Progressive political economy and British politics
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I am Professor of Political Economy in the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Sheffield, and Professorial Fellow at the Sheffield Political Economy Research Institute (SPERI) My research focuses on what might be meant by a post-neoliberal 'paradigm shift' in economic theory, policy and public discourse.
I am also co-founder of the Economic Change Unit, a small not-for-profit organisation which supports those seeking a fair, sustainable and resilient economy through strategic convening and communication. From October 2016 to October 2018 I was Director of the Commission on Economic Justice at the UK Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR). Comprising leading figures from business, trade unions, civil society and academia, the Commission was a major initiative to examine the challenges facing the UK economy and make practical recommendations for its reform. Over a period of two years it undertook a wide-ranging programme of research, communications and engagement activity aimed at influencing UK policy and debate. The Commission's Interim Report, Time for Change: A New Vision for the British Economy was published in September 2017. Its Final Report, Prosperity and Justice: A Plan for the New Economy, was published in September 2018. From 2011-16 I was a Visiting Professor in the Department of Political Science and School of Public Policy at University College London, where I sought to think through a progressive political response to the economic crisis. Some of the fruits of this work are collected in a book I edited with Professor Mariana Mazzucato, Rethinking Capitalism: Economics and Policy for Sustainable and Inclusive Growth, published by Wiley Blackwell in August 2016. I was from 2012-14 Co-Editor (with Tony Wright) of The Political Quarterly, a journal of political thought and analysis which prides itself on being written in plain English. I wrote a regular blog on the PQ website. Having spent six years as a Special Adviser in the Labour Government from 2004-10 I have sought to reflect on that experience – both in terms of the political and policy legacy of New Labour and the structures and processes of policy making within government. Drawing on my experience in the energy and climate change field I wrote an academic paper with Neil Carter on radical policy change, published in Public Administration in 2013. I gave evidence to the 2012 House of Commons Public Administration Select Committee Enquiry on the role of Special Advisers and have contributed to a research project by the Constitution Unit at UCL on this. I make occasional appearances as an economic and political commentator in the broadcast media. Background Although much of my writing has been on environmental issues, I’ve written and spoken publicly on and off for thirty years about wider political themes in progressive and social democratic politics. My 1996 book The Politics of the Real World (Earthscan) put some of it together in the particular context of that period. In 2003 my Fabian pamphlet Progressive Globalisation, written with Adam Lent and Kevin Watkins, attempted to set out my views on how social democracy could approach the regulation and management of modern capitalism. During the mid-1990s, as part of my ESRC research fellowship, I studied the idea of ‘quality of life’ and non-material notions of wellbeing. My research included a series of focus groups on how people thought about their life satisfaction, particularly the relationship between private and public goods. This is still of particular interest. I was and remain interested in the concepts of community and civility and the practice of deliberative democracy. My earliest serious political essay (in 1989) was on the role of ideology in the public’s understanding of politics, a theme I returned to in an essay in Prospect magazine in 2002 and one which continues to interest me. |
Recent writing and commentary#
Podcasts Lessons in power: what can the new Labour government learn from the last one? A SPERI Presents podcast July 2024 Books, reports, essays, lectures and papers After Neoliberalism: Economic Policy and Politics in the Polycrisis Political Quarterly 2 February 2024 Labour, left and right: On party positioning and policy reasoning (with Andrew Hindmoor) Peer-reviewed paper British Journal of Politics and International Relations June 2022 Green growth, degrowth or post-growth? Towards a synthetic understanding of the growth debate (with Xhulia Likaj and Thomas Fricke) Forum for a New Economy, 18 May 2022 Beyond Growth: Towards a New Economic Approach Report of the Advisory Group to the OECD Secretary-General OECD September 2020 Ideas and Power: Reflections on Politics, Environmental Crisis and Economic Paradigm Shifts Inaugural Lecture SPERI, University of Sheffield 22 May 2019 Prosperity and Justice: A Plan for the New Economy The Final Report of the IPPR Commission on Economic Justice IPPR / Polity (book) September 2018 Rethinking Capitalism: Economics and Policy for Sustainable and Inclusive Growth co-edited with Mariana Mazzucato Wiley Blackwell (book) August 2016 Paradigm shifts in economic theory and policy (with Laurie Laybourn-Langton) Intereconomics May-June 2018 Time for Change: A New Vision for the British Economy The Interim Report of the IPPR Commission on Economic Justice IPPR September 2017 Articles Labour’s economic agenda has all the right ideas – but it’s a race against time to make it work Guardian 2 January 2025 Down the drain Inside Story, 4 May 2024 The world economy is in crisis again. If we look back 80 years we might be able to fix it Guardian 4 January 2024 From net zero to rock bottom Inside Story 25 September 2023 A Keir Starmer government might be more radical than you think Guardian, 4 January 2022 Rishi Redux Inside Story, 26 October 2022 Liz Truss dreams of growth - but even if she pulls it off, it won't help Britain Guardian, 10 October 2022 The Truss effect Inside Story, 8 October 2022 Trouble at the OECD Inside Story, 29 September 2022 This 'mini-Budget' is a naked exercise in redistributing wealth upwards Guardian, 23 September 2022 Who is Liz Truss - and why? Inside Story, 5 September 2022 Thatcherite mythology: eight Tory leadership candidates in search of an economic policy LSE British Politics and Policy blog, 13 July 2022 The latest Bank of England rate rise won't do much to tackle inflation - here's what could work The Conversation, 17 June 2022 Have we reached the limits to growth? (with Xhulia Likaj) Project Syndicate, 18 May 2022 Green growth, degrowth or post-growth? Towards a synthetic understanding of the growth debate (with Xhulia Likaj and Thomas Fricke) Forum for a New Economy, 18 May 2022 Sustainable prosperity in an uncertain future: A shared agenda between green growth and degrowth (with Jonathan Barth) Heinrich Boell Stiftung, 18 April 2022 Economists' Letter to the OECD Secretary-General on the New Approaches to Economic Challenges initiative Published 10 April 2022 Rishi Sunak and the politics of taxation SPERI blog, 5 April 2022 Green capitalists and green anti-capitalists are on the same side - for now Political Quarterly blog, 14 February 2022 The case for a UK windfall tax on oil and gas giants is unanswerable Guardian 11 February 2022 Why cynicism over COP26 is misplaced Political Quarterly blog, 7 February 2022 In an act of brazen treachery, Rishi Sunak is sabotaging Johnson's policies Guardian 22 December 2021 Between the idea and the reality Inside Story 14 October 2021 Western economies can't return to 'business as usual' after the pandemic Guardian 31 August 2021 Keir Starmer must lean right to win? History suggests otherwise (with Andrew Hindmoor) Guardian 5 May 2021 Taxes will have to rise at some point, but right now we need the government to spend, spend, spend Independent 19 July 2020 The economic disaster caused by the coronavirus will bring a record recession - we must act now Independent 7 May 2020 Recovering better: a green, equitable and resilient recovery from coronavirus Briefing note for European Climate Foundation 30 March 2020 Capitalism is in crisis. And we cannot get out of it by carrying on as before Guardian 8 November 2019 Compromise seems to be the hardest word SPERI blog 11 April 2019 Hard-wiring the economy for justice Renewal interview 5 October 2018 Corporate fat cats are abusing their power UnHerd 28 September 2018 A more active state is essential to a new economy New Statesman 5 September 2018 Industrial strategy: steering structural change in the UK economy (with Izzy Hatfield, Loren King, Luke Raikes and Alfie Stirling) IPPR Commission on Economic Justice discussion paper November 2017 Why this white paper on industrial strategy is good news (mostly) Guardian 27 November 2017 Changing direction: how industrial strategy can help remake the UK economy IPPR and PrimeEconomics blog 17 November 2017 Why has the Bank of England raised interest rates? It ran out of options Guardian 2 November 2017 Time for a paradigm shift PrimeEconomics blog 29 October 2017 Moving beyond neoliberalism: an assessment of the economic systems change movement in the UK (with Laurie Laybourn-Langton) Friends Provident Foundation report October 2017 The industrial strategy acknowledges a fundamental truth about growth New Statesman 23 January 2017 Out of shape: taking the pulse of the UK economy (with Alfie Stirling and Catherine Colebrook) Institute for Public Policy Research report November 2016 If Theresa May is serious about inequality she'll ditch Osbornomics (with Mariana Mazzucato) Guardian 19 July 2016 A new politics: why we need collaboration between the Greens and Labour Resurgence Nov-Dec 2013 (also published here) Making sense of Snowden Political Quarterly blog 17 October 2013 Reflections on One Nation Labour Political Quarterly blog 22 September 2013 Housing, places and people: Labour and the fifth wave of social environmentalism Essay in Green Social Democracy: Better Homes in Better Places, ed Matthew Spencer et al, Green Alliance, September 2013 Explaining radical policy change: the case of climate change and energy policy under the British Labour Government 2006-10 (with Neil Carter) Public Administration August 2013 Tax and spending (again) Political Quarterly blog 8 May 2013 and LSE Politics and Policy blog 14 May 2013 Beyond the social market: rethinking capitalism and public policy Political Quarterly March 2013 Gove is all around: exams, public services and the EU single market Political Quarterly blog 12 February 2013 Green social democracy Fabian Review Winter 2012 (reprinted by the New Statesman 18 January 2013) Healthy tensions in the machinery of power Letter to The Times 17 January 2013 (reprinted here) The politics of place and the greening of Labour In One Nation Labour - Debating the Future ed Jon Cruddas, Labour List e-book January 2013 (and Labour List 12 November 2012) Atheism, faith and promoting ethical values Letter in The Guardian 19 December 2012 Politics and the planet Political Quarterly Commentary December 2012 (reprinted here) The problem at No 10 Political Quarterly blog 21 November 2012 Obama's victory: non-lessons for Britain Political Quarterly blog 7 November 2012 The Coalition's energy policy Guardian and Political Quarterly blog 18 October 2012 Economic prospects Political Quarterly blog 11 October 2012 Ed Miliband's bravura performance Political Quarterly blog 4 October 2012 Special advisers: part of the constitution The House Magazine 12 July 2012 (reprinted here) Oral and written evidence given to the House of Commons Public Administration Select Committee Enquiry on the role of Special Advisers May / June 2012 Leveson needed on financial crash Letter in The Times 31 May 2012 (reprinted here) Wellbeing: the challenge for Labour Essay in 'The practical politics of wellbeing' New Economics Foundation pamphlet November 2011 |
