New research!
Austerity and the labour market in the UK.
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
Headline result: austerity reduced wages, increased employment rates, and contributed to weak productivity.
1/n
You can’t transfuse vitality into a region stripped of its #ecosystem anchors overnight.
As @christina-wolf.bsky.social shows in her new JoEG article, gutting East German #cities & #regions of their local anchor firms reduced them to highly-vulnerable 'Satellite Platforms'.
doi.org/10.1093/jeg/...
This does not necessarily mean reviving old-style conglomerates. Modern anchor firms can emerge from state-backed initiatives, university spin-offs, or cooperative ownership models, especially if tied to mission-oriented policies supporting the green and digital transitions. #13
Lesson: regional inequality is not inevitable. It is shaped by how economies are organised and who controls their productive assets. Rebuilding/ nurturing anchor firm functions in peripheral regions is crucial. #12
shows how reconstituting anchor-firm functions can reshape regional trajectories. In this case, state-owned and foundation-based firms in photonics, medical technology, and precision engineering played a pivotal role in reconstructing coordinated productive ecosystems. #11
Yet the East German experience demonstrates not only the destructive consequences of dismantling anchor firms, but also the developmental potential of strategically rebuilding and nurturing them. Examining the industrial recovery of the opto-electronics cluster around Jena #10
This leaves East German productive ecosystems highly vulnerable. #9
To this day, East German regional economies are dominated by small manufacturing firms lacking local anchors as shown below in the distribution of headquarters. #8
Example: Rudolstadt’s X-ray technology cluster. Once a technology development hub that coordinated specialised suppliers, the site became an end- assembly location after acquisition by Siemens. Engineers departed, supplier networks collapsed, and the ecosystem lost its technological core. #7
The strategy of selling most E. German firms directly to W. German competitors, required dismantling the industrial combines that served as regional anchor firms. Their profitable divisions were absorbed into Western headquarters, while remaining sites became low-value branch plants or closed. #6
East Germany after reunification illustrates these dynamics: Experiencing one of the most severe episodes of deindustrialisation in post-war Europe, it has seen a profound restructuring of regional productive ecosystems. #5
3/ Erosion of peripheral capabilities: Where anchor firms are absent, peripheral regions lose key productive capabilities, as highly skilled labour and innovative firms tend to cluster in close proximity to anchor firms. #4
2/ Reinforcement of social and economic divisions: This produces corresponding social divisions of labour—uneven job types, income, wealth, and social status—while rendering peripheral regions dependent on technologies controlled and investment decisions made by parent firms. #3
Their presence—or absence—shapes regional hierarchies of value creation:
1/ Concentration of high value-added functions: By centralising decision-making and R&D in core regions while relegating peripheral regions to branch-plant roles, they drive spatial differentiation in value creation. #2
I explore regional development #traps attributing the structural vulnerability of peripheral regions to the lack of #anchor firms in their productive #ecosystems.
Anchor firms = large, regionally headquartered firms in proprietary control over key technologies. #1
Very pleased to share my latest article: “The making and unmaking of uneven development: the role of anchor firms in creating and overcoming industrial decline in East Germany” in the Journal of Economic Geography: doi.org/10.1093/jeg/...
A 🧵
Our article with @hulya-dagdeviren.bsky.social and Ben Tippet is out in Socio-Economic Review!
We examine pension financialisation and pension wealth inequality in the UK — focusing on how the rise of Defined Contribution (DC).
academic.oup.com/ser/advance-...
🚨 5 Fully Funded PhD Scholarships at the University of Hertfordshire's CFSR
Topics include:
🌍 Public Banks & the Just Transition
🌿 Drivers of Green Discontent
⚡ Geopolitics of Green Hydrogen
Apply here 👉 www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DMT230/f...
More topics 👉 www.herts.ac.uk/research/cen...
Please share!
Great to see this piece by on our #netzero work with
@londoncouncils - www.themj.co.uk/comparing-fu...: central government is in a better position to borrow at the scale required to fund netzero.
@christina-wolf.bsky.social @bbonizzi.bsky.social
📢📢Financing #netzero at local level - in partnership with
@londoncouncils.bsky.social, we explained why central funding is more sensible for scaling-up #local netzero investments.
londoncouncils.gov.uk/news-and-pre...
@christina-wolf.bsky.social @benbraun.bsky.social @bbonizzi.bsky.social
To all female scholars, working in the broad field of political economy: Apply for the Max Planck Summer School for women in political economy! Two years ago we had a blast!
www.mpifg.de/1343511/2025....
*Call for Applications*
We’re excited to announce the Second Max Planck Summer School for Women in Political Economy!
Link to the conference website: www.mpifg.de/1343511/2025...
Please share widely!
@mpifg.bsky.social @palmapolyak.bsky.social
@jomichell.bsky.social @anninak.bsky.social @bbonizzi.bsky.social @karstenkohler.bsky.social @christiankoutny.bsky.social @hulya-dagdeviren.bsky.social @redjen.bsky.social
#PhD #Economics #PluralistEconomics #AcademicConference #Networking
📢The 2025 PKES-YSI PhD Conference will be hosted at the University of Hertfordshire!
If you are PhD student in pluralist economics, apply by Fri 7 March, to receive feedback on your work from a senior academic + connect with like-minded researchers.
More info: ysi.ineteconomics.org/event/16th-p...
🚨Great funded PhD opportunity working on decarbonising public transport in the Global South - pls share! www.gre.ac.uk/docs/rep/com...
📣 Calling PhD candidates in pluralist economics and political economy! Do apply for our PhD workshop held at University of Hertfordshire this year 👇
The PKES PhD conference this year will be at Herts.
If you are a PhD student with interest in pluralist economics consider applying! You will get your work discussed by a senior academic, and meet like-minded people.
More details (incl application link) here ysi.ineteconomics.org/event/16th-p...
The last General Election has seen much talk about Reform UK's popularity in so-called 'left-behind places, characterized by socioeconomic deprivation. Looking at variation in deprivation levels across the UK's constituencies suggests this pattern exists, but only partially. A short thread. 🧵
It’s over 1,000km from Berlin to Paris
There’s now a direct daytime train between them, that takes 8 hours and costs just €59. Leave at 10am, arrive 6pm.
And… it’s just 1% the carbon emissions of the equivalent flight
www.euronews.com/travel/2024/...
📯 PhD Scholarship opportunity at University of Greenwich. Applications by 3 Jan 2025.
www.gre.ac.uk/__data/asset...
