse, obscuring the urgent every-day issues queer people actually face.

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Two people waiting to cross a busy road

James Jackson & Remi Edwards - 26 April 2022

This new blog series by members of SPERI’s Doctoral Researcher Network explores how a political economy analysis can help to explain experiences in our everyday lives.

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Rishi Sunak

Michael Jacobs - 5 April 2022

George Osborne’s ‘omnishambles’ of 2012 is generally regarded as politically the worst budget of modern times. But it will surely be run close by Rishi Sunak’s Spring Statement two weeks ago, which has had a disastrous reception in the press and within his own party. It was not just the criticism it attracted for doing so little for those on the lowest incomes in the face of the cost of living crisis. It was its nakedly political intent.

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'How a decade of conflict remade the nation'. Britain Alone book cover.

Liam Stanley - 25 February 2022

My book Britain Alone is a history of Britain since the global financial crisis.

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A mosaic of Lenin

Joe Pateman - 9 February 2022

Marxism is critiqued for being Eurocentric but Lenin’s analysis challenges this. It championed African independence and remains relevant today.

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Sheffield housing

Georgios Efthyvoulou - 18 January 2022

New research shows that, after the EU referendum, people were less likely to move if they were aligned with the Brexit preferences of their district.

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Nat Dyer - 5 January 2022

There is something odd about one of the iconic stories we tell about the 2008 financial crisis.

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High street bank Barclays with a 'To Let' sign under the logo. Llyods TSB and WH Smith are in the background.

Anna Killick - 2 November 2021

Jack Mosse has written a book about modern monetary theory (MMT) that ranges from conversations in a North London housing estate to elite financiers’ offices, to explain, without academic jargon, the central economic question of our day.

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Birds-eye view of people walking, using a slow shutter speed so some people are blurred as they move.

Scott Lavery - 19 October 2021

This blog summarises Dr Scott Lavery’s presentation at the first 2021-22 meeting of the SPERI Doctoral Researchers Network, on ‘The Political Economy of COVID-19’.

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Patrick delivering his speech at the Economic Forum as part of a panel that discussed the question of the necessity, usefulness and downsides to global supply chains.

Patrick Kaczmarczyk - 16 September 2021

Focusing on short-term efficiency gains can lead to long-term inefficiency. The work of Schumpeter provides an alternative that could lead to greater prosperity.

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A smartphone surrounded by light flares

Georgette Fernandez Laris - 10 September 2021

While making payments more convenient many FinTech solutions exploit our digital footprints. Opening the ‘black box’ of such technologies is crucial to ensure we benefit from their fusion into our lives.

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Queue of customers outside the shop Chickeeduck

Freda Forrest - 9 September 2021

When shopping is not feeding capitalism but the only way of fighting for freedom.

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Cotton plants

Remi Edwards & Frank Maracchione - 8 September 2021

While activist coalitions have forced the end of state-sanctioned forced labour in Uzbekistan, the rise of the private sector and continued undermining of political and social rights may mean exploitation in the cotton sector persists.

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A group of people smiling at the camera outside an Ibis hotel in Paris

Charline Sempéré - 7 September 2021

Despite drastic changes to the economy and labour market in recent decades, trade unions continue to be pivotal stakeholders in current social movements.

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A road filled with people marching and holding placards. A bridge is above them with police watching.

SPERI Doctoral Researcher Network - 6 September 2021

A new series of blogs by members of SPERI’s Doctoral Researcher Network will explore how different types and forms of social contestation are shaping the global economy.

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Whitehall from across the road, with cars, buses and pedestrians in front.

Callum Gill - 8 July 2021

While David Cameron’s Conservative government used austerity to their political advantage, Boris Johnson’s government has so far given it a wide berth.

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Coins falling out of a jar tipped on its side

Joshua White - 7 July 2021

The COVID-19 pandemic has thrown the indebted nature of Britain into the spotlight once again – but this is a problem with much deeper historical roots.

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High rise buildings on the edge of the river Thames, lit up at night.

Lauren Martin - 6 July 2021

Boris Johnson’s regional agenda is doomed to fail unless we tackle Britain’s ‘finance curse’.

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Liverpool's port

Rex McKenzie & Rowland Atkinson - 28 June 2021

New research by Rex McKenzie and Rowland Atkinson shows the scale of inward offshore investment into Liverpool and the effects in the city.

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Apple iPhone

Andrea Lagna & M N Ravishankar - 13 May 2021

The Kalifa Review of UK Fintech failed to prioritise financial inclusion and poverty eradication. What should policymakers do to establish the UK as a leader of ethical and socially impactful fintech?

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Aerial shot of the sea hitting the shore

Adonis Pegasiou - 13 May 2021

The financial and Covid-19 crises have illustrated the need for a green model of capitalism. The implementation of this new model will be vital for ensuring a sustainable future.

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Aerial view of the blocked Suez Canal

Akis Bimpizas & Andrea Genovese - 22 April 2021

The Suez Canal crisis has apparently been resolved. However, global value chains will create similar bottlenecks in the future. As a solution, we must consider stopgap solutions, install bypasses or undergo a strict “diet” to rethink resource flows. An ambitious circular economy, relying on narrower, slower, and shorter resource loops may help avoid future disruption.

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Looking up at high rise, office blocks with a blue sky above.

Craig Berry - 29 March 2021

Individualisation has undermined the central purpose of pensions provision – and paradoxically compelled the state to further intervene to support the private pensions industry.

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Small screw-top bottle containing a liquid labelled 'Coronavirus Vaccine. COVID-19. Injection Only'.

Valbona Muzaka - 14 March 2021

While the development of vaccines has given the world hope, success will depend upon closer global cooperation and the waiving of intellectual property protections.

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Owen Parker - 22 February 2021

No scholar has done more than Vivien Schmidt to illuminate the contemporary European Union’s democratic and legitimacy deficits.

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Alexander Guschanski & Engelbert Stockhammer - 1 June 2022

This blog argues that in past decades, financial factors have been more important than competitiveness.

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Irini Katsirea - 10 February 2021

Part 2 of this blog series looks at the response of Big Tech companies to the problem of 'fake news'.

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Irini Katsirea - 3 February 2021

Part 1 of this blog series asks what is the past and future of the term 'fake news'? Is self regulation by social media companies an effective solution?

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Charline Sempéré - 18 December 2020

As we slowly emerge from the second lockdown and prepare with hope for the new year, I though it timely [...]

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Ben Richardson - 11 November 2020

Why Brexit negotiations on the level playing field should be seen in light of the EU’s experience with FTAs and criticisms of labour standards provisions.

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Bojan Bugaric & Mitchell A Orenstein - 5 November 2020

While Central and Eastern European states were initially constrained by neoliberalism, the rise of populism has lead to a form of developmental 'statism'.

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Maha Rafi Atal - 22 October 2020

Despite growing concern about the power of Big Tech, regulators have struggled to hold these companies and their executives to account. Here's why.

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Jasper Blom - 14 October 2020

The influence of private lobbies in policymaking is dependent on the two-directional interaction between policymakers and lobbyists.

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Manoj Dias-Abey, Tonia Novitz & Marco Rocca - 7 October 2020

In part 2 of this two-part blog, we consider divides constructed between the permanent/temporary and the skilled/unskilled in relation to workers rights

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Manoj Dias-Abey, Tonia Novitz & Marco Rocca - 5 October 2020

The legal characterisation of people who move across borders for work has profound implications for their labour rights. In Part One of this two-part blog, three legal scholars consider some of the binaries used to justify their legal characterisation and suggest that we need a new way to discuss this phenomenon. The authors begin by considering the inside/outside jurisdiction binary.

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