Professor

Research Interests

• Labour economics
• Political Economy
• Economics of Crime
• Technology and Innovation

About Me

I am an applied economist who has worked on topics in the areas of labour markets, political economy, criminal behaviour and innovation & technology.

I am Director of the Centre for Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE).

My other institutional affiliations include the Centre for Economic Performance at the LSE. I was a Network Fellow at Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard for 2011/12 and I was supported by an ESRC Future Leader grant for the 2016-17 calendar period.

I studied for my Phd at University College London. Finally, because everyone asks: I am Australian. My parents were immigrants there (hence my name) and I was born in Wooloongabba, Brisbane.

A favourite recent piece: "Forget 'Progress Studies', We Need a New Science of Bureaucracy".

Latest

"The Returns to Viral Media: The Case of US Campaign Contributions" (2023) (with Johannes Böken, Arianna Ornaghi and Nicola Mastrorocco). Slides.

"Shadow Lobbyists" (2023) with Rocco d'Este and Christian Fons-Rosen. Updated Version.

"Bootstrapping Science? The Impact of a "Return Human Capital" Programme on Chinese Research Productivity" (2022) Link opens in a new window(with Elliott Ash, David Cai and Shaoyu Liu). Slides.

"Revolution in Progress? The Rise of Remote Work in the UK" (2022) (with Emma Duchini, Roland Rathelot, Arthur Turrell and Giulia Vattuone).

"Exploration and Exploitation in US Technological Change" (2021) (with Vasco Carvalho and Nikolas Kuhlen). Slides.

Main Publications

"How Polarised are Citizens? Measuring Ideology from the Ground Up." (2023) with Carlo Schwarz. The Economic Journal (Conditionally Accepted).

"Financing UK Democracy: A Stocktake of 20 Years of Political Donations" (2023) (with Colin Green and Swarnodeep Homroy). Fiscal Studies (Conditionally Accepted).

On Target? Sanctions and the Interests of Elite Policymakers in Iran"Link opens in a new window (2023) with Jason Garred, Leanne Stickland and Nele Warrinnier). The Economic Journal .

"The Changing Returns to Crime: Do Criminals Respond to Changes in Prices?" (2019) (with Steve Machin and Theo Koutmeridis). Review of Economic Studies. 86(3).

"Trade-Induced Technical Change: The Impact of Chinese Imports on Innovation, Diffusion and Productivity" (2016) Review of Economic Studies, 83(1). (with Nick Bloom and John Van Reenen).

"Crime and Economic Incentives" (with Steve Machin) (2015) Annual Review of Economics.

"Revolving Door Lobbyists" (2012) American Economic Review, 102(6) (with Jordi Blanes i Vidal and Christian Fons-Rosen)

"Panic on the Streets of London: Police, Crime and the July 2005 Terrorist Attacks" (2011) American Economic Review, 101(5) (with Steve Machin and Robert Witt).

"Minimum Wages and Firm Profitability" (2011) American Economic Journal: Applied Economics (3) (January) (with Steve Machin and John Van Reenen).

Policy Papers + Other

It's Prices, Stupid! Explaining Falling Crime in the UK. Social Market Foundation - CAGE-Warwick Policy Paper.

The Economic Impact of ICT. Gigantic scientific report on all aspects of the economics of ICT for the EU Commission in 2010.

"Reagan's Innovation Dividend? Technological Impacts of the 1980s US Defense Build-Up" (2013). Mimeo - this paper is resting but will rise again!

Winter School1

Winter School2