Greenwich Political Economy Research Centre hosts many conferences, seminars and events. Find out more about some of our past events below.
2022
April 5: Defence Acquisition and Procurement: How (not) to buy weapons.
Professor Ron Smith will present a paper on defence economics for students and staff at the University of Greenwich, and interested members of the public.
Speakers
Professor Ron Smith, Professor of Applied Economics, Department of Economics, Mathematics and Statistics, Birkbeck, University of London
Chair: Dr Robert Calvert Jump, research fellow at the University of Greenwich
Time: 16:00 – 17:30 GMT
Location: Room QA075, Queen Anne Building, University of Greenwich. This is a hybrid event and will also be accessible via Microsoft Teams.
April 6: Financing sustainability in the SMEs of the UK after Brexit, Covid-19 and COP 26: The road ahead
After Brexit, Covid-19 placed an unexpected burden on this already battered sector. However, according to the government’s post Pandemic policies, half of the UK's Medium-Sized and Small businesses (SMEs) anticipate a rise in income and demand on 2022; In fact, official sources gather that SMEs feel borrowing will be important to their growth and recovery. Equally relevant, SMEs account for over 50% of all carbon emissions produced by UK businesses: Committing to the pledges made in COP26 of the net zero emissions target, British SMEs may reap benefits that are significant. After Brexit and Covid-19, there is an increasing need for support in their effort to be environmentally responsible, since short and/or medium-term growth and recovery would be otherwise long-term impossible (this is also being challenged by recent events in international energy markets). In this seminar we hope to shed some light about what is possible or not for UK SMEs after COP26. Implications for HEIs in the dissemination of practices are as well explored.
Speakers
Organiser and Moderator: Dr Mary Arrieta (University of Greenwich, EIB Greenwich Faculty of Business, PEGFA and ISBE member)
Dr Robyn Owen (Middlesex University Business School) Centre for Enterprise and Economic Development Research (CEEDR) and Greenfin Research Hub, Middlesex University, London and Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Centre for Understanding Sustainable Prosperity (CUSP).
Presentation title: Seeding Green Innovation to Build Back Better: A Critique of UK Green SME Finance Policy
Abstract: The UK government has announced a £12bn green rebuilding plan for the UK, but there is no specific mention of green SME innovation finance. This paper focuses on early-stage Cleantech innovation finance in the UK. It argues that if the UK wishes to pursue the policy of aspiring "World leader" in green finance and innovation it rapidly requires increased focus and investment on cleantech innovations that will shape the future of global Climate Change.
Prof Ciarán Mac an Bhaird (Dublin City University)
Presentation title: TBA
Mr Brishni Mukhopadhyay (CFA – ESG Specialist at Western Asset Management)
Presentation title: Sustainable Finance Education and Sustainable Finance Practices in the UK: Are SMEs accounted for?Time: 18:00 – 20:00 GMT
Details: This is an online event. It will be hosted on Microsoft Teams.
March 10: A shorter working week for a gender-equal green transition
The workshop will present findings from a report by Ozlem Onaran and Robert Calvert Jump for the Women’s Budget Group (WBG) Feminist Green New Deal Project and explore the potential impact of a shorter working week with contributions by Sara Reis and Will Stronge. Link to the report:
https://wbg.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Shorter-Working-Week-Report.pdf
Speakers
Prof Leigh Doster, PVC, Greenwich Business School: Opening Remarks
Prof Ozlem Onaran, co-director of PEGFA and professor of economics at the University of Greenwich
Dr Robert Calvert Jump, research fellow at the University of Greenwich
Dr Sara Reis, Deputy Director, Head of Research and Policy, WBG
Dr Will Stronge, ESRC Fellow at Brighton University and Co-Director of Autonomy
Chair: Ines Heck, PhD Economics students at the University of Greenwich
Time: 18:00 – 19:30 GMT
Location: This is a hybrid event. For online attendees please join us on Microsoft Teams. For those attending in person, the event will be in Lecture Theatre QA065, Queen Anne Building, Old Royal Naval College, Park Row, London SE10 9LS.
March 16: Fertility, electricity and television: is there a link? Evidence from Pakistan, 1990-2018
In 1960s Pakistan, every woman was giving birth to more than 6 children on average. In 2021, Pakistan still has the second highest fertility rate in South Asia with every woman giving birth to 3.4 children on average. This paper uses four waves of Demographic and Health Survey data to empirically analyse trends in fertility in Pakistan between 1990 and 2018; accounting for wealth, education and locational differences, this paper looks at three additional pathways for reducing fertility: (i) electrification, (ii) access to TV and (iii) family planning commercials broadcast on television. We employ multi-level fixed effects and the average yearly district-wealth level access to the three channels as instrumental variable. Across models we show that electricity does not reduce fertility. In contrast, access to television appears to have a significant effect in reducing fertility rates, which seems to operate to a large extent through family planning commercials broadcast on television. The content and evolution of Pakistani soap-operas is also discussed, and it is argued that the role models, the types of households and the messages conveyed by these soap-operas may represent strong pathways for the fertility decline.
Speakers
Dr. Luca Tasciotti, Senior Lecturer in Economics at the University of Greenwich
Dr Natascha Wagner
Dr Farooq Sulheria
Time: 17:00 – 18:30 GMT
Location: This is a hybrid event. For online attendees please join us on Microsoft Teams. For those attending in person, the event will be in Room QA063, Queen Anne Building, Old Royal Naval College, Park Row, London SE10 9LS.
March 30: The roles of standards for trade in changing the (economic) environment
The number of plant and animal species under threat of extinction our current geological epoch is unprecedented. Environmental standards have been promoted as a policy guideline that can effectively regulate the effect of human activity on the environment. In an ever-interconnected world, environmental standards have multiple effects which affect trade patterns, environmental protection, poverty, economic development and employment across countries. This talk with economists, social scientists and environmental activists links environmental standards for trade with several issues that have recently received attention: environmental protection and conservation, trade, corruption, environmental justice and human rights.
Speakers
Dr. Elissaios Papyrakis, Senior Lecturer in Development Economics (Macroeconomics) at the Institute of Social Studies of the Erasmus University Rotterdam
Prof. Lorenzo Pellegrini, Associate Professor of Economics of Environment and Development at the International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University Rotterdam
Dr. Luca Tasciotti, Senior Lecturer in Economics at the University of Greenwich
Plus more to be announcedTime: 17:00 – 18:30 GMT
Location: This is a hybrid event. For online attendees please join us on Microsoft Teams. For those attending in person, the event will be in Room QA063, Queen Anne Building, Old Royal Naval College, Park Row, London SE10 9LS.
Feb 8: A shorter working week as part of a green, caring economy as part of the Feminist Green New Deal project
PEGFA will present their project A shorter working week as part of a green, caring economy as part of the Feminist Green New Deal project of the Women's Budget Group and Women's Environmental Network
Speakers
Professor Özlem Onaran and Dr. Robert Calvert Jump, University of Greenwich.
More details about this event will be announced on our website.
Time: 13:00 GMT
Location: This is an online event.
Feb 16: Worker autonomy and wage divergence: Evidence from European survey data
This paper contributes to the understanding of increasing wage inequality in Western Europe. We ask if worker autonomy, defined as the degree of control workers have over their own work process, can explain wage growth differences in Western European countries from 2003 to 2018. We provide econometric analyses using individual-level wage data from the European Union Survey of Income and Living Conditions and find that wages in occupations with high autonomy have grown significantly faster than in occupations with low autonomy. Because workers in high autonomy occupations are generally at the top of the wage distribution, this process has increased wage inequality. We use additional worker surveys to shed light on technological, institutional, and demographic determinants of the ‘autonomy premium’ and highlight three main findings: (i) The autonomy premium is higher in countries with lower collective bargaining; (ii) the autonomy premium increases more in industries with faster computerisation; (iii) the rising autonomy premium increases gender inequality because women are less likely to be employed in high autonomy occupations, but we do not find differences in the increase of the autonomy premium between women and men. These findings suggest that wage inequality between high and low-autonomy jobs is shaped by technological as well as institutional factors.
Speakers
Thomas Rabensteiner, PhD Candidate in Economics (University of Greenwich)
Dr Alexander Guschanski, Senior Lecturer in Economics (University of Greenwich)
Time: 17:00 – 18:30 GMT
Location: This is a hybrid event. For online attendees please join us on Microsoft Teams. For those attending in person, the event will be in Room QA063, Queen Anne Building, Old Royal Naval College, Park Row, London SE10 9LS.
Feb 23: Analysing the link between periods of financial bonanza and premature de-industrialization in developing countries
The outbreak of Covid-19 brought back to the forefront the crucial importance of structural change and productive development for economic resilience to economic shocks. Several recent contributions have already stressed the perverse relation that may exist between productive backwardness and the intensity of the Covid-19 socio-economic crisis. In this paper, we analyse the factors that may have hindered productive development for over four decades before the pandemic. We investigate the role of (non-FDI) net capital inflows as a potential source of premature de-industrialization. We consider a sample of 36 developed and developing countries from 1980 to 2017, with major emphasis on the case of emerging and developing (EDE) economies in the context of increasing financial integration. We show that periods of abundant capital inflows may have caused the significant contraction of manufacturing share to employment and GDP, as well as the decrease of the economic complexity index. We also show that phenomena of “perverse” structural change are significantly more relevant in EDE countries than advanced ones. Based on such evidence, we conclude with some policy suggestions highlighting capital controls and external macroprudential measures taming international capital mobility as useful policy tools for promoting long-run productive development on top of strengthening (short-term) financial and macroeconomic stability.
Speakers
Prof. Alberto Botta (Associate Professor in Economics)
Time: 17:00 – 18:30 GMT
Location: This is a hybrid event. For online attendees please join us on Microsoft Teams. For those attending in person, the event will be in Room QA063, Queen Anne Building, Old Royal Naval College, Park Row, London SE10 9LS.
Jan 26: Does technological innovation affect inequalities? Separating the pure innovation effect from the rent extraction effect
The empirical literature draws on reduced-form models to estimate the effects of technological innovation on inequality. We argue that such models may not identify the true effect because market power and labour-market institutions affect both innovation and inequalities at the same time. To identify the true effect, we adopt a structural equation modeling (SEM) approach in which markups and labour-market deregulation determine innovation, capital share and inequality simultaneously. Using an unbalanced panel of 34 countries from 2000-2018, we find that the main driver of inequalities is not technological innovation per se, but markups and labour-market deregulation that increase capital share and worsen inequalities at the same time. Post-estimation evidence indicates that human capital and fiscal/monetary policy variables we control for are insufficient to reverse the adverse effects of capital share, markups and labour-market deregulation on inequalities. Our findings are robust to sample variation, two different markup measures, and five different measures of inequality.
Speakers
Professor Mehmet Ugur
Time: 16:00 – 17:00 BST
This event will be hosted online at 4pm on Microsoft Teams.
Location: Room HH103, Hamilton House, University of Greenwich, 15 Park Vista, SE10 9LZ
2021
2020
Speaker
Dr Navjot SangwanAbstract
The caste system has dominated the social, political and economic lives of Indian people for over three thousand years. Since independence, the Indian government has introduced a flood of quotas, schemes and affirmative action to tackle caste discrimination. Can seventy years of government policy reverse three thousand years of oppression? Taking a close look at the country's credit system reveals that a new, more subtle, and less overt form of discrimination appears to be emerging, and becoming more widespread. This paper examines whether caste-based differences influence the amount of credit sanctioned to borrowers in India utilising data from the India Human Development Survey collected in 2005 and 2011-12. Using the Blinder–Oaxaca decomposition method, along with the Heckman procedure and the instrumental variable approach to correct for selection and simultaneity bias, I find substantial credit differentials between the general caste and other lower castes. I also show evidence of caste discrimination against the lower castes. The results of this research have been complemented by qualitative data gathered from interviewing lower caste borrowers in North India to understand the nature of discrimination and obstacles faced by them in the credit sector.Time: Tuesday 8th December, 3.30pm
Click here to join the meeting [no need to sign up]
Working paper: PDF
Further details: hereWebinar: COVID-19, ecological, economic, social and financial sustainability
The scale of the COVID-19 crisis and its economic impact is unprecedented. Yet, even before the public health crisis struck, there were serious questions about the ecological, financial and social sustainability of our economy.
As economists from the Greenwich Political Economy Research Centre and the Institute of Political Economy, Governance, Finance and Accountability (PEGFA), we are hosting a series of webinars exploring the economic challenges of our time: from COVID-19 to the ecological, financial and social sustainability of modern capitalism.
Every Thursday at 3pm, a leading researcher from our research centre will run a free online seminar on their area of expertise, to help us make sense of these tumultuous times.
May 21: Fighting the COVID-19 emergency and relaunching the European economy: debt monetization and recovery bonds. Video
May 28: Investing in social infrastructure and equality: lessons for macroeconomic policy from the pandemic Video
June 4: COVID-19 and the public finances: Another ten years of austerity? Video
June 11: Class in the time of COVID-19: how the crisis has exposed class divides Video
June 18: Greening the Bank of England COVID-19 QE programme Presentation slides | Video
June 22: Cooperatives: democracy, equality, and efficiency
July 2: Reflections on innovation policy after Covid-19: What does the microeconometric evidence tell us? Presentation slides
July 9: The political economy of income distribution – why is income inequality increasing and what can we do about it? Presentation slides | Video
July 14: Is the European Green Deal ambitious enough? Presentation slides | Video
In relation to the European Green Deal, please find two recent papers connected to European energy policy from GPERC academic Dr Yuliya Yurchenko Paper 1 | Paper 2
Postponed: Rethinking Economics 2020: salvage the future
The future is uncertain. From ecological breakdown to precarious work, many people feel that business as usual is leading us towards a dead end. However, despite all the pessimism and fear, young people across the globe are demanding change - on the streets and in the classroom.
While dissenting students in economics have raised an unlimited number of questions about the future, answers from the mainstream remain scarce. Is our economics education fit to meet the challenges of the coming decade? What economic issues are behind this sense of decline? And do we need systemic change to salvage the future? On March 28 2020, Rethinking Economics Greenwich (REG) will host a festival of ideas to tackle these questions.
Speakers include Grace Blakeley, Jonathan Aldred, Daniela Gabor, Özlem Onaran, Nick Srnieck and many more...- Time: Saturday 28 March 10am to 6pm
- Location: Room QA080, Queen Anne Court, Greenwich Campus, University of Greenwich
- Tickets: Tickets are free but please sign up here, where you will find more information about speakers, location and details.
European Green Deal: From ambitions to reality
PEGFA researcher Dr Rafael Wildauer is presenting a policy paper on the European Green Deal. This is the first output from a larger project together with the Foundation for European Progressive Studies, the Karl Renner Institute and the Chamber of Labour Vienna. The policy paper analyses the current proposals around the European Green Deal and compares them with the current scientific evidence coming out of climate science. Julia Herr, member of the Austrian Parliament and Niels Fuglsang, member of the European Parliament will provide a political assessment.
Please find the full programme here and register here.
- Monday 15th June
- 12:30 - 14:00
- Registration link here
International Cooperative Webinar
The Institute of Political Economy, Governance, Finance and Accountability (PEGFA), in association with the African Cooperative union, is hosting an International Cooperative Webinar on Saturday 20th June.
The conference will take the form of four plenaries: The first will feature presentations from leading academics on cooperative economics and African peoples' empowerment. In the second, practitioner organisations involved in promoting African peoples' economic empowerment in the UK will speak about what they do. The third plenary will be devoted to institutions that provide technical of financial support to cooperatives. In the final plenary, which will be a 'meeting of the whole' those present will be invited to explore strategies to raise the level of cooperation among African people's cooperatives in the UK.
Speakers
Keynote: Professor Jessica Gordon-Nembhard | "The African American Cooperative Empowerment Experience"
Professor Esther Gicheru | Cooperative University of Keyna | "The Keynan Cooperative Experience"
Professor Gibril Faal | LSE | "The African Diaspora Experience in the UK and Continental Connections"
Professor Kehinde Andrews | Birmingham City University and author of Black to Black: Retelling Black radicalism for the 21st Century | "The Social and Economic Circumstances of People of African Descent"
- Saturday 20th June | 15:00 BST to 18:30 BST
- For tickets and more information please see here
9th PKES Summer School – Introduction to Post Keynesian Economics and Political Economy
This event will now be hosted online.
This four-day summer school introduces Post Keynesian Economics as an alternative to mainstream neoclassical economic theory and neo-liberal economic policy. Key assumptions in Post Keynesian Economics are that individuals face fundamental uncertainty about the future; there is a central role for 'animal spirits' in the determination of investment decisions; inflation is the result of unresolved distributional conflicts; money is an endogenous creation of the private banking system; unemployment is determined by effective demand on the goods markets; financial markets are prone to periodic boom-bust cycles.
The summer school is aimed at students of economics and social sciences. As the aim of Post Keynesian Economics and Political Economy ultimately is to provide the foundation for progressive economic policies, it may be of interest for a broader audience.
- Tuesday 23 June to Friday 26 June Video 1
- For tickets and more information please see here
Open Day: MSc Economics
The scale of the COVID-19 crisis and its economic impact is unprecedented. Yet even before the public health crisis struck, there were serious questions about the ecological, financial and social sustainability of our economy.
There has never been a more pressing time to learn economics. Policies are now being implemented across the world to deal with the health crisis which just a few months ago were considered radical. This shows more clearly than ever that economics is a broad discipline, with a wide range of perspectives and policies. The MSc economics at the University of Greenwich is situated within this pluralist tradition, providing a real world understanding of the economy from different theoretical perspectives, including post-keynesian, ecological, feminist, neoclassical and marxist.
On Monday 11 May, four leading academics who teach on the MSc programme will host a free, online open day to talk you through the programme and how it relates to their research. The open day is aimed at anyone who is potentially interested in learning about the economy and you do not need a formal background in economics to attend.
*Dr Alberto Botta, senior lecturer in economics
*Professor Özlem Onaran, professor of economics
*Professor Mehmet Ugur, professor of economics
*Dr. Maria Nikolaidi, senior lecturer in economics
Moderated by two current Greenwich Rethinking Economics students, Thomas Rabensteiner and Ben Tippet, the event is an opportunity to ask any questions you might have about undertaking an MSc degree: Why economics? Why Greenwich? And why pluralism?
- Time: Monday 11 May 28 2pm to 4pm
- Online: webinar link will be sent via link below
- Tickets: Tickets are free but please sign up here, where you will find more information about speakers, location and details.
CANCELLED: Innovation Symposium
This event is now cancelled.
Despite considerable interest, and with heart-felt regret, we have decided to cancel the symposium.
This is due to two sources of uncertainty.One source is the ongoing strike action in a large number of UK universities and its implications for people's schedules over the next few weeks. The other source is the developments around the Corona virus, which reflect increased emphasis on containment and precautions globally.Coming to this conclusion has not been easy for us. We hope to be able to reschedule after the Easter break.Morbid Symptoms: The Global Rise of the Far-Right
We would like to invite you to an exciting book event at the University of Greenwich with author and academic Dr Owen Worth. Dr Yuliya Yurchenko will introduce and host the discussion.
As established centrist parties across the Western world continue to decline, commentators continue to fail to account for the far-right's growth, for its strategies and its overall objectives.
Morbid Symptoms examines the far-right's ascendancy, uniquely tracing its history from the end of the Cold War, revealing how its different dimensions have led to a series of contradictory strategies and positions that often leave their overall significance unclear. From the United States to Russia and from Britain across Europe to Greece, Owen Worth's analysis reveals that the left's failure to mount a radical alternative to the prevailing order has allowed the far-right to move in and provide an avenue for discontent and for change. Crucially though this avenue hasn't necessarily offered a definite alternative to the status quo as yet, meaning there is still a chance to change its significance in the wider global order. This is an essential primer to the future of international politics and international relations.
We will send further details closer to the date of the event and look forward to seeing you then. - Time: Thursday 30 January 2020 5pm to 7pm
- Authors: Dr Owen Worth
- Location: Room QA175, Queen Anne Building, Greenwich Campus, University of Greenwich
- Tickets: while the event if free we ask you to sign up via this link
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015