Results

Blog

LSE Impact:

The brutal geography of global elite scientific research

In theory, science aspires to be cosmopolitan. Where you are from and where you undertake your research are secondary to the quality of your ideas. However, as Andres-Rodriguez-Pose, Leiboyu Xiang, and Neil Lee show, the...Read more...

Journal article

Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers:

Finding stars: mapping the geography of the world's scientific elites

This paper presents the first systematic city-level mapping of global scientific talent, analysing the top 200,000 star scientists across 3635 cities worldwide annually between 2019 and 2023. We use a novel Knowledge Gen...Read more...

Blog

LSE Inequalities:

Mobile internet access is exacerbating household wealth inequality in the Philippines

Mobile connectivity can have a positive economic impact on jobs and incomes. But how does it shape household wealth inequality? Zhiwu Wei, Neil Lee and Yohan Iddawela investigate. The Philippines serves as the ideal case...Read more...

CEP discussion paper

Mobile internet connectivity and household wealth in the Philippines

Mobile internet has become a fundamental component of modern infrastructure. In this paper, we consider the impact of mobile internet connectivity on household wealth in the Philippines. We construct a granular measure o...Read more...

Government consultation

Treasury Committee: National Wealth Fund

Professor Neil Lee gives evidence to the Commons Treasury Committee. The committee is asking whether the National Wealth Fund has the right tools and backing to drive meaningful economic growth...Read more...

Government consultation

Science, Innovation and Technology Committee - Innovation, growth and the regions

Neil Lee gave evidence to the science, innovation and technology committee about the UK's innovation ecosystem and how it compares to other countries....Read more...

Blog

LSE Politics and Policy:

How to make Labour's National Wealth Fund work

Labour's plans for growth include the creation of a National Wealth Fund. A closer look at the proposals reveals that this is not like other Sovereign Wealth Funds, but is in fact more like a Green Investment Bank, meant...Read more...

Blog

Centre for cities:

City Talks: Why we are seeing a boom in urban economics research (Podcast)

We are constantly finding out more about where people live and work, how people move around, where businesses choose to locate, and where people spend their money - all of which adds more depth to our picture of cities. ...Read more...

Blog

British Politics and Policy:

What economists think of Labour's economic policy

The UK will soon have an election and, if the polls are right, Labour will take power for the first time since 1997. There are many similarities between now and then. As in 1997, the Conservative party look tired, voters...Read more...

Blog

Centre for Cities (podcast):

City Talks: Sharing the benefits of a high-tech economy (podcast)

Centre for Cities chief executive Andrew Carter is joined by Professor Neil Lee, professor of economic geography at the London School of Economics and author of Innovation for the Masses: How to Share the Benefits of the...Read more...

External report

Labour Economics: Thinking through Labour's economic agenda

With the Labour Party having vowed to achieve the fastest growth in the G7, the Social Market Foundation has brought together leading economic experts to provide independent analysis of the party's proposed approach - an...Read more...

Blog

LSE USAPP:

Book Review: Innovation for the Masses: How to Share the Benefits of the High-Tech Economy by Neil Lee

In 'Innovation for the Masses: How to Share the Benefits of the High-Tech Economy' Neil Lee proposes abandoning the Silicon Valley-style innovation hub, which concentrates its wealth, for alternative, more equitable mode...Read more...

Chapter

Inclusive entrepreneurial ecosystems

in Entrepreneurial ecosystems in cities and regions: emergence, evolution, and future

Cities and regions with the strongest entrepreneurial ecosystems are often marked by high levels of inequality. These inequalities have, however, often been overlooked in policy and academic circles. Seeking to remedy th...Read more...

Journal article

Regional Studies:

Global production networks meets evolutionary economic geography

Two of the canonical approaches in regional studies are global production networks (GPNs) and evolutionary economic geography (EEG). Recent geopolitical and economic events have shown the importance of both theories in e...Read more...

Journal article

LSE Public Policy Review:

Spatial labour market inequality and social protection in the UK

Spatial inequality in economic outcomes is increasingly seen as a problem for national economies. This paper considers spatial inequality in the UK labour market, its causes, and potential policy solutions. Relative to o...Read more...

CentrePiece article

How where you live affects your pay

Tackling inequality between regions within a country has become a political priority across much of the advanced world. Luis Bauluz, Pawel Bukowski, Mark Fransham, Annie Seong Lee, Neil Lee, Margarita Lopez Forero, Filip...Read more...

Book

Innovation for the Masses
How to Share the Benefits of the High-Tech Economy

From San Francisco to Shanghai, many of the world's most innovative places are highly unequal, with the benefits going to a small few. Rather than simply asking how we can create more high-tech cities and nations, Innova...Read more...

Blog

LSE EUROPP:

Interview with Neil Lee - "If we want to have innovative cities, they have to deliver for everyone"

In an interview with LSE Cities, Neil Lee discusses what's driving anti-metropolitan politics in Europe and how a more inclusive innovation economy could help address it....Read more...

Blog

Vox EU:

New evidence on spatial wage inequality across North America and Western Europe

Spatial inequality has become a key policy concern across much of the advanced world, prompting a spate of government action on the issue in recent years. This column presents evidence showing that, contrary to the popul...Read more...

Journal article

Journal of Economic Geography:

Left-behind versus unequal places: interpersonal inequality, economic decline and the rise of populism in the USA and Europe

Economic change over the past 20 years has rendered many individuals and territories vulnerable, leading to greater interpersonal and interterritorial inequality. This rising inequality is seen as a root cause of populis...Read more...

CEP discussion paper

Spatial wage inequality in North America and Western Europe: changes between and within local labour markets 1975-2019

The rise of economic inequalities in advanced economies has been often linked with the growth of spatial inequalities within countries, yet there is limited comparative research that studies the relationship between nati...Read more...

Journal article

Journal of Urban Economics:

The long shadow of local decline: birthplace economic adversity and long-term individual outcomes in the UK

Does growing up in a high-economic adversity area matter for individual economic, cultural, and political views? Despite a significant focus upon the effect of birthplace on economic outcomes, there is less evidence on h...Read more...

Blog

LSE:

What is levelling up? (video)

Neil Lee explains what levelling up is and how investing in more cities outside of London can help close the socio-economic gap between different areas in the UK....Read more...

Journal article

Regional Studies:

Inclusive innovation in cities: from buzzword to policy

'Inclusive innovation' has become an increasingly important subnational policy agenda. This paper reviews this agenda, critiques its current usage and presents a new framework for how the concept can be applied by city g...Read more...

Journal article

Urban Studies:

Progressive cities: urban-rural polarisation of social values and economic development around the world

In contrast to the conservative values of rural populations, cities are often seen as bulwarks of more tolerant, liberal and progressive values. This urban-rural divide in values has become one of the major fault lines i...Read more...

Journal article

Regional Studies:

Level best? The levelling up agenda and UK regional inequality

'Levelling up' - a policy agenda focused on reducing regional inequalities - has become the new mantra in British politics. This paper critiques the policy programme from its emergence in 2019 to the publication of the 2...Read more...

Blog

LSE British Politics and Policy:

Investments Zones can drive innovation if we learn from past mistakes

A key part of the previous government's plan for growth and currently being reformulated, Investment Zones have for decades been a policy aimed at delivering regional economic development, or levelling-up. Drawing on evi...Read more...

Journal article

Regional Studies:

Trade in creative services: relatedness and regional specialization in the UK

Creative services have become an important, but understudied, part of global trade. This paper presents new evidence on the transformation, geography and industrial relatedness of creative service exports in the UK, usin...Read more...

Journal article

Science and Public Policy:

Systems of innovation, diversification, and the R&D trap: a case study of Kuwait

The relationship between research and development (R&D) investment and economic development is well established. Yet, at a global scale, the resource-rich countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council are consistent outliers...Read more...

Blog

CEP Urban and Spatial Programme Blog:

Inclusive Growth in cities: Good intentions, difficult policy

Read more...

Journal article

Journal of Economic Geography:

Innovation, SMEs and the liability of distance: the demand and supply of bank funding in UK peripheral regions

This article considers geographical variations in the demand and supply of bank finance for innovative firms in the UK. It uses a detailed survey on the finances of almost 40,000 UK Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises fo...Read more...

CentrePiece article

In brief... Powerhouse of cards?

It is not yet clear whether the UK government?s commitment to a `Northern Powerhouse? will survive the change of personnel at the top. But as Neil Lee explains, the idea of seeking to reduce regional disparities via spat...Read more...

SERC/Urban and Spatial Programme Policy Paper

Powerhouse of Cards? Understanding the 'Northern Powerhouse'

The `Northern Powerhouse? is the UK government?s latest attempt to reduce regional disparities. By bringing together the cluster of cities in the North of England, the aim is to create an agglomeration with the scale to ...Read more...

SERC/Urban and Spatial Programme Discussion Paper

Cultural Diversity, Cities and Innovation: firm Effects or City Effects?

Growing cultural diversity is seen as important for innovation. Research has focused on two potential mechanisms: a firm effect, with diversity at the firm level improving knowledge sourcing or ideas generation, and a ci...Read more...

SERC/Urban and Spatial Programme Discussion Paper

Does Cultural Diversity Help Innovation in Cities: Evidence from London Firms

London is one of the world?s major cities, and one of its most diverse. London?s cultural diversity is widely seen as a social asset, but there is little hard evidence on its importance for the city?s businesses. Theory ...Read more...