Dan Wood
Early Career Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study
Contact Details
I am currently an Early Career Fellow with the Institute of Advanced Study. I recently submitted my PhD to the Department of Politics and International Studies. My research is focussed on International Political Economy, specifically the politics of global finance. My PhD was supervised by Professor Lena Rethel and Dr Chris Clarke. I have previously obtained an MA in International Political Economy at the University of Warwick and a BSc in Economics and Political Science at the University of Birmingham.
Research
My PhD is focussed on the politics of passive investment. Passive investment is an investment strategy. The strategy suggests that investors should try to match the market average rate of return by holding a diversified portfolio that represents the whole market and maintain that portfolio for the long run. This is counter other investment strategies that attempt to outperform the market average return, but charge higher fees for doing so. My research interrogates the politics of the rise of passive investment, asking how and why it is the strategy that the largest asset managers in the world use? I also explore the politics that are embedded in the strategy and the power of institutions involved in the process, such as asset managers and index providers.
My wider research interests include:
- The Political Economy of Global Finance
- Historical Political Economy
- Cultural Political Economy
- Political Economy of Time
- Post-structuralism and IPE
Publications
Book Chapters
Wood, D. (2025) 'Managing Multiple Audiences: The Importance of Legitimacy for Bond Index Providers and the Politics of Bond Indexing' in Clarke, C. and Clift C. (Eds) The Social Foundations of Global Finance.Link opens in a new window Agenda Publishing, Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Teaching
I am not teaching for the 2025/26 academic year. I have previously taught seminars for PO107 Introduction to Politics and PO230 States and Markets: An Introduction to International Political Economy.
In 2023 I was commended in the Warwick Awards for Teaching Excellence in the Postgraduates who Teach Category.