Blog

2019

Post-election reflections on the Labour Party: Part 2

Owen Parker - 24 December 2019

Whatever it does moving forwards, Labour must continue to reject the neoliberalism of the New and the nativism of the Blue.

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Post-election reflections on the Labour Party: Part 1

Owen Parker - 20 December 2019

Whatever the future holds Labour should beware both the New and the Blue.

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Steering towards the future

Matt Bishop & Tony Payne - 17 December 2019

For all its disappointments and flaws, the G20 still has the best chance of delivering the comprehensive global oversight of global governance that we need. This is part 8 in the series 'Reglobalisation in action'.

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Envisioning ‘global migration governance’

Antoine Pécoud - 10 December 2019

There is ample evidence that we need to reform the governance of migration, but we are a long way from agreeing upon how this should be done. This is part 7 in the series 'Reglobalisation in action'.

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The return of economic exceptionalism

Jacqueline Best - 9 December 2019

A new animated video by Jacqueline Best examines the role of economic exceptionalism – and asks what it means for political life today.

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The latest IMF Package: a Déjà vu for Pakistan?

Muhammad Ali Nasir & Muhammad Shahbaz - 20 November 2019

Pakistan’s dependence on IMF support has a long legacy. How might the country make this latest IMF package its last?

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Global climate governance in an age of bullshit

Hayley Stevenson - 19 November 2019

Holding leaders to account for their lack of ecological integrity requires greater local and global democratic engagement.

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Theorising global value chains in a changing global order

Scott Lavery - 14 November 2019

Global value chain analysis is a key approach to studying the changing character of global production, but is limited in its firm-centricity and neglects the wider structural context within which industrial development takes place. This is part 7 in the series 'Industrial development in a post-crash world'.

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Towards a globalist feminist trade politics

Erin Hannah, Adrienne Roberts & Silke Trommer - 12 November 2019

A truly progressive agenda has to recognise the centrality of gendered and other social hierarchies to the deeper workings of the global political economy. This is part 5 of the series 'Reglobalisation in action'.

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The European periphery and the Eurozone Crisis

Niall Dooley - 9 November 2019

European elites have argued that ‘peripheral’ Eurozone states such as Greece and Ireland must ‘follow the rules’. But ‘following the rules’ of European integration – particularly in the domain of financial services – drove divergence and led to their original crises. This is part 6 in the series 'Industrial development in a post-crash world'.

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Rethinking the role of the WTO

James Scott & Rorden Wilkinson - 5 November 2019

Given that global trade integration has produced great wealth and great inequality, its governance needs to be reformed in ways that preserve the former and ameliorate the latter. This is part 4 in the series 'Reglobalisation in action'.

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The crisis in the Eurozone: what role did production play?

Victoria Stadheim - 31 October 2019

The widespread belief that divergences in the Eurozone were driven by ‘unit labour costs’ is mistaken. We need to focus instead on the specific production structures and specialisations of ‘peripheral’ states and their relationship with wider processes of global economic integration. This is part 5 of the series 'Industrial development in a post-crash world'.

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Rethinking the role of the IMF

Ben Clift - 29 October 2019

The Fund’s new prescriptive discourse on the need to tackle inequality is being challenged and undermined by its own continuing economistic conventions. This is part 3 of the series 'Reglobalisation in action'.

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The use of industrial policy to meet emissions reductions: is it enough?

James Jackson - 28 October 2019

While the UK’s industrial strategy is an important step in meeting the 2050 net zero carbon target set under the Climate Change Act, there are limits to these policies.

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Tackling the Big Four accountancy firms: The new acolytes of finance

Manolis Kalaitzake - 24 October 2019

If economies are to be ‘rebalanced’ away from speculative activity and towards productive investment, policymakers must challenge the close political alliance between global finance and the major accountancy firms. This is part 4 of the series 'Industrial development in a post-crash world'.

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Changing norms in global tax governance

Andrew Baker & Richard Murphy - 22 October 2019

National spillover assessments would provide a decent start along this road and are now attracting the attention of both international and non-governmental organisations. This is part 2 in the series 'Reglobalisation in action'. 

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Labour’s Green New Deal is among the most radical in the world- but can it be done by 2030?

Michael Jacobs - 21 October 2019

Whilst the ambition of Labour’s GND should be applauded, questions remain regarding its technological and political feasibility.

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Is economic adjustment driven by business interests? German state capacity and the changing nature of industrial policy

Inga Rademacher - 17 October 2019

Many commentators have viewed Germany’s sustained export-led growth as representing the return of a distinctive ‘German Model’ underpinned by an interventionist ‘German industrial state’. However, over the past 30 years, many elements of state support for industries, including tax concessions, subsidies and patient capital, have been reduced.  This is part 3 in the series 'Industrial development in a post-crash world'.

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Reglobalisation in action: rehearsing the concept

Matt Bishop & Tony Payne - 15 October 2019

Globalisation should not – indeed, must not – be abandoned, but it needs to be rebuilt around a new normative framework of ‘re-embedded post-neoliberalism’. This is the first part in the series 'Reglobalisation in action'.

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Renationalising finance after the 2008 crisis: External and domestic obstacles to financial reform in emerging markets

Natalya Naqvi - 10 October 2019

Has the post-2008 period opened-up a new space for public development banking in emerging economies? The cases of Brazil and South Africa suggest that new opportunities – as well as old constraints – shape states’ ability to pursue industrial development. This is part 2 in the series 'Industrial development in a post-crash world'.

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A sputtering car goes into reverse: The German recession and its consequences

Heiner Flassbeck & Patrick Kaczmarczyk - 17 September 2019

Amidst global political and economic fragility, the downturn in the Germany economy adds to the uncertainty in a world that, as Paul Krugman put it, has a “Germany problem”. It raises questions over the future of the largest European economy, and  of the Eurozone and Europe as a whole.

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Calling Out Brexit ‘Bullshit’ in ‘Left Behind’ Britain

Ivanka Antona, Mark Flear, Matthew Wood & Tamara Hervey - 17 September 2019

New research by Matt Wood, Ivanka Antova, Mark Flear and Tamara Hervey explores people’s reactions to the claim that leaving the EU will enable £350 million a week to be spent on the NHS.

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Advocates of the SDGs have a monetarism problem

Rick Rowden - 9 September 2019

More expansionary fiscal and monetary policies are needed to meet the Sustainable Development Goals.

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Reading the results of the 2019 local elections in Turkey

Merve Sancak - 3 September 2019

While Erdoğan’s party the AKP had previously enjoyed widespread support in Turkey, recent elections showed a decline in the party’s popularity in major cities. What are the factors influencing the recent election results?

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Ethical standards in emerging markets: just how different are they?

Natalie Langford - 30 August 2019

Ethical standards have typically been driven by firms and NGOs in the global North, and their legitimacy has often been questioned due to their lack of stakeholder inclusion. Just how different are the latest ethical standards emerging in the global South?

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Fair Pay and Minimum Wages: A Role for the Living Wage?

Stuart Hill - 23 August 2019

The Living Wage has gained popularity as a minimum wage response in the UK. But can it contribute to the wider debate on fair pay?

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What happens to the environment in times of economic trouble and why should we care?

Charlotte Burns - 12 August 2019

With no-deal Brexit looming, and with predictions of a £30 billion hit upon the economy, it seems a timely moment to reflect upon what impact economic downturns have upon the environment and how a no-deal Brexit may shape the future face of UK environmental governance.  

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Achieving a Living Wage for UK workers: voluntary vs public policy responses

Calum Carson - 5 August 2019

The campaign for a Living Wage for low-paid workers has been gathering steam in Britain for almost twenty years, whereby individual employers voluntarily commit to pay their workers a living wage. But what possibilities are there for a public policy approach to this issue and an effective legislative response to in-work poverty rates in the UK?

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How to spur corporate accountability with modern slavery legislation

Genevieve LeBaron - 24 July 2019

Governments are increasingly considering anti-slavery legislation to combat forced labour in the supply chains of global companies. But what makes for effective legislation, and how could existing laws be improved?

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New frontiers of pink capitalism: Or why sandwiches won’t lead to queer liberation

Ellie Gore - 17 July 2019

Greater representation for LGBT+ individuals in mainstream ads and marketing may seem like an important step forward. But there’s a tension between a liberal politics of representation and more radical, structural change, particularly when it comes to connecting LGBT+ rights to other forms of oppression and struggle.

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Conservative Fantasies of ‘the Market’

Matthew Watson - 11 July 2019

The UK Chancellor Philip Hammond recently declared (surprisingly for a Conservative party politician) that ‘the market’ is currently failing fairness tests in the distributional outcomes it is producing in the UK.  Yet, his solution saw him quickly restored to partisan type, idealising textbook market institutions and setting as the future goal returning to the way market outcomes are “supposed to” operate.

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The Green New Deal: Easier said than done?

Michael Jacobs - 03 July 2019

How might a Green New Deal be imagined in the UK context? And what are the challenges that would face advocates of the GND given the current political and institutional climate?

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What exactly is the Green New Deal?

Michael Jacobs - 26 June 2019

The Green New Deal is being championed in the USA as a solution to the joint problems of climate change and economic inequality. But what exactly is it, and what is its wider significance?

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Economic exceptionalism past and present: or whatever happened to normal?

Jacqueline Best -  25 June 2019

Exceptionalist policies can play a critical role in changing norms and perceptions of what constitutes the status quo. What role does exceptionalism play within our society today?

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‘Net Zero’ and the innovation-policy nexus

Jacqueline Best - 14 June 2019

Ignorance is not the antithesis to knowledge, but it is part of it. Wishful thinking, muddling through and other forms of ignorance play a crucial role in shaping economic policy and its effects on society.

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‘Net Zero’ and the innovation-policy nexus

Michael Jacobs - 13 June 2019

The adoption of radical policies and targets to combat climate change can speed up the process of innovation and reduce costs associated with emissions reductions

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Neoliberalism’s ‘unfailures’

Jacqueline Best - 05 June 2019

Economic policies enacted under neoliberalism have often failed to meet their objectives, but have remained unchallenged. Why do certain policy failures have so little impact?

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The framing of solidarity in the Euro crisis

Stefan Wallaschek - 22 May 2019

Why solidarity and austerity are close (and not oppositional) friends in the Euro crisis discourse

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The onshore urban impact of offshore property investors

Rex McKenzie & Rowland Atkinson -  09 May 2019

How wealth chains can be used to map the impact of offshore investments on luxury housing markets

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Global governance and multilateralism in an age of anti-globalists

Martin Heneghan -  02 May 2019

The battle between nationalists and globalists may have opened up a new front – inside the headquarters of international organisations.

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Regionally Adjusted Domestic Product – A New Statistic for Seeing the Shape of the Economy

Ed Pemberton15 April 2019

Ed Pemberton, Doctoral Researcher at SPERI has been named runner-up in the 2018/19 Bennett Prospect Public Policy Prize. His essay submission to the prize can be read here.

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Compromise seems to be the hardest word

Michael Jacobs -  11 April 2019

Politics is the art of compromise, isn’t it? The EU gave us a good example last night, splitting the difference between the long extension of Article 50 sought by most of its members and the much shorter one demanded by President Macron. But in the UK Parliament compromise seems to be the hardest word. And the result, it is now clear, threatens to leave the UK in European limbo not just till the new October deadline, but indefinitely.

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Review of ‘Commodity: The Global Commodity System in the 21st Century’

Scott Lavery05 April 2019

Photis Lysandrou’s brilliant new book deploys the Hegelian-Marxist method of abstraction in order to understand the heavily financialised regime of capitalism in the twenty-first century.

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The political economies of different globalisations – Part 4: ‘Reglobalisation’

Matt Bishop & Tony Payne28 March 2019

A new mode of globalisation, grounded in the notion of ‘re-embedded post-neoliberalism’, can be charted and built by states if, collectively, they want to do so.

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New buzzword, same problem: ‘worker voice’ initiatives and the shortcomings of traditional social auditing

Genevieve LeBaron, Mark Anner & Penelope Kyritsis - 25 March 2019

Ultimately, the only way to root out labour abuses in global supply chains is by disrupting traditional power relations between workers and businesses.

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The political economies of different globalisations – Part 3: ‘Deglobalisation from the left’

Matt Bishop & Tony Payne -  21 March 2019

The left-wing critique of neoliberal globalisation is powerful up to a point, but ultimately it doesn’t stand on the ground where the real battle has to take place.

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Territorial peace in Colombia: A transformative concept?

Juan Mario Diaz & Melanie Lombard -  20 March 2019

Can peace ever be attained without addressing the structural inequalities inherent in liberal market democracy?

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What do England’s towns need from devolution post-Brexit?

Charlotte Hoole15 March 2019

With just a couple of weeks to go until the UK’s planned exit from the European Union, the country still faces significant uncertainties about the shape Brexit will take and the impact it will have on businesses and livelihoods. 

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The political economies of different globalisations – Part 2: ‘Deglobalisation from the right’

Matt Bishop & Tony Payne -  14 March 2019

With just a couple of weeks to go until the UK’s planned exit from the European Union, the country still faces significant uncertainties about the shape Brexit will take and the impact it will have on businesses and livelihoods. 

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Economic development in Palestine and beyond

Patrick Kaczmarczyk -  13 March 2019

Successful economic development in Palestine will require an adequate theory of development, industrial policy, and institutional reforms

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The political economies of different globalisations – Part 1: Neoliberal globalisation

Matt Bishop & Tony Payne -  07 March 2019

Globalisation should not be seen as some kind of inevitable technological imperative but rather as a political construction born of a particular phase in history

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Susan Strange: a great thinker or a ‘journalist’?

Nat Dyer27 February 2019

The works of political economist Susan Strange are experiencing a revival of interest. But what are her big ideas?

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Using education to promote sustainability in the textile industry

Jon Morris13 February 2019

While efforts are underway to promote social and environmental sustainability within the global textile industry, the role of education can act as a key enabler of change.

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Knowing commodities through corporate narratives: the poor prospects for ethical consumption

Remi Edwards -  12 February 2019

Commodities are often represented to consumers based on corporate promises of social responsibility. But with little evidence of positive impact on the ground for workers, is ethical consumption really a move in the right direction?

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Is Britain ‘undeveloping’ before our eyes? Part II

Matt Bishop & Tony Payne30 January 2019

The country needs an accurate analysis of its plight, a strategy for addressing it and a developmental state to drive forward economic and political change.

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Is Britain ‘undeveloping’ before our eyes? Part I

Matt Bishop & Tony Payne -  29 January 2019

The pathologies characterising Britain’s emergence as the first ‘early developer’ may have accumulated to the point where they undermine its prospect of continuing development

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A New Era for SPERI

Colin Hay & Genevieve LeBaron   -  4 January 2019

In the first blog in a new series, SPERI Directors Colin Hay and Genevieve LeBaron describe SPERI’s evolution since 2012 and set out a new research agenda. 

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Capitalism, Democracy & the State

SPERI research team   -  3 January 2019

The second blog in our new series sets out SPERI’s research agenda on Capitalism, Democracy & the State. 

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Finance, Debt & Society 

SPERI research team   -  3 January 2019

The third blog in our new series sets out SPERI’s research agenda on Finance, Debt & Society.

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Corporate Power & the Global Economy 

SPERI research team   -  3 January 2019

The fourth blog in our new series sets out SPERI’s research agenda on Corporate Power & the Global Economy. 

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Labour & Decent Work

SPERI research team   -  3 January 2019

The fifth blog in our new series sets out SPERI’s research agenda on Labour & Decent Work.

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