Research Seminar: Tackling the UK’s Regional Economic Inequality: Binding constraints and avenues for policy intervention

The Growth Lab Research Seminar series is a weekly seminar that brings together researchers from across the academic spectrum who share an interest in growth and development.

Location: Weil Town Hall, Belfer, HKS/Zoom

Whether attending in-person or virtually, please register in advance. Room attendance is limited to the Harvard community. Seating availability is based on a first-come, first-served basis. The Zoom webinar is open to the public.

About the Seminar: The UK is one of the most regionally unequal industrialized economies. In this seminar, Ed Balls and Anna Stansbury will discuss the UK’s regional economic inequality from the perspective of productivity disparities between large regions, focusing on the gap between London/South East vs the rest, looking at four important economic inputs – education, infrastructure, innovation, and access to finance – for each one building up a collage of evidence to gauge the extent to which it is a binding constraint on regions’ productivity growth. They emphasize that economic opportunity for those from outside London and the South East is curtailed by London’s overheating housing market, which limits interregional mobility.

About the Speakers: Ed Balls is a broadcaster, writer and economist. He is Professor of Political Economy at King’s College, London and a Research Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School. Ed, a former Member of Parliament, was UK Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer (2011-2015) and served in the UK Cabinet as Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (2007-2010). He was the UK Minister for Financial Services (2006-2007) and the Chief Economic Adviser to the UK Treasury (1999-2004) during which time he was Chair of the IMFC Deputies and UK G20 Deputy.

Anna Stansbury is an Assistant Professor of Work and Organization Studies at MIT Sloan School of Management. She is a labor and macroeconomist whose work focuses on inequality and productivity in industrialized economies. She has a PhD in Economics from Harvard, an MPP from the Kennedy School, and a BA in Economics from Cambridge – and was a former part-time Growth Lab RA before her PhD!

Read the full Research Paper: https://www.hks.harvard.edu/centers/mrcbg/publications/awp/awp198
VoxEU summary link: https://cepr.org/voxeu/columns/how-tackle-uks-regional-economic-inequality-focus-stem-transport-and-innovation

Webinar: Leading Green Growth

As the world transitions to a lower carbon economy, new industries, markets, and paths to economic prosperity are emerging. Join Harvard faculty Ricardo Hausmann and Daniel Schrag for a 1-hour webinar on how the current energy transition is reshaping economic opportunity around the world—opening new doors for some and posing threats to others—and explore what this transition means for you.

This is a free, live webinar that will last approximately 1 hour, and the recording will be distributed to all registrants. This presentation does not qualify for a certificate.

REGISTER

HKS Executive Education is offering a one-week on campus program, Leading Green Growth: Economic Strategies for a Low-Carbon World, in August 2023. Under the direction of faculty chairs Ricardo Hausmann and Daniel Schrag, participants will gain a foundational understanding of decarbonization and its economic impact. Application deadline is June 26.

Development Talk: Greening Economic Development / What Does It Take?

The Growth Lab’s “Development Talks” is a series of conversations with policymakers and academics working in economic development. The seminar provides a platform for practitioners and researchers to discuss both the practice of development and analytical work centered on policy.

Speaker: Amir Lebdioui, Assistant Professor in the Political Economy of Development, SOAS University of London

Moderator: Ketan Ahuja, Research Fellow, Growth Lab

What does it take to align economic development with ecological sustainability? Is industrial development still the optimal pathway to poverty reduction? What does a climate-smart industrial policy look like? Why are the factors of success in the implementing of green industrial policy for latecomers? What does an economic development agenda look like for biodiverse nations?

Drawing on recent research and policy work, this talk will address how governments can cope with the changing optimal pathways to economic development, and explain the type of joined-up policy approach needed to use the decarbonization agenda as a lever to diversify economies, leave the commodity dependence trap behind, and increasing macroeconomic resilience.

Whether attending in-person or virtually, please register in advance. Room attendance is limited to the Harvard community. Seating availability is based on a first-come, first-served basis. The Zoom webinar is open to the public. Lunch will be provided.

About the speaker:

Dr. Amir Lebdioui is an Algerian development economist and lecturer in the Political Economy of Development at SOAS, University of London. Before joining SOAS, Amir was based at the London School of Economics (LSE) where he led the Canning House Research Forum, a research and policy engagement program on the Future of Trade in Latin America. His research has focused on the economic diversification of resource-dependent nations, low carbon innovation, biodiversity-based innovation, and industrialization in the context of climate change. Amir also regularly advises governments and international institutions on industrial policy strategies. He serves on the advisory council of the Natural Resource Governance Institute, as member of the African Climate Foundation (ACF) and as a non-resident fellow of the Africa Policy Research Institute. He holds an MPhil and PhD in Development Studies from the University of Cambridge.

Research Seminar: Opportunities and Challenges in the Use of Alternative Data Sources to Study Migratory Phenomena

The Growth Lab Research Seminar series is a weekly seminar that brings together researchers from across the academic spectrum who share an interest in growth and development.

Speaker: Stefano M. Iacus is the Director of Data Science and Product Research at the Institute for Quantitative Social Science, Harvard University. He is working closely with the Dataverse (Managing Director of the Dataverse Project) and OpenDP (executive committee member) projects and well as with the Data Science Services at IQSS.

Abstract: With the consolidation of the culture of evidence-based policymaking, the availability of data has become central to policymakers especially in time of crisis. Focusing on migration studies, this seminar will provide an overview of the current state of data innovation in the scientific literature and then point out at areas in which data innovation has the most concrete potential.

Whether attending in-person or virtually, please register in advance. Room attendance is limited to the Harvard community. Seating availability is based on a first-come, first-served basis. The Zoom webinar is open to the public

Development Talk: Access to Power / Electricity and the Infrastructural State in Pakistan

The Growth Lab’s “Development Talks” is a series of conversations with policymakers and academics working in economic development. The seminar provides a platform for practitioners and researchers to discuss both the practice of development and analytical work centered on policy.

Speaker: Ijlal Naqvi, Associate Professor of Sociology and Associate Dean (Curriculum and Teaching) at the School of Social Sciences of Singapore Management University

Prof. Naqvi will discuss his new book “Access to Power: Electricity and the Infrastructural State in Pakistan,” which explores state capacity in Pakistan by following the material infrastructure of electricity across the provinces and down into cities and homes.

Moderator: Abdurrehman Naveed, HKS MPP 2023

Whether attending in-person or virtually, please register in advance. Room attendance is limited to the Harvard community. Seating availability is based on a first-come, first-served basis. The Zoom webinar is open to the public. Lunch will be provided.

This talk is co-sponsored by the HKS South Asia Caucus. 

About the speaker:

Ijlal Naqvi is Associate Professor of Sociology and Associate Dean (Curriculum and Teaching) at the School of Social Sciences of Singapore Management University. He studies governance and development in the Global South, using infrastructure as a lens on state-building and the citizen’s engagement with the state on an everyday basis. His book Access to Power: Electricity and the Infrastructural State in Pakistan was published by Oxford University Press (2022). Ijlal’s research has been published in Energy Research and Social Science, Journal of Development Studies, Urban Studies, Journal of Democracy, and Current Sociology. Ijlal earned his Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Research Seminar: Structural Change in Export Activities: An Exploration Using Occupations Data

The Growth Lab Research Seminar series is a weekly seminar that brings together researchers from across the academic spectrum who share an interest in growth and development.

Speaker: Hagen Kruse, PhD candidate and Research affiliate of the Groningen Growth and Development Centre @University of Groningen

Abstract: Traditionally, comparative advantage in exporting is measured at the level of products or industries. However, with international production fragmentation, countries specialize in activities along the production chain rather than in particular products. This paper therefore explores changes in the structure of exports at the level of activities for a set of 53 countries. Activities are measured using new internationally harmonized statistics on labour income of 13 detailed occupation classes of workers in 35 industries. Income shares from engineering, management, and support services increase as countries grow richer. New specializations have a strong proximity to the initial export basket, especially for routine manual intensive activities in developing countries. Some countries appear to specialize more in new activities that are relatively unrelated to their initial specializations. This is found to be positively related to income growth.

About the Speaker: Hagen Kruse is a PhD candidate at the University of Groningen and research affiliate of the Groningen Growth and Development Centre (GGDC). His research focuses on the role of international trade in shaping modern patterns of structural change in developing countries. His first chapter was recently published in the IMF Economic Review and featured in media outlets such as The Economist, Project Syndicate, or UNIDO’s Industrial Analytics Platform. Current projects of Hagen are financially supported by the World Bank Group and a CEPR STEG research grant.

Research Seminar: Deconstructing Human Capital to Construct Nestedness

The Growth Lab Research Seminar series is a weekly seminar that brings together researchers from across the academic spectrum who share an interest in growth and development.

Speaker: Hyejin Youn is an associate professor at Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, and Northwestern Institute on Complex Systems (NICO), and an external faculty at Santa Fe Institute and serves as Associate Editor at PLOS One and Management Science.

In this talk, Hyejin Youn will explore the geographic and demographic disparities in wealth based on the distribution of skills acquired in school and in the workplace. Analyzing individuals’ career changes and demographic age of occupations reveals that “nested skills” are needed more as one moves up the career ladder. Historical changes in occupation skill requirements show that these branches have become more fragmented over the decade, suggesting the increasing labor gap.

Register: https://harvard.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_yrXaEgr3TqyjZKU1EecoUA

Whether attending in-person or virtually, please register in advance. Room attendance is limited to the Harvard community. Seating availability is based on a first-come, first-served basis. The Zoom webinar is open to the public

Development Talk: Easy to Say, Hard to Do / Leading Economic Change in Wyoming

The Growth Lab’s “Development Talks” is a series of conversations with policymakers and academics working in economic development. The seminar provides a platform for practitioners and researchers to discuss both the practice of development and analytical work centered on policy.

Speaker: Josh Dorrell, CEO, Wyoming Business Council

Moderator: Gordon Hanson, Peter Wertheim Professor in Urban Policy, HKS

Whether attending in-person or virtually, please register in advance. Room attendance is limited to the Harvard community. Seating availability is based on a first-come, first-served basis. The Zoom webinar is open to the public. Lunch will be provided.

As CEO of the Wyoming Business Council, Josh Dorrell provides leadership and strategic direction in the state’s economic development strategy. In this talk, Josh will discuss the growth challenges in Wyoming, and how a research collaboration with the Growth Lab is helping them outline pathways to sustainable growth, jobs, and prosperity.

Research Seminar: Uncovering Commercial Activity in Informal Cities

Speaker: Neave O’Clery, Associate Professor and Director of Research at the Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis (CASA) at University College London

Abstract: Knowledge of the spatial organization of economic activity within a city is a key to policy concerns. However, in developing cities with high levels of informality, this information is often unavailable. Recent progress in machine learning together with the availability of street imagery offers an affordable and easily automated solution. Here, we propose an algorithm that can detect what we call visible establishments using street view imagery. By using Medellín, Colombia as a case study, we illustrate how this approach can be used to uncover previously unseen economic activity. By applying spatial analysis to our dataset, we detect a polycentric structure with five distinct clusters located in both the established centre and peripheral areas. Comparing the density of visible establishments with that of registered firms, we infer that informal activity concentrates in poor but densely populated areas. Our findings highlight the large gap between what is captured in official data and the reality on the ground.

Please register in advance.  The Zoom webinar is open to the public.

About the Speaker: Neave O’Clery is Associate Professor and Director of Research at the Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis (CASA) at University College London where she leads an inter-disciplinary research group focused on data-driven models for economic development and urban systems. She is also a Turing Fellow at the Alan Turing Institute, as well as a Visiting Fellow at the Oxford Mathematical Institute and an Oxford Martin Fellow. Her work spans a number of topics and fields including structural change and industrial development, economic complexity and evolutionary economic geography, the informal economy, urban mobility and segregation, and network science. She also works alongside a number of policy and government institutions ranging from city majors to global multi-laterals including the UK and Irish governments and the World Bank. Neave was previously a Senior Research Fellow at the Mathematical Institute at the University of Oxford, and before this a Fulbright Scholar and Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Center for International Development at the Harvard Kennedy School. She is founder and co-chair of the Oxford Summer School in Economic Networks, an annual multi-disciplinary summer school since 2017. She holds a PhD (mathematics) from Imperial College.

The Fastest Route to Specialization? Evidence from the Expansion of the Italian Highway System

The Growth Lab Research Seminar series is a weekly seminar that brings together researchers from across the academic spectrum who share an interest in growth and development.

Speaker: Sara Bagagli, Postdoctoral Fellow at the Department of Economics at Harvard University

Abstract: I analyze the effects of a large public transportation infrastructure investment on the industrial structure of local economies in modern Italy. In 20 years, between 1955 and 1975, more than 5,000 km of highways were laid down in the peninsula, making the Italian highway network the third longest worldwide at the time. The network was however disproportionate relative to national income and consumption levels and came as a shock to many localized environments. I show that proximity to highways is associated with a sizable and persistent decrease in the degree of industrial specialization. The results hold similar when looking within traded and non-traded sectors separately. A decomposition exercise further shows that, among non-traded sectors, the decrease is mainly driven by a reallocation of employment shares between sectors, rather than by an extensive margin effect through the creation of new sectors. For traded sectors instead, I first observe a net increase in the number of sectors with non-zero employment in the earliest periods into treatment, followed by a significant reallocation of employment shares between sectors of the local economies. As a next step, I am further investigating the channels at work, exploiting the rich heterogeneity that characterizes the local economies scattered across the Italian peninsula.

Whether attending in-person or virtually, please register in advance. Room attendance is limited to the Harvard community. Seating availability is based on a first-come, first-served basis. The Zoom webinar is open to the public.

About the Speaker: Since Fall 2022, Sara Bagagli is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Department of Economics at Harvard University. Her main research interests are Urban Economics and Economic Geography. One line of research studies the role of urban forms in shaping the distribution of people across space. Another line of research investigates the effects of changes in transportation costs on the structure of local economies. Sara finished her PhD in Economics from the University of Zurich in Summer 2022.

See also: Event, Academic Research Seminars, Academic Research