Newsroom University of Manchester

Economics Professor appointed to Science Advisory Council

Thu, 28 Nov 2024 11:16:03 +0000

A panel of scientific experts will provide education policy makers with advice on strategic and emerging issues through a new , the Department for Education has recently announced.

, Professor of Economics, The University of Manchester, and Deputy Research Director, has been appointed as one of the specialist team of 12 experts to ensure access to the best and latest scientific advice – helping the department’s work to break down the barriers to opportunity by protecting children and ensuring the delivery of higher standards of education, training and care.

The independent panel will provide scientific advice to the Department for Education on matters relevant to its policy and operations. This will include areas such as early identification and support of children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), mental health support, online harms prevention, a sustainable and secure school estate and artificial intelligence and education technology.

The council will also work with the chief scientific adviser to identify and share emerging scientific trends with officials and facilitate effective links between the department and the wider scientific community.

More information can be found on the .

University of Manchester Student Awarded Freshfields Stephen Lawrence Scholarship

Wed, 16 Oct 2024 12:43:30 +0100

Arthur Sangang Tuzolana, an Economics student now starting his second year, has been awarded a prestigious .

The Scholarship is aimed at first-year undergraduate students nominated by participating universities for the Scheme, and seeks to address the disproportionate under-representation of Black men from less socially mobile backgrounds in large commercial law firms and other careers in the City of London.

It is provided by global law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, and was launched in 2013 with support from Doreen Lawrence, Baroness Lawrence of Clarendon, OBE.

Benefits include a 15-month development programme, mentorship, commercial familiarisation though work-shadowing and £5,000 towards study-related costs. For those who wish it, there is an alternative pathway to an interview for a trainee associate programme at the firm.

Annette Byron, Freshfields’ Partner for Social Mobility, commented: “I am delighted to welcome the new cohort to the twelfth year of the Freshfields Stephen Lawrence Scholarship Scheme. This year, we had the honour of considering 78 outstanding candidates, all showing exceptional potential. We look forward to support our 12 new scholars as they begin their professional paths and continue to contribute to the enduring impact of the Scheme."

Arthur, who is looking forward to starting the development programme, said: “Being selected for the Freshfields Stephen Lawrence Scholarship is an honour. I’m excited to learn and grow alongside such a talented group of scholars, and I hope this experience will not only advance my own ambitions but also inspire others to pursue their goals.”

"I also want to take this opportunity to acknowledge the outstanding efforts of all our candidates who participated in the assessment centres in London," Emma added. “Each of them demonstrated exceptional skill and professionalism, representing both themselves and the University with great distinction throughout the process.”

91ֱ�� alumnus Simon Johnson wins Nobel Prize in Economics

Tue, 15 Oct 2024 11:03:44 +0100

An economist who studied at The University of Manchester has been awarded the prestigious for his groundbreaking research into understanding wealth disparities between different nations.

Simon Johnson - who studied Economics at 91ֱ�� in the 1980s, and is now a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - won the prize alongside Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson in recognition of their work to analyse how institutions and the rule of law shape national prosperity.

Professor Johnson was born in Sheffield, and completed his undergraduate studies at Oxford University, before doing a master's degree at 91ֱ�� and a doctorate at MIT.

His career has included prominent roles at the Washington-based Peterson Institute and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), where he served as chief economist from 2007 to 2008 during the global financial crisis. He eventually returned to MIT as a professor, focusing on global economic inequality and policy.

Through their research, Professor Johnson and his colleagues have shaped global debates by demonstrating that democracies, which hold to the rule of law and provide individual rights, have spurred greater economic activity over the last 500 years. Their insights - derived from studying colonialism’s enduring effects on global development - have broad implications for economic strategies today.

Professor Johnson’s academic achievements have established him as a leading voice on global economic policy, which has now been further cemented by this honour. He becomes the 26^th Nobel laureate associated with The University of Manchester, either as staff or alumni.

“It is a surprise and a delight to win the Nobel Prize in Economics,” said Professor Johnson. “Getting my master’s degree at 91ֱ�� helped launch my professional career – and I will always be grateful to my teachers and fellow students in those years. Their guidance and inspiration (and many late-night conversations) helped push me down the road towards careful empirical work, bringing history to bear, and understanding the importance of building institutions that support inclusive prosperity.”

“This year’s laureates have pioneered new approaches, both empirical and theoretical, that have significantly advanced our understanding of global inequality,” said Nobel committee member Jakob Svensson. “Reducing the huge differences in income between countries is one of our times’ greatest challenges, and their insights show that democracies are - on average - better for promoting growth in the long run.”

Celebrating three decades of quantitative criminology at 91ֱ��

Fri, 22 Mar 2024 16:59:11 +0000

On Wednesday, 20 March 2024, The University of Manchester's , in collaboration with the and the UoM Bicentennial Team, organised a landmark event commemorating 30 years of ground-breaking quantitative criminology research at 91ֱ��.

This event not only celebrated the rich history of quantitative criminological scholarship in 91ֱ�� but also showcased the vibrant future of this field. , Head of Criminology, opened the event, underlining the department's pivotal role in shaping the study of criminology.

The late 20th century saw the formation of the 91ֱ�� Quantitative Criminology Group, a team that revolutionised the study of crime through the innovative use of British Crime Survey data combined with Census information. Their pioneering work laid the foundations for understanding crime distribution and the phenomenon of multiple victimisations within and across communities.

The 91ֱ�� Quantitative Criminology Group published groundbreaking work between the early 1990s and early 2000s. The event paid homage to the original members of this group, including Professors Ken Pease, Denise Osborn, Andromachi Tseloni, Graham Farrell, and Doctors Tim Hope and Rob Elder, whose groundbreaking research set a new course for criminological studies.

provided a captivating overview of the evolution of quantitative criminology at the University of Manchester from the early 2000s through to the 2020s, highlighting significant advancements in the analysis of gang dynamics, use of drugs and other substances, domestic abuse, and the spatial distribution of crime.

This period marked an expansion in the scope and sophistication of quantitative methods in criminology, reflecting the University's ongoing commitment to innovation. The event also featured talks from Professors Jon Bannister and Chris Birkbeck, who illustrated developments in quantitative criminology at other universities in Greater 91ֱ��.

In the dawn of the 2020s, a new wave of criminologists launched the Reading Sessions in Quantitative Criminology, further pushing the boundaries of the field. , , and , as three representatives of this new generation, demonstrated the potential of modern quantitative methods to uncover insights into crime and deviance.

Their work, along with that of other University of Manchester researchers like Dr George Wood, Dr Joanna Hill, and , and PhD students Nicola Fox, Benjamin Palfreeman-Watt and Ezra Lampesberger, who served as chairs, discussants and organisers in the event, illustrates the vibrant academic community fostered in 91ֱ��.

The event featured thought-provoking presentations from each era of Manchester's quantitative criminology scholars, sparking discussions that bridged past, present, and future research directions.

In a testament to the event's commitment to nurturing the next generation of researchers, the Department of Criminology offered two 'Alan Trickett bursaries' for Early Career Researchers.

Alan Trickett, who sadly passed away in 2011, was one of the founding members of the 91ֱ�� Quantitative Criminology Group. Pablo Ezquerra from Cardiff University and Giovanni Nicolazzo from Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan, currently visiting Lancaster University, were the recipients of the bursaries.

This celebration not only reflected on three decades of scholarly achievements but also looked forward to the future, embodying the spirit of innovation and collaboration that has always characterised The University of Manchester.

Professor Noam Yuchtman to give the inaugural Arthur Lewis Lab Hajnal Lecture

Fri, 16 Feb 2024 17:08:34 +0000

The announces that the inaugural Hajnal Lecture will be given by , the Drummond Professor of Political Economy in the at the University of Oxford and All Souls College on Thursday, 9 May 2024 at 4pm.

A published version of the lecture will also be published in The 91ֱ�� School.

The Hajnal Lecture is named after the late John Hajnal, in recognition of pivotal contributions to historical demography and his impactful tenure as a Simon Fellow at the University of Manchester in the 1950s.

This prestigious annual lecture commends the outstanding work of early- or mid-career scholars who have demonstrated exceptional contributions to the field of economic history.

Professor Yuchtman’s research explores a wide range of topics in political economy and economic history, including the drivers of political ideology and participation in political movements, the impact of educational content in the process of development, the effects of social interactions on economic and political behavior, and the role of the state in promoting economic growth and innovation.

Noam’s work has been featured in prestigious academic journals, including the American Economic Review, Econometrica, the Journal of Political Economy, the Quarterly Journal of Economics, and the Review of Economic Studies.

More information about the lecture will be made available closer to the date.

The Arthur Lewis Lab announces a new annual lecture in honour of John Hajnal

Wed, 24 Jan 2024 15:24:41 +0000

On Monday, 19 February 2024, the will announce the first awardee of its inaugural Hajnal Lecture.

This lecture series is named after the late John Hajnal, in recognition of pivotal contributions to historical demography and his impactful tenure as a Simon Fellow at the University of Manchester in the 1950s.

With the gracious approval of John Hajnal’s next of kin, the Arthur Lewis Lab is proud to establish the Hajnal Lecture to honour his memory and reflect the University of Manchester’s commitment to fostering excellence in the fields of economic history and comparative development.

This prestigious annual lecture aims to commend the outstanding work of early- or mid-career scholars, specifically those within 15 years of completing their PhD, who have demonstrated exceptional contributions in their study of economic growth, political economy of development, and global inequalities from a long-run historical perspective.

For this annual lecture, the Arthur Lewis Lab partnered with the , one of the best-preserved factories of the Industrial Revolution, near 91ֱ��, who will produce the fabric used for the physical award received by the winner.

A published version of the lecture will also be published in , a prestigious journal publishing high-quality research covering all areas of the economics discipline. This will contribute to the broader dissemination of knowledge and foster interdisciplinary exchange, in line with the lab's dedication to advancing cutting-edge research with a focus on big questions and an historical dimension.

The award committee with be formed of the Director and Deputy Director of The Arthur Lewis Lab for Comparative Development, currently and , as well as the editor of The 91ֱ�� School, currently from the Department of Economics at the University of Manchester.

91ֱ�� show how ethical brands fare in a recession

Fri, 08 Dec 2023 14:45:06 +0000

A new study from experts at The University of Manchester and the University of East Anglia (UEA) has revealed why some ‘eco goods’ may fare better than others as a UK recession looms.

The research has demonstrated that when money gets tight, people are more likely to keep up more expensive ethical purchases like buying fair trade products.

The study is one of the first to look at ethical purchases using actual market data from a major UK supermarket chain.

Lead researcher Dr Jibonayan Raychaudhuri, from UEA’s School of Economics, said: “As a possible UK recession looms closer, we wanted to better understand how people’s spending might change – especially when it comes to purchasing ethical products - like fair trade coffee or ‘dolphin-friendly’ tuna.”

The team studied the impact of the economic recession of 2008 on consumer expenditure of eco-labelled food products.

They used UK supermarket loyalty card data and showed that the recession had widely different effects on the spend share of different types of eco-labelled groceries.

Dr Raychaudhuri said: "We found that the amount shoppers spent on organic products declined but the amount they spent on fair trade products increased over the same period.

"It’s really interesting that the consumption of some eco-labelled goods – namely fair trade products - held up during the recession. It’s surprising, because we expected that consumers would change their spending during an economic downturn, with the sales share of all eco-labelled products falling - as they tend to be more expensive."

“We looked at the effects of the 2008 economic downturn on food products with different eco-labels,” said Professor Ada Wossink from The University of Manchester. “Our research used supermarket loyalty card data. The results confirm trade reports from back in 2008 that during the recession, fair trade held up whereas the organic share dropped. Traditional economic theory cannot explain this - we would expect sales to fall across all eco-labelled products because these all tend to be more expensive. We find that recent models which use social psychology can offer useful insights.”

‘Ecolabels and The Economic Recession’ is published in the journal PLOS ONE.

Electronic sharing of prescription medicines information would make patients safer, study shows

Mon, 12 Jun 2023 15:00:38 +0100

The number of medication errors occurring when people go into, or leave hospital, would reduce by 40% from 1.8 million to 1.1 million if information about medicines could be shared more easily electronically, University of Manchester health economists find.

Their , commissioned by NHS England, also showed that the number of people affected by medication errors would reduce from around 370 thousand to around 220 thousand.

There would be about 12 thousand fewer people experiencing harm from their medicines, with 14 thousand fewer days spent in hospital saving around £6.6 million.

The results of the study come as the NHS introduces new digital information standards aiming to enable GP and hospital electronic records to communicate with each other.

The findings, published in a report on the University of Manchester website, mean that the standards are likely to help make health care safer for patients, argue the team.

Lead researcher Professor Rachel Elliott from The University of Manchester said: “When people are admitted to, or discharged from hospital, it is important that they, their families and people involved in their care, have the right information about their medicines.

“But sometimes medicines may be missed off the list, extra ones added, or wrong doses written down.

“These “medication discrepancies” or “transition medication errors” are so common worldwide in healthcare, the World Health Organization has made it a priority for health services to find ways to reduce them.”

She added: “One effective way of avoiding this is when a health care professional, usually a pharmacist, creates a “best possible medication history” by speaking to the patient, family, GP and looking at the patient’s medical records. This can already find and prevent over 80% medication errors.

“If these records could share information electronically, it would be easier to find the correct information about a patient’s medicines.

“This would reduce time spent finding out what medicines someone should be taking, and further reduce the number of errors.”

By using data from published research and talking to experts, the research team identified how many transition medication errors happen every year in England and the avoidable harms to patients and costs to the NHS.

Using modelling, they then calculated how would the errors, avoidable harm and cost be affected by the new digital information standards.

The report is available to download .

The views expressed in this report are those of the authors and not necessarily those of NHS England. Any errors are the responsibility of the authors.

Northern regions received £21m less from flagship ‘levelling up’ fund

Tue, 23 May 2023 10:14:00 +0100

New analysis of the government’s Community Renewal Fund allocation has found that the North missed out on funding to the tune of £21 million.

The CRF, which was a cornerstone of the government’s ‘Levelling Up’ agenda, was established to address regional inequalities through investment in place-based initiatives.

However, the findings of a new study suggest that the current method for CRF allocation runs the risk of widening existing inequalities rather than ‘levelling up’.

Academics from the NIHR Applied Research Collaboration Greater 91ֱ�� (ARC-GM), the University of Manchester and Health Equity North (HEN) examined the allocation of the first round of the CRF across English regions, and whether more economically deprived regions are getting a proportionate share of the pot.

They found that:

Nationally, there was no significant correlation between regional economic resilience and funding allocations.
All regions in the North of England received less than their expected share of the flagship ‘levelling up’ fund.
The least resilient region in England – the North East – received £13.4 million less.
By contrast, the South West was awarded £9.9 million more than their expected share.

To support CRF allocation, the government developed a way to measure economic resilience, which covered productivity, skills, unemployment, population density, and household income. These were selected to identify places with poor economic performance, which would be less able to resist and recover from shocks.

The CRF allocation process involved multiple stages, with the economic resilience index being used at the outset to identify 100 priority places. There are more than 10 steps from the identification of priority places to CRF bid approval, with the final decision made by the Secretary of State for the Department of Levelling up, Housing and Communities.

The analysis by HEN and ARC-GM used the UK government’s methodology to construct a regional economic resilience index to generate a ‘fair share’ funding allocation and compared these to the actual allocation.

The average resilience score in England was 46.0, ranging from 28.5 in the North East to 65.6 in London. (See Table 1 below for full regional breakdown)

Dr Luke Munford, Co-Academic Director at Health Equity North, and Senior Lecturer in Health Economics at the University of Manchester, said: “There are deep-rooted, persistent regional inequalities in health and wealth across England. People in the North live shorter lives and have higher rates of bad health, disability and economic inactivity. These inequalities have widened during recent decades and will continue to do so without effective policies put in place by government.

“While investment like the Community Renewal Fund is very welcome, the methodology for distribution of the funding doesn’t add up and has the potential to further widen the North-South divide.

“Despite committing to targeting people and places most in need, our research shows the imbalance that remains when it comes to investing in areas that face worse inequalities.

“To mitigate this risk, there needs to be allocation of funding at a regional level, based on an objective measure of need and involving local leaders in decision making.”

Christine Camacho, ARC-GM PhD Fellow and Public health registrar, said: “The ‘levelling up’ agenda offers an opportunity to address the longstanding inequalities in England, but our findings clearly show that there was no significant correlation between regional economic resilience and CRF funding allocations.

“A transparent approach for the distribution of funding to regions based on need is essential. Economic resilience is only one part of the story. A multidimensional index of community resilience could be used to assess place-based disparities.”

Table 1. Regional economic resilience index (ERI) scores, actual and expected Community Renewal Fund (CRF) allocations for English regions

Region	ERI score	Actual CRF allocation (£ millions)	Expected share based on ERI (£ millions)	Difference (£ millions)
East Midlands	42.5	£18.4	£14.2	£4.3
East of England	51.0	£16.5	£11.8	£4.7
London	65.6	£3.8	£9.2	£−5.4
North East	28.5	£7.7	£21.1	£−13.4
North West	41.3	£12.1	£14.6	£−2.5
South East	61.7	£12.8	£9.8	£3.0
South West	50.4	£21.9	£12.0	£9.9
West Midlands	38.7	£20.0	£15.6	£4.5
Yorkshire and The Humber	34.5	£12.3	£17.5	£−5.1

Inspirational student who graduated despite having brain cancer has sadly died

Mon, 22 May 2023 10:49:40 +0100

An inspirational student who graduated from her degree at The University of Manchester despite having incurable brain cancer has sadly passed away.

Laura Nuttall discovered she had Glioblastoma Multiforme - an aggressive and incurable form of brain cancer - after a routine eye test in 2018, and dropped out of university in London after being told she only had twelve months left to live.

After bravely enduring a craniotomy to remove the largest of eight tumours, she started a gruelling programme of radiotherapy and chemotherapy. The family then discovered that an innovative new treatment was available in Germany, and with the help of donations from friends, family and an online fundraiser, Laura was able to start the immunotherapy.

She had to travel to Cologne every six weeks for the treatment, which was made even more difficult by coronavirus restrictions. However, she responded so well that she was able to restart her studies - this time at The University of Manchester, in order to be closer to home.

Despite travelling back and forth to Germany, undergoing more surgery, working as an ambassador for and helping out in her community, she showed incredible strength and managed to excel in her studies.

As a result, she graduated last summer from her Politics, Philosophy and Economics degree with enormously proud Mum Nicola, sister Grace and Dad Mark by her side. Nicola said at the time that seeing her graduate was incredible after being told Laura only had a life expectancy of around a year and wouldn’t be going back to university at all, and that it was a real celebration of her tenacity.

Laura continued raising money and awareness for brain charities, as well as promoting the research being undertaken at The University of Manchester’s Sadly, her cancer progressed quickly last Autumn, and the family decided to bring forward their festive celebrations to early November to ensure that she would be able to enjoy one last Christmas.

Despite the cancer progressing Laura defied expectations once again, and was able to fight on until the early hours of Monday morning when she passed away peacefully, surrounded by her loved ones.

“The thoughts of myself and everyone at the university are with Laura’s parents Nicola and Mark and her sister Grace at this incredibly difficult time,” said Professor Jackie Carter, Academic Lead for EDI DIsabilities. "She was an incredible and spirited young woman. With her treatment, she defied all the odds after her diagnosis to complete her studies and graduate last summer. I got to know Laura and her amazing family well during her time here, as my own son has incurable brain cancer."

91ֱ�� finds how much people would pay to live without food hypersensitivity

Thu, 22 Dec 2022 13:33:08 +0000

Researchers from The University of Manchester have found that people living with food hypersensitivities would be willing to pay a substantial amount of money to live without the inconvenience, anxiety and pain caused by their conditions.

The study – which was funded by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) - aimed to inform government policy by estimating the annual economic value of removing the symptoms and limitations of food hypersensitivities, and to identify the impacts of food hypersensitivity which most affect people’s quality of life.

Over 2000 adults living with food hypersensitivities - including allergies, intolerances and coeliac disease - as well as parents of children with them were asked how much they would be prepared to pay to live without their conditions, for different lengths of time.

The researchers found that adults with a food allergy would pay £1064 per year to remove all the symptoms and limitations of their condition, those with coeliac disease would pay £1342 per year, and those with food intolerances would pay £540 a year.

The average money per year that parents would pay to remove all the symptoms and limitations of their children’s conditions was even higher - £2766 for a child with a food allergy, and more than £1600 for a child with coeliac disease and food intolerance.

The data also showed that temporary removal of conditions is of no interest to some people - even at no cost - unless it was for a very long time. This rejection was also seen in the parents' sample. For example, 11% of adults and 17% of parents said they would reject temporary removal of their condition even if it lasted for 20 years, and 6% of adults and 11% of parents show no interest in it at all.

“Food hypersensitivities affect people’s quality of life in many ways, but impacts related to embarrassment and fear when eating out and in social situations were found to be among the most serious for all three conditions,” said Nicholas Daniel, Economic Advisor at the Food Standards Agency.

“The findings of this study can inform policy and practice, allowing targeting of measures at those impacts which are considered the most important by people living with those food hypersensitivities. The results will contribute to our assessment of the scale of the economic costs imposed on society by food hypersensitivities, and will be incorporated into our Cost of Illness model which we currently use to measure the annual, social, cost of foodborne disease.”

“These are the first estimates of the monetary value of the inconvenience, anxiety and pain caused by food allergies, intolerances and coeliac disease, said Professor Rigby. “They can be used, by government and industry, alongside the equivalent monetary values previously estimated at The University of Manchester for foodborne diseases such as Salmonella and E coli.”

For more information, see the

Launch of the Arthur Lewis Lab for Comparative Development

Wed, 21 Sep 2022 15:06:09 +0100

The Arthur Lewis Lab for Comparative Development is a new interdisciplinary research group in economic history and comparative development at the University of Manchester.

The lab will promote cutting-edge research on economic growth and development, political economy, and cultural economics from a long-run historical perspective. Our aim is to become a leading centre for the study of big questions in these fields, building on the legacy of our association with the late Nobel laureate Arthur Lewis.

The group is led by Nuno Palma and Ákos Valentinyi (co-directors) as well as Guillaume Blanc (deputy director), and includes members from across the university, in particular from the Department of Economics, where the lab is based, the Department of History, and the Alliance Business School, as well as external affiliates.

Through the production of policy-relevant research on development relating to sustainable development goals, the lab will contribute towards the university’s social responsibility agenda. It will also contribute to the university’s research and discovery core goals, in implementing and communicating key aspects of the university’s research strategy in a unique way not currently offered.

Moreover, we will open a 3-year postdoctoral position, the Arthur Lewis Postdoctoral Fellowship. The inaugural position will be funded by the 91ֱ�� School. Pending the evolution of the Lab’s revenues upon foundation, it may become a recurring position.

Finally, we will organize:

a monthly seminar series;
an annual conference;
a weekly lunch gathering;
a summer school;
an annual research workshop.

For more information visit the .

Professor Rachel Griffith awarded honorary doctorate by Keele University

Tue, 28 Jun 2022 12:00:00 +0100

Professor of Economics at The University of Manchester, Rachel Griffith, is one of six distinguished individuals set to receive an honorary degree from Keele University. Professor Griffith will receive an honorary Doctorate of Letters in a ceremony this summer, in recognition of her outstanding contributions to society in economics.

Rachel is Professor of Economics in the School of Social Sciences and Research Director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS). Her research broadly considers the design and effectiveness of government policy on consumers, firms and the functioning of markets. Rachel’s specific interests relate to the retail food sector and the ways that policy can help to improve nutritional outcomes. She is passionate about increasing diversity in economics, and improving the ways that economists communicate with policymakers and the wider public.

Rachel was awarded a CBE in 2015, and was made a Dame for services to economic policy and education in 2021. She also served as President of the Royal Economic Society from 2019-20, becoming the first female President in over 35 years and only the second woman to hold the post in the Society’s 129-year history.

Speaking about her recognition from Keele University, Rachel said, “I am honoured to be receiving a Doctorate in Letters from Keele. It is a nice recognition of the importance of my work with colleagues at the Institute for Fiscal Studies on how policy can be better design to both protect the most vulnerable in society and encourage productivity growth. I hope it will help to inspire a greater diversity of young people to consider studying economics and to contribute to shaping a better society.”

Businesses benefiting from political connections harm China’s economic growth

Thu, 21 Apr 2022 12:38:11 +0100

Researchers from The University of Manchester and University of Navarra have examined the value of politically connected firm directors to the Chinese elite, in terms of getting preferential access to resources.

The study found that being connected to the political elite in China brings advantages to firms, despite the launch of the Anti-Corruption Campaign (ACC) by president Xi Jinping in 2012. According to the paper, recently , private firms benefit from higher subsidies if at least one director in the boardroom has ties with the ruling Communist Party’s Politburo. State-owned enterprises (SOE’s) that have at least one connected director also enjoy privileges, such as paying lower interest rates.

The findings differ between private and state owned firms, showing that connections have become more valuable for private firms following the anti-corruption campaign. According to the research, private firms face a more aggressive environment within the Chinese context, and often engage in corrupt practices as a mechanism to survive.

By contrast, corruption in state firms differs in nature, given that state firms already enjoy a privileged status within the Chinese economy and do not need to engage in corruption in order to survive. The value of connections in the state sector did not increase after the ACC, however, political connections remained important.

According to the study, in state owned firms the problem of corruption and personal connections lies in the politicisation of these companies. Whilst SOEs are tied to the Chinese Government, they can be used as a means for political interests. The researchers suggest that reducing connections between politicians and firms and introducing market rules within state companies would increase efficiency.

This research sheds light on a resource allocation mechanism that has become increasingly important in China since 2012, but which, according to the researchers, harms China’s economic growth in the long term.

Whilst the Anti-Corruption Campaign may have had some other positive effects, the researchers argue that improving market institutions in China and providing a more favourable environment for private companies requires deeper reforms.

“We show that the value of connections in the private sector increased after the Anti-Corruption Campaign because they became a less risky alternative to pecuniary corruption. We also show that connected firms do not perform better than others, despite benefiting from advantages. The Chinese economy as a whole hence suffers due to these political economy mechanisms at play.” Said Dr , from The University of Manchester.

2021 New Year Honours for Professor of Economics

Mon, 11 Jan 2021 15:24:24 +0000

The New Year Honours lists mark the achievements and service of extraordinary people across the UK.

is Professor of Economics in the School of Social Sciences and Research Director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS). Rachel previously won the Birgit Grodal award in 2014 and was awarded a CBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours 2015 for services to economic policy. She is a Fellow of the Econometric Society, the British Academy, the Academy of Social Sciences and a Research Fellow of CEPR.

Dame Rachel served as President of the Royal Economic Society from 2019-20, becoming the first female President in over 35 years and only the second woman to hold the post in the Society’s 129-year history. Rachel has broken down institutional barriers and has brought together public, private and academic economists in the pursuit of a single national goal. Recently she has used her position to support the development of UK Government Economic Policy in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Professor Griffith also established the Economics Observatory whose purpose is to answer questions from policy-makers and the public about the economics of the Covid-19 crisis and the recovery.

Speaking about her recognition in the New Year’s Honours, Rachel said, "I'm honoured to receive this award. It is a great recognition of the many ways that economics is changing - for the better. I have had the privilege to be able to work with economists from a wide range of institutions and backgrounds to mobilise research to address the many challenges society is currently facing. I am very optimistic about the positive role that sound and robust economic analysis can play in helping the country to recover."

Economics Professor authors book on monetary policy and financial regulation

Wed, 11 Nov 2020 09:34:26 +0000

Since the global financial crisis, there has been a renewed effort to emphasize financial frictions in designing closed- and open-economy macroeconomic models for monetary and macroprudential policy analysis. Professor Agénor draws on the extensive literature of the past decade, as well as his own contributions, to offer a unified set of theoretical and quantitative macroeconomic models with financial frictions to explore the issues that have emerged in the wake of the crisis.

In the book, Professor Agénor explores how the financial system amplifies shocks originating elsewhere in the economy and the extent to which central banks should account for financial stability considerations in the conduct of monetary policy. He also considers whether national central banks and regulators should coordinate their policies to promote financial stability; and how much countercyclical macroprudential policies should be coordinated at the international level to mitigate financial spillovers across countries.

The book focuses on upper-middle-income countries, which differ from advanced economies in terms of both their structural features (which include a financial sector dominated by banks, weak supervisory capacity, and a high degree of vulnerability to external shocks) and their long-standing policy challenges. However, some of the analytical insights and broad policy lessons that can be drawn from the book will be of relevance to advanced economies as well.

is Hallsworth Professor of International Macroeconomics and Development Economics in the School of Social Sciences. He has published numerous articles in leading professional journals and made contributions to a wide range of fields and topics in economics, including international macroeconomics, development economics, growth theory, labour economics, financial regulation, gender equality, and poverty analysis.

Monetary Policy and Macroprudential Regulation with Financial Frictions is available now through .

Social Science students win scholarships for PhD study

Mon, 20 Jul 2020 11:30:10 +0100

Mohammad Javad was awarded the James Lincoln PhD studentship in Economics. The studentship is inspired by the life and legacy of Dr James Lincoln, a Lecturer in Economics at the University, who passed away in 2019.

Dr Lincoln carried out research in the area of econometrics; after graduating from his undergraduate degree at the University of Manchester in 1995, he went to work in the corporate world and returned to study an MSC and PhD in Economics and Econometrics, before becoming a Lecturer.

Mohammad will be starting his PhD in Economics in September 2020 in evolutionary behavioural finance under the supervision of and . Having been out of formal education for 5 years, the scholarship is an opportunity for him to move into the discipline of Economics for post-graduate research.

Lucija Duda was awarded the Stuart Hall Scholarship for her doctoral research project A Call For An Analytic Feminist Model Of Argumentation.

The project proposes how a long history of male dominance and antagonistic style of argument has led analytic philosophy to associate rationality with maleness and whiteness, excluding feminine, socially marginalized and diasporic phenomena.

Lucija will analyse feminist argumentative speeches, such as those delivered by Sojourner Truth, Klara Zetkin, Betty Frieden, Ida B. Wells, Mary Church Teller, Rosa Parks, and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Her aim is to develop an anti-essentialist line on the so-called feminine style of reasoning, as opposed to the traditional essentialist conception of the term, associating women’s reasoning mostly with emotion, subjectivity, irrationality and intuition.

, Lecturer in Philosophy at the University, says,

“Lucija Duda's proposed PhD is highly innovative and will make a positive difference both to forging links between analytic philosophy - especially logic - and the social sciences, and to combating male and white dominance within philosophy. Her background in linguistics, including formal and informal logic, and in women's studies leaves her exceptionally well-placed to connect these matters to logic and philosophy of language. The many novel connections made within the research project and its ability to integrate different bodies of literature which are rarely brought into dialogue, offer an exciting opportunity for public discourse and will also contribute to interdisciplinary interaction between departments”.

Economics excellence in teaching 2019-2020

Wed, 01 Jul 2020 14:33:00 +0100

Certificates have been awarded to the following individuals for their high-quality teaching, professionalism, and commitment to the students' learning experience.

Teaching Assistant Awards 2019-2020

First prize

Lotanna Emediegwu

Runners up

Atiyeh Yeganloo
Veronica Vienne Arancibia
Uzoma Iloanugo

Highly commended prize

Atif Khan
Darya Vanchugova
Jubril Animashaun

Commended prize

Anqi Zhang
Mohammad Dehghani
Salauddin Tauseef
Valeriya Potapova

Playing catch-up: how latecomer economies joined the digital race

Thu, 07 Nov 2019 11:42:45 +0000

New research from explores the strategies used by latecomer economies to play catch-up to the digital world.

With the emergence of the Internet, digital companies and capabilities have been primarily concentrated in advanced economies. As digital technologies, data and AI are becoming used across all areas of the economy, these limitations are becoming important barriers to economic development. This has left emerging and developing economies, such as those of Asia and Latin America, at a disadvantage when it comes to entering the digital race.

So how do they close this gap?

According to Drs Christopher Foster and Shamel Azmeh, from the University, there are two paths being taken. The first is open and global trade, and the second is pursuing interventionist policies on a national scale. In their recent paper, “Latecomer economies and national digital policy: an industrial policy perspective”, published in the , they investigated these competing approaches as they are applied in emerging nations.

With the former – the more open approach – they found that it had mixed results. The “entrance of advanced foreign digital firms will lead to new efficiencies, information flows and services in these countries,” explains Dr Foster.

“However,” he adds, “in our research we find that these prescriptions can also lead to challenges in emerging nations. Foreign digital firms begin to dominate industries, and the entrance of international platforms can lead to a potential loss of local control of sectors.”

On the other side of the coin are the national digital policies being introduced in countries such as China, Indonesia, and Brazil. For the most part, these take the form of building global links to speed up the acquisition of new technologies and skills development. Under certain circumstances, however, “more interventionist approaches can be vital in countering structural challenges”, says Dr Foster.

Though controversial, national policies can provide better control of foreign digital firms, while nurturing local industries. “Under some circumstances,” notes Dr Foster, “these approaches can be successful, and lead to more balanced local growth of digital economies.”

The trade-off, most notably seen in the case of China, is that a strongly protectionist approach to the economy can invoke a strong response. They have been seen as a factor in the ‘trade war’ which has recently flared between the US and a number of other countries.

Economics excellence in teaching awards 2018-2019

Mon, 01 Jul 2019 14:14:00 +0100

Certificates have been awarded to the following individuals for their high-quality teaching, professionalism, and commitment to the students' learning experience.

Teaching Assistant Awards 2018-2019

First prize

Stephen Nolan
Runners up
Eman Abdulla
Esmaeil Babaei Khezerloo
Lotanna Emediegwu

Highly commended prize

Nicholas Rees
Veronica Vienne Arancibia
Yan Song

Commended prize

Darya Vanchugova

NGO Explorer tool aims to connect the UK’s development charities

Tue, 30 Apr 2019 14:39:32 +0100

To address this gap, Professor Dan Brockington of the University of Sheffield and Dr Nicola Banks of The University of Manchester set out to map and understand the UK’s development sector.

Their research produced new insights that show a sector that grew consistently, both in terms of income and number of organisations, from 2005 -2015.

After talking the findings through with smaller development charities, many of whom are based outside of London, Dan and Nicola recognised the need for a simple tool that would enable charities to find counterparts close to them in the UK, and in the developing countries they operate in.

The NGO Explorer website, unveiled to a group of small charities at BOND on Wednesday, is the result of these discussions. The simple, accessible and powerful tool enables users to search for UK-based development charities by their location in the UK or overseas.

Results can be refined by the size and activity of charities, with information displayed in an easy to read dashboard, which can also be downloaded by users.

Professor Dan Brockington said: “We hope the NGO explorer will be used as a spring-board for contacts, interactions and exchange.

"It fits into a broader ecosystem of networking activities and organisations, which provide new ways for international NGOs to collaborate and coordinate.”

The site is based on Charity Commission data for England and Wales, made accessible and kept updated via Charity Base, created by Dan Kwiatkowski. Data scientist David Kane, formerly of NCVO, developed the website. Finding ways to include Scottish and Irish NGOs in the tool is the next priority for the team.

Dr Nicola Banks commented: “We know that the development sector acts quite differently from civil society as a whole, so it’s important we know more about it.

"With 90% of development expenditure concentred amongst just 8% of large organisations in the sector, we’re excited to help to connect smaller organisations.”

The NGO Explorer project was funded by the ESRC and the Global Challenges Research Fund and supported by the Universities of Sheffield and 91ֱ��.

Find out more at .

Bangladesh is booming, but authoritarianism could burst its bubble

Thu, 28 Feb 2019 10:11:18 +0000

Bangladesh has been a in recent years. The country made remarkable progress in poverty alleviation prior to the and has over performed on , such as education, health and fertility. According to the United Nations (UN), Bangladesh has progressed so much that it has now to graduate from a “least developed country” to a “developing country”.

But, following the recent , which saw the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, win a third term, what are the chances of these development trends being sustained and progressing even further?

Recent years have seen Bangladesh regress towards authoritarian rule. In 2011, the established political tradition of , while the 2014 general election was leaving more than half of the parliamentary seats uncontested. During the most recent election, government security forces launched a brutal whose members also responded with violence. There were also the vote was rigged. An independent survey by Transparency International confirmed major irregularities, including ballot stuffing .

The ruling government has faced little opposition in the Bangladeshi parliament and has consolidated its power with violent repression. and . In early 2018, for example, opposition leader and former prime minister Khaleda Zia was sentenced to on corruption charges that some claim were politically motivated. Peaceful and have been violently repressed, and there have been covering events.

What now?

So what does this drift towards autocracy mean for the country’s future? Since 2015, (SDGs) have replaced the MDGs as the means to end multiple inequalities by 2030. It is widely believed that the long-term success of the SDGs hinges on improving the quality of government around the world. In fact, this is so important that building effective, accountable and inclusive institutions is now a development goal in its own right – .

Key to achieving this is to have mechanisms in place to hold governments to account. Parliament, the judiciary, the media and voters should be able to hold the executive power to clearly defined limits and standards. If those who rule aren’t subject to effective checks and balances, they can abuse their privileges to maintain power.

Recent events suggest that the Bangladeshi government is moving in the opposite direction. And the cost, in terms of damaging development prospects, could be significant. In systems where there are weaker mechanisms to hold the government to account, for example, corruption in the public sector may be rife and state institutions less effective.

There are already worrying signs. Bangladesh has once again returned to the global list of the most corrupt nations and was . But it topped the list of countries with the fastest growing number of citizens.

Widespread corruption is , who have siphoned off billions of dollars from . This is likely to undermine social cohesion and further weaken popular support for the country’s authoritarian regime – especially if income inequality rises, while the .

Strong institutions benefit economic growth.

Our recent research provides an assessment of the consequences of having effective states with respect to income poverty eradication. In particular, we’ve found that countries with the most state capacity – the capability of the state machine to design and deliver policies – , up to twice the speed of those with the least.

Despite some welcome development advances, state capacity in Bangladesh is now weak. Global surveys on public sector efficiency and the quality of legal infrastructure rank Bangladesh as a – and this can have further economic consequences. Recent has confirmed that democracy has a significant positive effect on economic growth in the long run. Consequently, in Bangladesh, poor state capacity and democratic backsliding may well become significant constraints on economic growth and, in turn, inhibit the possibility of the country transitioning to an upper middle-income nation by 2040.

Bangladesh has made impressive progress in economic and social development and surprised many by growing its GDP at . But if the Amawi League wants to consolidate these gains and make further improvements in Bangladesh, it must reverse the recent democratic decline.

, Senior Lecturer in Development Economics, and , Professor of Development Economics,

This article is republished from under a Creative Commons license. Read the .

Citrus fruits, scurvy and the origins of the Sicilian mafia

Thu, 08 Feb 2018 10:15:00 +0000

The Sicilian mafia is arguably one of the most famous – or infamous – institutions in the Western world. After its first appearance in Sicily in the 1870s it soon infiltrated the economic and political spheres of Italy and the US and has, at times, been considered a serious threat to the rule of law in both countries.

But despite the fact that we’ve seen plenty of evidence of mafia activity, both in real life and on screen over the past 140 years, the reasons behind its emergence are still obscure.

While some has focused on weak institutions, predation and the poor state enforcement of property rights, others – particularly when it comes to the Sicilian mafia – have suggested that the legacy of feudalism was an important driver, along with the development of latifundism (a system according to which agriculture is dominated by large estates) and a loss of social capital and public trust in the government which was dominated by a foreign occupation.

These theories provide plausible explanations for the origin of the Sicilian mafia as a whole – but they fail to explain the considerable variation in the growth of the criminal organisation across different areas within the Sicilian region – especially when those areas experienced very similar socio-political conditions.

Working with Ola Olsson, from the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, we recently published a study in the in which we analysed the rise of the Sicilian mafia using a unique dataset drawn from the in 1886. This was a parliamentary inquiry conducted between 1881 and 1886 that examined the conditions of the agricultural sector and of peasantry in every region of Italy. Our analysis emphasises the economic or market-related factors behind mafia organisation and focuses on local factors – rather than the overall political system under the oppressive Bourbon state in Sicily.

We found that the growth and consolidation of the Sicilian mafia is strongly associated with an external surge in the demand for lemons from 1800 on wards after the discovery of the effective use of citrus fruits to prevent scurvy by .

Lawless: 19th-century Palermo.

Sicily already enjoyed a dominant position in the international market for citrus fruits – and the increase in demand resulted in a very large inflow of revenues to areas focused on citrus production during the 1800s. Citrus trees can be cultivated only in areas that meet specific requirements (mild and constant temperature throughout the year and an abundance of water) – and this guaranteed substantial profits to the relatively few local producers in areas of Sicily that conformed to these requirements.

A combination of high profits, a weak rule of law, a low level of interpersonal trust and widespread poverty made lemon producers a suitable target for criminals. Neither the Bourbon regime (1816–1860), nor the newly-formed government after Italian independence in 1861, had the strength or the means to effectively enforce private property rights. So citrus farmers resorted to hiring private security providers to protect themselves from theft and also to arrange intermediaries between the retailers and exporters in the harbours.

A lot of this information can be found in the archives of the Damiani Inquiry. Questionnaires were sent to 179 pretori (lower court judges) asking, among other things: “What is the most common form of crime in the district? What are their causes?”

Oranges and lemons

When we looked at the archive, we found that mafia presence in the 1880s was strongly associated with citrus cultivation – no other crop or industry appeared to have the same robust impact on mafia activity. Our findings are supported by anecdotal evidence reported by the English author John Dickie in his 2004 book: and by the Italian historian Salvatore Lupo in his book (The Orange Garden).

Influential: John Dickie’s history of the Sicilian mafia.

Dickie named a as the first person persecuted by the mafia. Detailed can be found in Galati’s memoir: I casi di Malaspina e la mafia delle campagne di Palermo (Cases of Malaspina and the mafia in the campaigns of Palermo), and reported in the Bonfadini parliamentary inquiry, details of which are held in the national archives in Rome.

Galati’s attempts to sack his farm warden, a “man of honour” (mafioso) affiliated with Antonino Giammona, the boss of Uditore, a borough of Palermo, resulted in two replacement wardens being shot. The first was shot dead and the second, having recovered from three bullets in the back, cut a deal with Giammona.

Galati, who had reportedly spent more than 25 years building up his business in the area, fled to Naples from where he sent a detailed account of his troubles to the Minister of the Interior in Rome. Of 800 people living in Uditore, he wrote, there had been 23 killings in 1874 alone, including two women and two children. Another ten people had been wounded.

‘Men of honour’

Like Galati’s wounded warden, the safest option available to people under pressure from the mafia was to establish a relationship with their leaders – and get the most out of these connections. Niccolò Turrisi Colonna, for example, a landowner and politician whose 1864 study, Public Security in Sicily, warned that the Italian government’s brutal attempts to crush unlawfulness would only make matters worse by alienating the populace, is widely thought to have been a close associate of the aforementioned Giammona. He is also thought by some to have been the head of the mafia.

Emanuele Notarbartolo, major of Palermo (1873-1876), killed by the Sicilian mafia in 1893.

Another prominent Sicilian, , hired as main warden for his farm a man named , the main suspect in the death of Emanuele Notarbartolo – an aristocrat, banker and a former mayor of Palermo. Notarbartolo’s assassination in 1893 is thought to be the first major mafia homicide in Sicily of a person not affiliated with a crime gang.

The Greco family – which was to become one of the biggest criminal enterprises in Italy and, in the 20th century, in the US, got its start thanks to a lemon grove .

Like so many industries, legitimate or otherwise, the Sicilian mafia had humble beginnings, with its roots in the land. The boom in citrus fruits came at the right time for some of the more unscrupulous individuals in rural Sicily to take advantage of the lawless times and establish themselves as the real power in the land. And the rest, as they say, is history.

, Lecturer in Economics, and , Lecturer in Economics,

This article was originally published on . Read the .

Economics professor made CBE in New Year’s Honours

Fri, 05 Jan 2018 10:55:00 +0000

Diane Coyle, Professor of Economics at The University of Manchester, has been recognised “for services to economics and the public understanding of economics”.

Prof Coyle was made an OBE in 2009.

She said: “I just get on with things, so I was bowled over to get the letter informing me of the honour. I’ve also been overwhelmed by all the good wishes from friends and colleagues since the list was published.”

New report calls for urgent industrial strategy overhaul

Wed, 01 Nov 2017 08:00:00 +0000

The UK’s people, places and businesses will only achieve their potential if there is a complete overhaul of how the government views industrial strategy, according to a major new report published today by the Industrial Strategy Commission.

The report argues that the new industrial strategy must be an ambitious long-term plan with a positive vision for the UK, and it must be rethought as a broad, long-term and non-partisan commitment to strategic management of the economy.

Chaired by Dame Kate Barker, the Commission is an independent joint initiative by The University of Manchester and the University of Sheffield. Its bold new recommendations include:

• The new strategy should commit to providing Universal Basic Infrastructure. All citizens in all places should be served by a good standard of physical infrastructure and have access to high quality and universal health and education services.
• Health & social care must be part of the industrial strategy. As well as offering potential for productivity gains and new markets, achieving better wellbeing outcomes must be placed at the centre of the strategy.
• The new strategy should be organised around meeting the long-term strategic goals of the state. These include decarbonisation of the economy, investing in infrastructure and increasing export capacity.
• Innovation policy should focus on using the state’s purchasing power to create new markets and drive demand for innovation in areas such as healthcare and low carbon energy.
• A new powerful industrial strategy division should be established in the Treasury to ensure the new strategy is driven from the centre and embedded across government.
• A new independent expert body - The Office for Strategic Economic Management - should be created to monitor the new strategy. It should be created on the model of the Office for Budgetary Responsibility.

The Commission says the new strategy must have an ambitious plan to tackle our major regional imbalances. Its report argues that an industrial strategy should not try to do everything everywhere, but it should seek to do something for everywhere.

The Commission calls for a national framework within which all places will need their own plan to suit their needs. Decisions are best made by people close to the ground so the new strategy requires further and faster devolution to towns, cities and regions from Whitehall.

Dame Kate Barker, Chair of the Industrial Strategy Commission, said: “The UK’s people, places and industries have great strengths and untapped potential, but we must accept the reality that the economy also contains many long-established weaknesses. Industrial strategy needs to be embraced as a long-term plan to manage the economy strategically and embedded throughout government. If we get the new strategy right it can build on these strengths, tackle our weaknesses and above all have a positive, long-lasting impact on people’s everyday lives. This implies that sometimes it will be right to choose equity and long-term-gains over short-term efficiency.”

Dr Craig Berry, Deputy Director of SPERI at the University of Sheffield, added: “Industrial strategy isn’t just about supporting a small number of sectors. It should focus on big strategic challenges like decarbonisation and population ageing – and ultimately it should aim to material differences to people’s everyday lives. This will mean rethinking how government makes policies and chooses its investments. Cost-benefit analysis should apply to the real world, not just to a spreadsheet.”

Professor Andy Westwood, Professor of Government Practice at The University of Manchester, said: “The government has been keen to stress the importance of technical skills in the industrial strategy, but our track record in policy has been poor for many years. To create a step change in skills and productivity, we must look beyond ‘T Levels’, Institutes of Technology and other supply side reforms and make sure universities and colleges are better linked to wider objectives including sector strategies and tackling regional inequality. This will require careful consideration of how recent reforms in further and higher education can complement, rather than contradict, an effective industrial strategy.”

Pharmacy service will save NHS £517.6m, finds study

Tue, 08 Aug 2017 09:00:00 +0100

A scheme launched by the Department of Health in 2011 to help patients stick to their drug regimens has been so successful, that in its first five years, it will save NHS England £517.6m in the long-term, a team of health economists has found.

Lead researcher from The University of Manchester says – a free scheme where community pharmacists help patients take new medicines - has improved medicines adherence by 10%.

The study was conducted by experts at The Universities of Manchester, Nottingham, UCL and a Patient and Public Representative.

Even in the short term, say the team, the scheme –where pharmacists are paid £24.60 each time they look after a patient as part of NMS has saved the NHS £75.4m.

The team used self-reported adherence at 10 weeks, considered the minimum time required to demonstrate behavioural change in a sample of 503 patients.

She said “On the basis of the evidence we have gathered for this research, we strongly recommend that NMS should continue to be commissioned in the future.

“Our study suggests NMS increased patient medicine adherence compared with normal practice, which translated into increased health gain at reduced overall cost.

“This is a simple intervention which has been popular with community pharmacists and patients, and is transferable into most therapeutic areas.

“Some medicines, for example, can have early adverse effects but they subside over time such as anti-depressants.

“And we also believe these findings are likely to have applicability to other health care systems, including those based on insurance.”

From inception of the NMS to the end of August 2016, 3.59 million consultations have been claimed for with over 820 000 in the year 2015/16 – according to the researchers.

Of 11,495 community pharmacies in England, 91.2% had delivered the NMS to at least one patient between November 2011 and January 2014, according to NHS Business Services Authority.

She added: “These are significant benefits for two reasons because so many patients have experienced the service.

“We also think our figures are probably on the conservative side given probable patient recruitment bias, use of self-report of adherence, and the assumption that all the patients in the intervention arm actually received the NMS.”

Non-adherence is common in diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease where only 33% of patients continue their drugs after 10 weeks. In schizophrenia the figure is 52%, asthma: 67%; and diabetes 78%.

According to previous research, the costs to NHS England of non-adherence is over £930 million per year in just five diseases: asthma, type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol/coronary heart disease, hypertension and schizophrenia.

To tackle the problem –which causes reduced quality of life, increased hospitalisations and premature deaths - the Department of Health launched the service six years ago.

The open access paper, ',' was published in PharmacoEconomics. doi: 10.1007/s40273-017-0554-9

UK needs an industrial strategy with a positive vision for our future

Mon, 10 Jul 2017 09:00:00 +0100

A major new report published today by the Industrial Strategy Commission says that the UK has a compelling need to introduce a framework for strategic economic management.

Laying the Foundations is the first major report from the Industrial Strategy Commission, an independent commission established by the Sheffield Political Economy Research Institute (SPERI) and Policy@91ֱ��, chaired by Dame Kate Barker. The report outlines the key foundations for a successful long-term industrial strategy.

The Commission’s report argues that across the private and public sector and the political spectrum there is strong support for a new ambitious strategy. The government must grasp the opportunity this consensus presents. The report outlines the serious weaknesses affecting the UK economy – and the significant opportunities. A new strategy will enable public and private sector to work together to invest in the UK’s people, places and industries and achieve greater future prosperity.

The foundations include an independent institution to monitor policy outcomes and a focus on creating opportunities for growth in areas other than London and South East England.

But, the report warns that a new strategy will only be a success if it is embedded throughout the public sector and secures buy-in from the private sector, if it has sound foundations and offers a positive vision for the future.

Key points

• As it prepares a new strategy, the government must think about industrial strategy as strategic economic management. It involves the long-term co-ordination of all interactions between public and private sectors. It should become the organising framework for UK supply-side economic policy.

• Industrial strategy is not about the government handing out money to chosen businesses or sectors. The state’s role is to create the conditions for long-term investments in productive and innovative business activity, ensuring the economy is geared towards meeting key national challenges.

• The Commission has identified seven themes that the Government must ensure are the foundations of a new industrial strategy. They are: a long-term set of institutions to determine, implement and monitor a new strategy; recognition of the importance of place and the need to increase growth and productivity everywhere; a joined-up approach to science, research and innovation; a strong competition regime; an increased investment rate; a comprehensive effort to improve skills, and effective use of the state’s purchasing and regulating power.

• The new strategy must be informed by a positive vision of a future destination for the UK. This can be achieved by reframing the challenges the country faces as strategic goals to be met. These goals are: decarbonisation of the energy economy; ensuring adequate investment in infrastructure; developing a sustainable health and social care system; unlocking long-term investment; supporting high-value industries in building export capacity, and enabling growth in all parts of the UK.

"Summer 2017 is a critical moment for the UK economy," said Dame Kate Barker, Chair of the Industrial Strategy Commission. "The recent election has resulted in political fragility against a backdrop of growing economic concerns following the EU referendum. Now, more than ever, we need long-term strategic economic management to enable the UK to respond to current challenges and invest in our people, places and industries to achieve greater future prosperity."

"This is what industrial strategy is and how it should be thought about by the government as it prepares its new strategy. This will only be successful if it has the correct foundations and offers a positive vision for our country’s future. This report sets out how that can be achieved."

"With the right foundations and a positive vision, industrial strategy offers the potential to create huge wealth and greater prosperity, and achieve outcomes that will benefit current and future generations," said Dr Craig Berry, Deputy Director of SPERI and one of the Commissioners. "For this to be possible, our first and most important conclusion is that the UK needs a new institutional framework that can deliver a new strategy."

"Fresh thinking is also needed about the importance of place, how public interventions should be assessed, the funding of research and development, how to increase investment throughout the economy and the role of the government in procurement."

George Osborne appointed as Honorary Professor of Economics

Thu, 29 Jun 2017 11:02:30 +0100

The University of Manchester has appointed chairman of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership and former Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, as Honorary Professor of .

As Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr Osborne was very supportive of Greater 91ֱ�� and the University, particularly in supporting and as important scientific centres for translating cutting-edge discovery into economic growth.

This support formed part of the concept of the Northern Powerhouse which he developed to help city regions across the North of England work together to deliver better connectivity and increased productivity.

Since leaving government, Mr Osborne has remained committed to this idea as chair of , the membership of which includes the University’s President and Vice-Chancellor, Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell.

This business-led body was launched in September 2016 and is formed of leaders from businesses, civic society and other groups devoted to increasing the contribution to the UK economy from the North. It produces original research, encourages innovative thinking and hosts thought-provoking events in order to develop new policy ideas to influence government.

His commitment to the North will be extended in his new role as an honorary professor as he advises University leaders on how 91ֱ�� can play an even greater part in the Northern Powerhouse agenda. He will be sharing his knowledge with staff and students by giving lectures, masterclasses and conducting informal visits, and he has indicated his strong interest in continuing to support graphene and related research and applications.

He said: “I am bowled over by this honour. The University of Manchester was at the centre of so many things I tried to achieve as Chancellor, from the promotion of new science to the building of the links between this country and countries like China. It is also one of the jewels in the crown of the Northern Powerhouse.

“I remain completely committed to that idea that together the different communities in the North can work together so that the whole is greater than the parts - and I believe more strongly than I ever did that the entire county, including our capital, would benefit from a stronger North. That's why I remain closely involved as chair of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership - and look forward to playing a part in the life of The University of Manchester.”

Mr Osborne joins other visiting professors at the University, including and , who are able to share unparalleled experience of economics, and local and national government to bring perspective on how these factors are influencing the development of the Northern Powerhouse project.

, President and Vice-Chancellor of The University of Manchester said: “George’s decision to accept our offer of an honorary professorship is very exciting news for the University. He has been a leader at the top level of UK and world economic policy for many years and showed the vision to recognise the enormous economic and scientific potential of graphene to the UK.

“Our students and staff will benefit from all of this experience and he will be invaluable in helping the University to support the growth of our city and region.”

Mr Osborne will take up the unpaid role in July 2017.

GPs not dissatisfied with performance related pay, study finds

Thu, 08 Dec 2016 11:31:48 +0000

Linking GPs’ pay to their performance has no discernible effect on their job satisfaction, a University of Manchester study of almost 2,000 UK doctors over a four-year period has found.

Based on a belief that income is a key motivating factor, many countries have introduced performance related pay for GPs. In the UK this is known as the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF).

There have been concerns that this payment method can have adverse effects on GP morale and the UK scheme has been watered-down and may be withdrawn. But there has been no research to back up this claim. The new findings provide evidence that performance related pay does not reduce morale.

A linked blog by the study authors is available from .

For the first time the University of Manchester study links levels of payment through the QOF to the GP Worklife Survey (also carried out by 91ֱ��) at three time points – 2004 before the QOF was introduced, 2005 and 2008.

This group comprised 1,920 GPs who were assessed on overall satisfaction and 12 other measures including hours of work and levels of autonomy, recognition and responsibility.

, from the University’s , led the study. He said: “Policy makers have experimented with a number of ways to prevent GPs leaving their jobs, but dropping the link between pay and performance is not one that will work.”

The time-frame covered a point (2004) when GP satisfaction was very low, and the introduction of performance-related pay was one measure that tried to address this. The findings from the year after introduction and four years later in 2008, showed satisfaction had improved across the board and was not related to the proportion of income at risk.

Further changes to QOF were made in 2013, outside of this study period, which reduced the exposure of GPs to performance related pay and returned more to an older model of payment per patient.

Maintaining high satisfaction is an important issue, not just for retaining GPs, but also for ensuring the best possible quality of care is provided.

The authors of the study believe that their findings have important implications for further changes to the source of GP income. “Policymakers should not believe that dropping performance-related pay for GPs will increase their satisfaction,” Dr Allen said.

The paper, ‘’ was published in the journal Social Science & Medicine. DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2016.11.028

EU Referendum: untangling the results

Wed, 22 Jun 2016 15:32:20 +0100

In the event of a close result on Friday, the following experts are available to speak to the media about the constitutional, political and economic implications on Britain.

, Professor of Economics at The University of Manchester, said: “Obviously there's uncertainty about what would happen if there were to be a Leave vote, but the risks to the economy are obvious and large.“Many have spoken out about the likely economic damage including 12 Nobel Prize winners, all the important institutions from the International Monetary Fund to the Institute for Fiscal Studies, and hundreds of individual economists in universities, finance and business.

“All but a handful of economists expect there would quickly be a drop in the pound, higher prices for food and other imports, and more expensive holidays. Beyond that there is a chance of a recession with job losses and lower investment. Share prices would fall, which is bad for pensioners. The uncertainty about what access British business would have to the rest of the EU would last for a long period and could seriously damage the economy.

“The benefits 'Leave' campaigners claim for the economy border on the delusional; they make assumptions our trading partners like the US have already stated are untrue. And there are further untruths such as the entirely false claim about how much the UK pays into the EU."

Professor Coyle is a leading UK economist, former vice-chair of the BBC Trust and former Economics Editor at The Independent. She joined the University of Manchester in September 2014.

Constitutional and political implications

, Professor of Government at The University of Manchester said: “Whatever the outcome (unless it’s a much more decisive ‘remain’ than polls are suggesting) David Cameron will not be PM for much longer and there will be a Tory leadership contest. If there is – Boris will probably win but (rather like Corbyn) be leading a Parliamentary party whose majority is opposed to him on a central issue.

“If it’s ‘out’ the legal complications of withdrawal are going to be immense – and will likely trigger huge political tides in the rest of the EU.

“Nor is it clear what an 'out' vote actually means: leave EU but stay in The European Economic Area? Leave both? I'm not sure even ‘Leave’ agree what they’re after but suspect it will be more completely ‘out’ than not.”

Professor Talbot says that if Friday results in Brexit, which is widely expected to trigger another Scottish referendum, it could initiate an independence vote before UK/EU has even finished ‘leave’ negotiations (under Section 50 – 24 months).

“If we remain in the EU” continues Professor Talbot, “then David Cameron may last a little longer but I suspect Boris Johnson will be leader before long. He will switch to a ‘the people have decided and I accept their verdict’ line but to satisfy the Tory grass-roots, will pledge yet another renegotiation of our membership.”

Colin Talbot is a Professor of Government, a former Specialist Advisor to the House of Commons Treasury Select Committee and the Public Administration Select Committee and has appeared as expert witness many times in Parliament, the Scottish Parliament and NI Assembly.

But , a professor of politics at The University of Manchester whose interest lies in European affairs, he thinks the referendum “has been a huge mistake and a political miscalculation.”

He said: “Whatever the result on Friday, one thing is clear: the British people are today no better informed on the EU that they were a year ago. The divisions over Europe among the British political elites and the public at large will not heal on Friday; they will be further entrenched.

“If Remain wins, it won’t do so because people’s perceptions on the EU have changed towards a more constructive attitude to our European partners. This was very much a ‘project fear’ that will perpetuate public distrust toward the EU.

“If Leave wins, Britain is heading towards an economic disaster and a political crisis. Divorce proceedings may start on Friday, but the UK’s decoupling from the EU is likely to spill into the next Parliament.”

Dimitris Papadimitriou is a Professor of Politics, his interest lies in European affairs, particularly contemporary Greek politics and the European Union's relations with Eastern Europe. He is Director of the 91ֱ�� Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence (JMCE), the Co-Convenor of the ECPR Standing Group on Southeast Europe and the Co-Editor of the book series on European Policy and Contemporary Greece. An experienced media commentator, his analysis was regularly heard in the media during the recent Eurozone crises.

Deal to create world-class health innovation

Wed, 02 Sep 2015 16:37:01 +0100

Leaders across healthcare research, academia and industry have today, Wednesday 2 September, come together to launch a unique partnership.

Health Innovation 91ֱ�� will speed up the discovery, development and delivery of innovative solutions to help improve the health of the almost three million people in Greater 91ֱ��, and beyond.

The new approach, which is the latest landmark in the region’s devolution of health and social care, builds on the existing expertise and assets in the area to address a nationwide issue of delays between research innovation and health and economic benefits being realised on the ground.

It will harness the partner organisations’ collective expertise to develop the infrastructure needed for clinical trials and health informatics.

The partnerships aims and ambitions are enshrined in a Memorandum of Understanding which will be signed today by key partners from across the system including , , , and .

Health priorities in Greater 91ֱ�� include cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, drug and alcohol misuse and the high prevalence of obesity among adults and children.

The early priorities identified for Health Innovation 91ֱ�� are:

Build on groundbreaking work on integrated health data systems to extend it to the whole of Greater 91ֱ��. This will enable better care (by providing more joined-up information to GPs and hospitals) and potentially help identify new ways of treating diseases.
Improve the ability to use personalised medicine, with more targeted treatments for those who will benefit most from them. For example, this could involve developing new medicines to treat specific groups of patients or targeting existing treatments more effectively.
Enhance the testing of new medicines or treatments to enable those with the biggest positive impact to be identified and introduced into routine clinical practice across the whole of Greater 91ֱ�� as quickly as possible, maximising the patient benefits.

These priorities will be underpinned by engagement with cutting-edge businesses to ensure effective collaborations which will help make Greater 91ֱ�� a magnet for innovative life science companies.

The partnership will also be able to have new innovations tested and validated for use across all NHS sites in the region – and then share data, learning and costs to improve diagnosis and ensure that patients get the most appropriate treatment. This will then have an impact on the region’s industry from research and development through to manufacturing.

Clive Morris, Director of Health Innovation 91ֱ��, said: “Greater 91ֱ�� already benefits from a strong history of research and innovation in health. It is an important life sciences cluster and an eco-system with significant growth potential.

“However, we know that it can take many years for a new innovation to reach routine adoption across the NHS, and that we don’t leverage our skills and capabilities across the whole of the region and across different diseases.

“Our ambition is to solve this by harnessing and building on the collective expertise we have, and working together to develop the very best approaches to address the health needs of Greater 91ֱ��. By working collectively across healthcare providers, academia and industry – more closely than ever before – we can see the potential to accelerate the discovery and development of new innovations and transform the health of our population.”

Councillor Cliff Morris, lead on health for (GMCA), said: “This approach complements and supports our devolution objectives and ambitions around integrated health and social care – allowing people to have more control of their own health – while taking pressure off hospitals and boosting work in the community.”

Sir Richard Leese, lead on growth for GMCA, said: “All these developments are based on firm foundations. Greater 91ֱ�� is already recognised as being in the top three UK life science clusters with almost 11,500 people working in pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical technology businesses.

“World-class strengths include a strong research-led university base, six major teaching hospitals, a successful record of clinical trials, rich history of innovation and a wide industrial base. It also has the only accredited Academic Health Science Centre in the UK outside the South East, which is a powerful platform to widen Greater 91ֱ��’s business base and growth.”

Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell, President and Vice-Chancellor of The University of Manchester, said: “This partnership will allow new medical discoveries by University of Manchester researchers to have patient benefit much faster, something which is of critical importance to the major health challenges we face as a city. We already work closely with our NHS and industry partners, but HIM means that ideas can move much more quickly from the lab to having an impact on people in Greater 91ֱ��, and ultimately around the world.”

NHS chief executive Simon Stevens said: "91ֱ�� has a proud history of world-leading breakthroughs in medicine and science and this approach will accelerate future gains for patients, hospitals, universities and employers across the region."

City regions: bigger is better?

Wed, 02 Sep 2015 16:01:38 +0100

Thirty-four key actors in the North West were interviewed
The paper identifies the factors which explain Greater 91ֱ��’s prominence in national policy debates

Research presented to the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) Annual International Conference today looks at the argument for backing larger city regions in the north.

In seeking to develop a credible intellectual and political case for a Greater 91ֱ�� city region, based on a bigger is better argument, authorities in Greater 91ֱ�� have been careful in choosing their comparators in order to make their case, argues new research presented to and released by the Royal Geographical Society today.

Other cities such as Bristol and smaller urban areas like Milton Keynes, Cambridge and Warrington have actually experienced higher levels of economic growth on many indicators and may actually be better positioned to take forward the government’s growth agenda than some of the larger cities, , of The University of Manchester, was telling the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) Annual International Conference.

The research was completed by Professor Haughton, and , of The University of Manchester. Thirty-four key actors in the North West were interviewed about attempts to develop new geographies to cover 91ֱ��, Liverpool, and their surrounding areas.

The paper identifies the factors which explain Greater 91ֱ��’s prominence in national policy debates and its longstanding status as a model for other city regions: strong and stable local political leadership; pragmatism in its dealings with central government; and a flexible approach to drawing in supporting partners. However, the paper also argues that 91ֱ��’s political leaders have been astute in developing a powerful intellectual case, based on agglomeration economics, which has helped secure the support of successive governments.

This case, the paper argues, is a potent one, but misplaced. “The argument largely ignores the inconvenient fact that some of England’s highest economic growth rates are actually in medium-sized cities. It is similarly quiet about the government’s continuing focus on public investment in London, and instead makes the case for 91ֱ�� getting similar preferential treatment. But government funding is not zero-sum. If some areas get more, others get less”.

“The case for a Greater 91ֱ�� city region seems to rest on the assumption that areas close to 91ֱ�� will benefit from the greater growth and tax revenue the city will supposedly generate as a consequence of preferential government investment, for instance in infrastructure. But we need to keep a careful eye on other potential growth areas outside Greater 91ֱ��, such as Warrington and Chester, to make sure they are not disadvantaged. Similarly, we should be concerned about whether struggling smaller northern towns and cities become further disadvantaged as public investment is focused elsewhere. Are they to be left to hope for trickle-down? It could be a long wait if so,” said Professor Haughton.

Resources needed for the seven day NHS services may be better spent

Mon, 01 Jun 2015 10:45:00 +0100

The NHS could achieve up to twice as much with the resources that the Government plans to spend introducing a full seven day service in the NHS in England, according to new research from The University of Manchester.

Health economists, working with colleagues at the University of York, have used official data to suggest an extra 5,353 deaths each year occur when people are admitted to hospital at the weekend rather than mid-week, but that the £1.43 billion cost of removing this risk would be better spent on other priorities.

Despite a seven day health service being a major priority, few studies have analysed the costs and benefits of implementing this provision fully. It is known that compared to midweek emergency admissions, patients who are hospitalised on a Saturday are 11% more likely to die and 16% more likely to die when admitted on a Sunday.

Part of the reason is thought to be the reduced availability of senior clinical staff at weekends.

, from The University of Manchester’s led the study. He said: “Our estimates show the cost of implementing seven day services in this part of the NHS could be more than double what the official guidance recommends.

“These are likely to be over-estimates. It is highly unlikely that all additional risk to patients would be eliminated and moving consultants and other resources from some days may just move the problem to a different point in the week. Recruiting and training more senior staff will add to costs significantly.”

The estimates were based on mortality figures within 30 days of admission between 1 April 2010 and 31 March 2011. Cost estimates were benchmarked against the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) standard, which recommends a maximum spend of £20,000 per quality-adjusted life year gained by making a change to a service.

Quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) are a measure of the quality and quantity of life gained which are used to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of healthcare interventions. The most which could be spent under NICE guidelines to gain the estimated 36,539 QALYs would be £831m, almost half the amount that the NHS has estimated that seven day services will cost to implement.

The researchers suggest that more work needs to be done to identify smaller scale changes that might be cost-effective. For example, the additional weekend risk for renal failure is 37%, but for pneumonia it is zero.

, the lead author, said: “Funders of healthcare need to make decisions as to where money goes so that it can do most good. The figures we’ve produced in this research would indicate that a blanket approach to removing the risk of weekends might not be the most effective way for the NHS to spend almost £1.5 billion.”

The paper, ‘’ appeared in the journal Health Economics.

The research was funded by The National Institute for Health Research Health Services and Delivery Research (NIHR HS&DR) programme (project number 12/128/48). The views and opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the HS&DR programme, NIHR, NHS or the Department of Health.

Watch the video below for more on how Professor Sutton and his team work on NHS budgets.

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1. The National Institute for Health Research Health Services and Delivery Research (NIHR HS&DR) Programme was established to fund a broad range of research. It builds on the strengths and contributions of two NIHR research programmes: the Health Services Research (HSR) programme and the Service Delivery and Organisation (SDO) programme, which merged in January 2012. The programme aims to produce rigorous and relevant evidence on the quality, access and organisation of health services, including costs and outcomes. The programme will enhance the strategic focus on research that matters to the NHS. The HS&DR Programme is funded by the NIHR with specific contributions from the CSO in Scotland, NISCHR in Wales and the HSC R&D Division, Public Health Agency in Northern Ireland.

2. The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) is funded by the Department of Health to improve the health and wealth of the nation through research. Since its establishment in April 2006, the NIHR has transformed research in the NHS. It has increased the volume of applied health research for the benefit of patients and the public, driven faster translation of basic science discoveries into tangible benefits for patients and the economy, and developed and supported the people who conduct and contribute to applied health research. The NIHR plays a key role in the Government’s strategy for economic growth, attracting investment by the life-sciences industries through its world-class infrastructure for health research. Together, the NIHR people, programmes, centres of excellence and systems represent the most integrated health research system in the world. For further information, visit the NIHR website ().

This article presents independent research funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). The views expressed are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the NHS, the NIHR or the Department of Health.

EXPERT COMMENTARY: Deflation - Professor Diane Coyle

Tue, 19 May 2015 13:05:00 +0100

Professor Coyle, Professor of Economics at 91ֱ��, responds to news that the UK Consumer Prices Index (CPI) inflation turned negative for the first time in over 50 years

The Office for National Statistics has today confirmed that the UK Consumer Prices Index (CPI) inflation turned negative, in April, for the first time since 1960.

Professor Diane Coyle, Professor of Economics at The University of Manchester, is available for interview on deflation, whether we are experiencing it and what it means for the UK.

Professor Coyle said: "It is much too early to see a small decline in the Consumer Price Index as a worrying sign of deflation. Other economic indicators don't show any sign of this occurring.

"The time to get worried about deflation is if prices fall month after month to the point that people start to postpone purchases because they expect to pay less in future, so the economy as a whole slows down.

"The published figures for inflation are largely showing the effect of the decline in oil prices passing through to energy and transport costs. Other measures - such as the Retail Prices Index and the prices charged for goods as they leave the factory - are increasing year on year."

Professor Coyle is a leading UK economist, former vice-chair of the BBC Trust and former Economics Editor at The Independent. She joined the University of Manchester in September 2014.

Notes for editors

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Deborah Linton
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Northern brains undervalued at £8.75 per head, say researchers

Mon, 18 May 2015 16:01:00 +0100

University of Manchester researchers have shown that government spending on research in ‘the Northern Powerhouse’ is increasing at only a third of the rate of that in the south.

In a letter published in the Lancet, the researchers use Office for National Statistics data to show that per head and adjusted for inflation, the population in London, the east and south-east received an increase of £3.02 per person in government funding for research between 2012 and 2013, compared with a rise of only 99p in the north west and north east.

This shows that the gap in investment is growing and the figure now stands at £8.75 per person in the north and £60.18 in the south east, London and east. This appears to be out of tune with the Chancellor’s vision announced in 2014 to “make the cities of the north a powerhouse for our economy again – with new transport and science and powerful city governance.”

Lead researcher, from the University’s in said: “Our work identified a large and growing disparity in funds spent on research in two different parts of the UK. We drew attention to the contrast between the south-east and the north of England because of the high profile that the latter region has had recently, for example with the plans for devolution in Greater 91ֱ��.

“A complete analysis of research spending across different UK regions was not undertaken. Our main aim is to draw attention to the fact that the Office for National Statistics data at least allows such comparisons to be made. 91ֱ�� of the links between research, innovation, better jobs and improving population health will be assisted by this ONS data, and this will directly help our own research in the Centre for Epidemiology.”

, Director of the Centre for Epidemiology at The University of Manchester, said: “The gap between funding is already large but these figures show it is also growing. In the North, we already have some of the greatest inequalities in health outcomes. If the government wants to build the economy and reduce inequalities in the North then it needs work to bring parity to this situation and encourage innovation.”

The figures were calculated by taking the total funding in 2012 and 2013 and dividing this by the total population of the regions assessed. Figures were adjusted for inflation.

Dr Verma said: “Targeted funding for innovation has been shown to drive strategic objectives. There’s currently a feedback loop in operation in England where more funding for the south drives ever greater increases. If the government really wants to push the idea of a Northern Powerhouse, addressing the large and growing disparity in funding will make a difference across all sectors.”

The letter: ‘, appeared in the Lancet.

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‘Segregated’ Britain more diverse and unequal than thought

Wed, 13 May 2015 10:00:00 +0100

New book from The University of Manchester's Centre on the Dynamics of Ethnicity publishes research which tackles misconceptions around ethnically diverse Britain

Fifty years on from the first Race Relations Act, new research from The University of Manchester and UCL finds that so-called ‘segregated’ Britain is both more diverse - and home to far wider inequalities – than originally thought.

A review of the last three population censuses suggests that ethnic inequalities in health, employment and housing remain prevalent in British communities and that discrimination continues to impede certain ethnic minority groups from realising their ambitions of good jobs and decent housing.

But it points to some of the biggest inequalities being found in more affluent areas and not necessarily the least deprived. The research also challenges the idea that Britain is becoming more segregated, presenting evidence that those areas often labelled as ‘segregated’ are, in fact, the most diverse.

The findings of Prof Ludi Simpson, Professor of Population Studies at the Centre on Dynamics of Ethnicity (CoDE) at The University of Manchester, and his co-editor Dr Stephen Jivraj, lecturer in Population Health at UCL and also part of CoDE, are published in a new book, Ethnic identity and inequalities in Britain (Policy Press, 2015), which challenges misconceptions around ethnically diverse Britain.

Prof Simpson said: “Our findings about the nature of inequality in British neighbourhoods and the perception of the way ethnic minorities live in supposed segregation are challenged in this new book. Despite improvements in health, employment and housing of ethnic minority groups in the last 20 years, clear disadvantage persists when compared with the average experience of the White British group and this is particularly marked in some of the less deprived areas.

“The research also points to restructures of the housing and labour markets that have failed to improve living standards for ethnic minority populations who, instead, have been disproportionately disadvantaged.”

One of the most significant findings is that rather than creating segregated communities, diversity is breeding diversity in Britain, with the ethnic group category ‘Other’ projected to soon become the biggest minority in many local authorities.

The inequalities in employment that many ethnic groups face are greater in less deprived places. This is particularly the case for Bangladeshi and Pakistani groups.

The CoDE publication also explains how difficulties persist for members of ethnic minority groups, even when they move on from the most deprived neighbourhoods that have traditionally housed new immigrants.

Dr Jivraj said: “Ethnic minorities who have managed to overcome barriers to secure housing in better-off neighbourhoods may well feel worse off than those that remain in the most deprived neighbourhoods. There is greater inequality in unemployment rates in the better-off neighbourhoods.

“Ethnic minorities are more likely to be unemployed or not working wherever they live, partly because of educational achievement, but also because of sectors of the economy where they have typically found work and the racial and religious discrimination they faced in all areas of life.”

The book concludes that policy now needs to go beyond the type of legislation that outlaws discriminatory practices to ensure that third and fourth generations of ethnic minorities do not continue to face social inequalities.

Notes for editors

Ethnic identity and inequalities in Britain: The dynamics of diversity is published by Policy Press on May 13, 2015, price £19.99 It can be ordered from the .

Read more about CoDE at The University of Manchester .

To interview the co-editors or for a review copy, please contact:

Deborah Linton
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Economists count true business costs of climate change

Thu, 19 Mar 2015 09:00:00 +0000

Businesses must consider the true financial costs of climate change in order to better prepare for the future, according to the authors of a new climate change adaptation report prepared for one of the country’s largest social housing providers.

As part of an Innovate UK project led by the Global Climate Adaptation Partnership (GCAP) with Daniel Black & Associates (db+a), researchers at The University of Manchester and the University of Bath mapped key risk factors from climate change for leading housing and care and support services provide Aster Group.

From countering the effects of extreme winter weather, and potential damage to business property through flooding or subsidence, to summer heat waves and the risks in particular to elderly occupants of over-heating, researchers used economic forecasting and online spatial mapping techniques to pinpoint detailed cost implications were no actions to be taken.

Projecting forward under different scenarios, their findings suggest that costs from extreme weather events could increase by a factor of 10 with climate change over the next 35 years. As such, they suggest targeted investments now would make significant financial savings in the future.

The report will be used to inform business planning for Aster, but has implications across other sectors too. As the researchers suggest, whereas some organisations have made provisions to adapt to climate change many others, including many smaller organisations, still have not.

Their report highlights both the economic costs to an organisation in repairing physical damage which may arise, but also some of the broader economic costs, including the impact of stress and mental health to occupants, as well as potential reputational damage.

Lead economist on the project from the University of Bath, Dr Alistair Hunt, explained: “Our study highlighted key climate change risk factors over the next 30-40 years for one specific organisation, but our findings and the underlying methodology used are applicable across the sector and for the wider business community.

“From current projections we know that climate change will pose a serious challenge by 2040 for many organisations. Putting a true economic cost on these risks can act as a catalyst to taking action today in order to help organisations better prepare for the future.”

Adam Hackett, Aster Group head of sustainability and safety, said: “The study has helped us understand the potential impact on our properties as weather and climatic conditions in this country continue to evolve.

“It’s vital that we’re able to plan for those future changes so we can ensure we’re in the best possible to position to respond to any challenges we may face.”

Dr Thomas E Downing, CEO at GCAP added: "We pioneered the application of process modelling to Aster Group's business functions and came up with practical strategies and measures. We look forward to continuing with Aster in putting innovative solutions in place across their strategic and operational teams."

Notes for editors

To request a copy of the final report, please email info@db-associates.co.uk.

The Aster Group is an ethical social enterprise providing services to over 75,000 customers, including homes for rent or purchase, care and support and property maintenance.

The University of Bath is one of the UK's leading universities both in terms of research and our reputation for excellence in teaching, learning and graduate prospects. In the REF 2014 research assessment 87 per cent of our research was defined as ‘world-leading’ or ‘internationally excellent’.

The University of Manchester’s Centre for Urban Resilience and Energy (CURE) focuses on producing research outputs to support urban areas in responding to the changing climate.

GCAP is a specialist company that provides consulting, training and knowledge management services for climate adaptation in the UK and globally.

Daniel Black & Associates (db+a) is a consultancy that specialises in developing and providing innovative new ways of enabling healthy and resilient urban environments.

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Andy Dunne
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Kath Paddison
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£10bn GP incentive scheme has no impact on premature death

Thu, 05 Mar 2015 13:26:00 +0000

A study conducted at The University of Manchester’s Health eResearch Centre found that there was no link between a £10 billion pay-for-performance incentive scheme aimed at GP’s and a reduction in premature deaths.

The Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF), was first introduced in 2004 and links up to 25% of a GP’s income to their performance in over 100 quality indicators.

Many of these indicators cover the most common diseases including heart disease, diabetes and cancer and are in place to ensure that the proper preventative care is delivered to patients.

The researchers combined anonymous information from the Office of National Statistics and the Health and Social Care Information Centre and were able to cover almost the entire population of England including 99% of patients registered with a GP surgery. They analysed data from 2007 to 2012.

The team, led by applied a complex data-analysis method that was able to focus-in on the available information and analyse the relationship between specific GP surgeries and the local populations they serve.

They found that there was no corresponding drop in premature mortality for the surgeries that scored high on performance. The researchers also found that where there was an increase in a GP’s performance against the Framework that there was no equivalent reduction in the rate of premature death.

Dr Kontopantelis is based at the University’s £18 million which is funded by an MRC-led consortium of universities across the North of England. He said: “While we accept that there may be longer term benefits of the scheme which we cannot yet measure it appears that the Quality and Outcomes Framework has failed to reduce mortality rates since 2007. This suggests that it has fallen far short of previous estimates of success.

By far the greatest influence on premature mortality is poverty followed by geographical location: mortality rates in urban areas are higher than mortality rates in rural ones. Both of these factors are known to have an effect on health, but the scale of their impact on premature mortality over time, particularly in the case of deprivation was greater than expected.

Dr Kontopantelis added: “If this incentive scheme and others like it around the world are to continue, more attention needs to be paid to ensure that the performance indicators are more closely aligned to evidence for mortality reduction.”

The study, ‘,’ appeared in the British Medical Journal.

Find out more about the work of the Health eResearch Centre in this video:

Notes for editors

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Jamie Brown
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Email: jamie.brown@manchester.ac.uk

Fungal disease deaths: just ‘$30 a person’ for global AIDS reduction

Tue, 24 Feb 2015 10:21:00 +0000

Early detection and treatment of fungal meningitis and pneumonia can save hundreds of thousands of lives, for a cost of 'only $30' per HIV patient, a conference convened by a University of Manchester academic has concluded.

At the event in Seattle, USA, policy makers, doctors and researchers from around the world called for immediate action on fungal infections to save lives across the world. They were speaking at the world's first stakeholder meeting on fungal diseases, hosted by (Global Action Fund for Fungal Infections) and convened by The University of Manchester’s Professor David Denning, GAFFI’s president

Currently about 1,500,000 people die of AIDS and its complications each year. Probably 25-33% die of fungal infections, although exactly how many is not clear because of a lack of access to effective diagnostic tests. Over 400,000 are thought to die of aspergillosis complicating TB, yet diagnostics are not available in many countries.

GAFFI President and Professor of Infectious Diseases in Global Health at The University of Manchester, , convened the meeting in Seattle. He commented: “The toll due to fungal diseases is over 1 billion people, yet these diseases are poorly represented by most global health organisations and national public health bodies. Burdens vary by geography, country, co-infections, hospital hygiene and agricultural practices. Even though the global antifungal pharmaceutical market is about $8 billion and growing at 2-3% annually, there are a limited number of useful antifungals.”

Over 60 experts from major health agencies, including the World Health Organization, UNAIDS, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Office for Global AIDS Coordination (PEPFAR), Centers for Disease Control –– and representatives from over 30 countries –– gathered to align efforts to improve management of fungal infections.

Participants highlighted the lack of diagnostics and access to treatments, including the oldest antifungal drugs, that are major hurdles to improvements in many developing countries.

A new and preliminary economic model to analyse costs associated with treatment and care of fungal infections in Africa was introduced at the meeting. The model indicated that early screening and treatment, before meningitis or pneumonia develop, is cost effective and could save patient lives. If implemented, this regimen could potentially save $500 million and up to 140,000 lives annually, compared with later treatment.

TB is second only to HIV/AIDS as the greatest killer worldwide due to a single infectious agent. A common complication of TB is ‘chronic pulmonary aspergillosis,’ a lung fungal disease that mimics TB, and needs to be treated with antifungal drugs.

Diagnosis requires a simple antibody test, which is not available in many countries, especially in Africa. Incorrect diagnosis and treatment is therefore a common occurrence. An estimated 1,200,000 people suffer from this complication of TB, and most are never diagnosed or treated. GAFFI recently petitioned the WHO to make the key oral drug for this infection, itraconazole, an Essential Medicine.

Professor Denning continued: “Discussions covered many of the gritty problems facing patients unlucky enough to develop a serious fungal infection: from lack of knowledge amongst doctors, slow or non-existent diagnostics, to costly or unavailable generic antifungals. The time for action and alignment among AIDS and TB policy makers is now.”

Stakeholders jointly committed more action, collaboration and serious attention to the topic. “More should be done to reduce deaths,” Dr Swarup Sarkar from UNAIDS said during his presentation on the economic and AIDS deaths modelling. He continued: “Many people living with HIV are starting antiretroviral treatment too late and die prematurely as opportunistic infections take hold. This can be prevented if efforts are urgently scaled up to ensure the timely diagnosis of HIV as well as early screening and treatment of opportunistic infections.”

Economic Impact award for SEAES team

Wed, 28 Jan 2015 16:51:00 +0000

The work of a team from SEAES has been recognised, after they won an impact award for developing new instruments for monitoring drinking water and emissions of gas from the ground.

Dr Steve Boult and colleagues were awarded the economic impact prize at the NERC awards for achieving exceptional economic benefit. The £10k prize money will be used to fund a water quality demonstration project in a developing country.

Spin-out company Salamander licensed the products to Siemens and Ion Science, who between them have generated royalties equivalent to £7m in sales over the past five years.

Their water products, are used by all major UK water service providers, and their gas product is stimulating growth in the market for monitoring greenhouse gases from fossil fuel extraction, such as shale gas and coal-bed methane.

Since its launch, Salamander has employed 14 University of Manchester graduates, as well as generating further jobs and investment elsewhere both in the UK and internationally.

Dr Boult said: “This is an exciting time for the whole team. The Impact Award money will be used to run a water quality management demonstration project with Save The Children deploying Chloroclam to monitor the effectiveness of drinking water disinfection in developing countries with less, and occasionally, during crises, no infrastructure.”

Youngest children and poorer households worst hit by Coalition's selective cuts

Tue, 27 Jan 2015 07:00:00 +0000

Major new report, entitled 'Social Policy in a Cold Climate', finds it is the poor, not the rich, who have carried the burden of austerity.

Poorer groups have been worst affected by changes to direct taxes, benefits and tax credits despite the Coalition’s promise that the rich would carry the burden of austerity, according to a major new report led by Professor Ruth Lupton, of the University of Manchester, with LSE and the University of York. As a result, poverty has been increasing and will get worse in the next five years.

The report also reveals that families with young children have been hit harder than any other household type under the Coalition’s cuts despite early rhetoric highlighting the importance of the “foundation years”. Real spending per child on early education, childcare and Sure Start services fell by a quarter between 2009-10 and 2012-13 and tax-benefit reforms hit families with children under five harder than any other household type.

The authors acknowledge that the Coalition faced a high level of debt and current budget deficit following the global financial crisis. In response it made some strategic choices: not to cut the NHS (in cash, though not in need terms) nor schools; to increase spending on pensions; to raise the income tax threshold and to cut the top rate of tax.

Its tax and benefit decisions meant that cuts to benefits and tax credits that hit low income families hardest were offset by tax reductions for better-off households and made no impact on the deficit. Meanwhile its choices to protect very large areas of public spending meant that its austerity programme was more limited in practice than its rhetoric suggested, and that austerity measures were concentrated on particular policy areas. Year-on-year public spending has dropped less than 3 per cent, but cuts of around a third have been made to ‘unprotected’ services, including those for pre-school children under five, vulnerable and older adults needing local authority social care. In practice, people with health and care needs and children moving from pre-school to university frequently cross the boundary between protected and unprotected services. Even ‘protected’ areas such as the NHS have faced rising demands on fixed or falling budgets.

These overall conclusions are based on a comprehensive and authoritative analysis of policy, spending, outcomes, and trends across nine different areas of social policy. Separate reports are available for each, covering reforms as well as spending and highlighting challenges for an incoming government. They provide detailed facts and analysis to underpin the debates running up to the general election in May.

The main findings show:

Although the Coalition stressed the importance of the “foundation years”, in fact families with children under five saw significant cuts to services - real spending per child on early education, childcare and Sure Start services fell by a quarter between 2009-10 and 2012-13. In addition, tax-benefit reforms hit families with children under five harder than any other household type.
Despite a 10% rise in the population aged 65 plus during the Coalition period, the number of adult social care users fell 7% per year. Care at home and other community-based services were hit especially hard.
Although one Coalition stated aim was that the better-off would carry the greatest burden from deficit reduction, changes to direct taxes, benefits and tax credits were mainly regressive, as cuts to tax credits and cash benefits took more away from those in the bottom half than they gained through higher tax allowances. The savings from these cuts were not sufficient to contribute to deficit reduction, however, as they were offset by the costs of lower direct taxes for better-off groups. Estimates suggest that poverty increased after 2012/13 and will get worse in future years.
There was a 17% fall in the number of adult learners between 2009/10 and 2013/14 as funding for adult skills was heavily cut. Despite the controversial hike in tuition fees, increasing numbers of disadvantaged young people are going to university, but the numbers of part-time and mature students dropped by 40%.
While health was protected relative to other expenditure areas, real growth rates were extremely low by historical standards and a number of key indicators suggest increasing pressure on the system. Health inequalities remain deeply embedded.
Steps were taken to stimulate home ownership through Help to Buy, but government spending on housing in the UK was cut by 35% and spending on new homes by 44% in real terms 2009/10-2013/14. In contrast, and despite welfare reforms, housing benefit expenditure continued to rise.
Growth in self-employment drove the recovery in the labour market but dramatic falls in average real earnings for all types of workers has affected households’ living standards, consumption and government tax receipts. The outcome is that household budgets have been squeezed and the government’s deficit reduction plans have been affected.
Neighbourhood renewal activity has been dramatically cut from around £500m a year to around £32m a year. It is now seen as a local responsibility, drawing on a strategy of supporting local economic growth and community and voluntary activity. But so far these new strategies are performing well below expectations

The research follows a similar review of the Labour social policy record, published in 2013, Both were funded by the Nuffield Foundation, Joseph Rowntree Foundation and Trust for London.

There are eight individual papers covering employment, taxes and benefits, health, adult social care, housing, children under five, further and higher education and skills, and area regeneration. There is also an overview The Coalition's Social Policy Record: Policy, Spending and Outcomes 2010-2015. A further paper on schools will be released on February 10th to take in the detailed 2014 GCSE results published at the end of January.

Programme leader, Professor Ruth Lupton of the University of Manchester said: “ There is more to the Coalition than cuts. Its major legacy may turn out to be its rapid reforms of the schools system, the NHS, and welfare benefits. But its decisions on where to cut and where to spend have limited its scope either to reduce the debt or protect the poor”.

Professor John Hills, director of CASE at LSE, said: “Protection of some of the core parts of the welfare state from the greatest cuts, and initial protection of the value of benefits, meant that those at the bottom and important services were initially shielded from the worst effects of the recession. But in the second part of the Coalition’s period, selective cuts to benefits and to unprotected services have begun to take their toll, leaving the next government, of whatever kind, with much greater social policy challenges than the Coalition inherited.”

Notes for editors

Notes for Editors:

The full overview paper, and its summary, as well as summaries of all the other reports are available at this Dropbox link (password ColdClimate)

A guide to the reports being published:

The Coalition’s Social Policy Record: Policy Spending and Outcomes 2010-2015 (Research Report 4)

Ruth Lupton, with Tania Burchardt, Amanda Fitzgerald, John Hills, Abigail McKnight, Polina Obolenskaya, Kitty Stewart, Stephanie Thomson, Rebecca Tunstall and Polly Vizard

The Coalition’s Record on Cash Transfers, Poverty and Inequality 2010-2015 (Working paper 11)

John Hills

The Coalition’s Record on Under Fives 2010-2015 (Working paper 12)

Kitty Stewart

The Coalition’s Record on Further Education, Skills and Access to Higher Education: Policy, Spending and Outcomes 2010-2015 (Working paper 14)

Ruth Lupton, Stephanie Thomson and Lorna Unwin

The Coalition’s Record on Employment: Policy, Spending and Outcomes 2010-2015 (Working paper 15)

Abigail McKnight

The Coalition’s Record on Health: Policy, Spending and Outcomes 2010-2015 (Working paper 16)

Polly Vizard and Polina Obolenskaya

The Coalition’s Record on Adult Social Care: Policy, Spending and Outcomes 2010-2015 (Working paper 17)

Tania Burchardt, Polina Obolenskaya and Polly Vizard

The Coalition’s Record on Housing: Policy, Spending and Outcomes 2010-2015 (Working paper 18)

Rebecca Tunstall

The Coalition’s Record on Area Regeneration and Neighbourhood Renewal: Policy, Spending and Outcomes 2010-2015 (Working paper 19)

Ruth Lupton and Amanda Fitzgerald

To interview Ruth Lupton, coordinating author, please contact Deborah Linton, Media Relations Officer, University of Manchester, 0161 275 8257, 07789 948 783, deborah.linton@manchester.ac.uk

New monitor reveals stark realities of poverty in Greater 91ֱ��

Wed, 10 Dec 2014 08:00:00 +0000

The Greater 91ֱ�� monitor, created by academics at 91ֱ��, measures levels of poverty across the city region and tells what life is like for residents living below the poverty line.

The harsh realities of life for Greater 91ֱ��'s poorest households are tracked in a new monitor created by academics at The University of Manchester and published by the Greater 91ֱ�� Poverty Action Group (GMPAG) today.

The Greater 91ֱ�� Poverty monitor brings together data from 18 different sources for the first time, to paint a picture of life for residents - including more than one in four children - living in poverty in Greater 91ֱ��.

Produced by experts at the University and available to the public on the Greater 91ֱ�� Poverty Action Group (GMPAG) website from Wednesday 10 December, the monitor includes a set of interactive charts and maps and is accompanied by a report detailing experiences of poverty from the perspectives of those affected by it.

The work finds that, on a number of key indicators, the city region lags behind both the North West and England. The evidence also questions traditional beliefs that a job is the quickest route out of poverty, with data showing that in-work poverty is a major problem in parts of the region and efforts to boost economic growth are not being felt evenly across the ten Greater 91ֱ�� local authorities.

Key findings brought together in the monitor include:

• Across Greater 91ֱ�� local authorities, more than 1 in 4 children, on average, living in poverty in 2013, including 39.3% of children in the city of Manchester.

• 22.6% of households in Greater 91ֱ�� claimed housing benefit compared with 19% in England as a whole.

• 9% of the city region's economically active were unemployed, 3% higher than in 2007.

• 12.1% of Job Seekers Allowance claimants were sanctioned in April 2014, compared with 8.8% nationally.

• Of the ten Greater 91ֱ�� authorities, Oldham (18.1%) and Rochdale (18%) had the highest share of working households on low income in 2012.

• Even as the economy started to pick up nationally during 2013, three local authorities – Wigan, Salford and Bolton – saw unemployment rise.

Prof Ruth Lupton, of The University of Manchester, said: “The University of Manchester has a strong commitment to addressing poverty and inequality and making a difference in our city region. We hope that making information about poverty more accessible will ensure that these problems stay at the top of everyone’s agenda.”

Neil McInroy, chair of the GMPAG said: “Poverty is a scourge and this new monitor and accompanying research tells us it’s not going away. Indeed in some aspects it is getting worse. Some of this is down to central government cuts, but all of us across the public, private and social sectors in Greater 91ֱ�� can do more.

"Local leaders must make sure that economic growth and job creation are specifically designed to help those living in poverty in the region. We know that the link between economic growth and rising living standards is broken, so we need to do more than just create economic growth for its own sake. We'd like to see a greater emphasis on poverty across Greater 91ֱ��, with the Combined Authority upping the ante on poverty and challenging central government for more powers and resources to tackle it.”

Notes for editors

Prof Ruth Lupton, of The University of Manchester, and Neil McInroy, of the GMPAG, are available for interview.

The monitor, and accompanying report, can be viewed from Wednesday 10 December.

A launch event will take place on Wednesday 10 December at 5pm (for 5.15pm start) at Friends Meeting House, 6 Mount Street, 91ֱ��. Media are welcome to attend. Please email chris.bagley@hotmail.co.uk to reserve a place.

The Greater 91ֱ�� Poverty Action Group launched in 2014 and is made up of members of over 40 organisations from across the private, public and third sectors. Its objectives are to influence and catalyse action on poverty by raising awareness and providing a voice for those living in poverty.

Media enquiries to:

Deborah Linton
Media Relations Officer
Faculty of Humanities
The University of Manchester
Tel: 0161 275 8257, 07789 948 783
Email: deborah.linton@manchester.ac.uk

Ethnic inequalities mapped across England and Wales

Wed, 03 Dec 2014 08:00:00 +0000

New online profiler from 91ֱ��'s measures education, employment, health and housing inequalities between ethnic minorities and White British residents in every area of England and Wales

The lives of ethnic minorities across the country have been mapped by experts at The University of Manchester with a new profiler that allows you to explore standards of living in each area of England and Wales.

Academics and researchers at the University’s Centre on Dynamics of Ethnicity (CoDE) have drilled down into Census data to rank districts by inequality, comparing the experience of minority groups to White British residents living side by side.

CoDE, in collaboration with race equality think tank , has produced measures of ethnic inequalities in education, employment, health and housing for each local authority district in England and Wales, for 2001 and 2011.

The profiler is available for all to use and takes only a few seconds to generate a profile of ethnic inequalities in any chosen area.

Despite Britain continuing to diversify, differences in living standards for minorities and white British residents have remained persistent since 2000, according to the findings of the Local Ethnic Inequalities Area Profiler which launches today (WED). Left alone, the problem will not solve itself, the academics behind it warn.

The project highlights the 20 areas with the most and least inequality between ethnic minorities and White British neighbours and also shows that the problem is not unique to typically diverse urban areas, with more rural areas of Lancashire and East Staffordshire and parts of Kent, Somerset and Lincolnshire showing significant levels of inequality.

Other key findings:

Bradford, where 36% of the population identified connections to an ethnic minority group, stands out as one of the few success stories, managing to bridge the inequalities gap between residents since the turn of the millennium. In education, the number of ethnic minority 16-24-year-olds without qualifications is now in line with the number of white British young adults. This compares to 25% of ethnic minority 16-24-year-olds and 19% of White British in 2001.

In Tower Hamlets, London, 48% of Asian households and 43% of households from ethnic minority groups as a whole lived in overcrowded homes compared with 24% of White British households.

In Breckland, in rural East England, the minority population almost doubled from 5% to 9% between 2001 and 2011. Ethnic inequalities widened on all indicators in that time.

Dr Nissa Finney said: “Ethnic inequalities are not only widespread in England and Wales, they are persistent. These inequalities are not, and will not, disappear of their own accord. This is particularly the case in employment and housing. For example, overcrowding was experienced by ethnic groups in every district over the past decade.

“The findings provide clear evidence that ethnic inequalities are a local concern, and that addressing inequalities is not purely an issue for authorities with diverse and poor populations.

“They also demonstrate that inequalities can be reduced and there are districts across the country that have achieved this over the 2000s.”

Dr Omar Khan, director of the Runnymede Trust, said: "This report contains a wealth of information that shows why ethnic inequalities are relevant in every village, town and city in England and Wales. The evidence also suggests that local and national policymakers and decisonmakers must act much more directly to ensure that a third generation doesn't continue to experience disadvantage because of their ethnic background."

Notes for editors

Dr Nissa Finney is available for interview. The CoDE team are also available to extract area specific data for journalists.

Inequality is defined as the difference in the proportion of the White British group and the ethnic minority group who experience disadvantage on a particular indicator. The indicators of inequality used are: percentage aged 16-24 with no qualifications (Education); percentage aged 25 and over who are unemployed (Employment); percentage with a limiting long term illness (indirectly age standardized) (Health); percentage living with an occupancy rating of -1 or below, indicating overcrowding (Housing).

In collaboration with the Runnymede Trust, the ESRC Centre on Dynamics of Ethnicity (CoDE) has produced measures of ethnic inequalities in education, employment, health and housing for each local authority district of England and Wales, for 2001 and 2011, using census data. The study has been led by Nissa Finney and Kitty Lymperopoulou at the University of Manchester.

Resources available from the project are available from 6am on Wednesday 3 December.

They include:

Local Ethnic Inequalities Area Profiler. This Excel-based tool allows you to explore summary data for each district.
Report, summarizing key findings and detailing methods of the project.
Briefing, highlighting key results and policy implications

The report launches 3 December 2014 in London. The launch is organised by the New Local Government Network, in association with CoDE and the Runnymede Trust.

Media enquiries to:

Deborah Linton
Media Relations Officer
Faculty of Humanities
The University of Manchester
Tel: 0161 275 8257, 07789 948 783
Email: deborah.linton@manchester.ac.uk

91ֱ�� academic comments on Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership

Mon, 17 Nov 2014 14:14:00 +0000

Lecturer in politics and critic of TTIP, Gabriel Siles-Brügge, warns that the benefits of a trade partnership between the EU and US are vastly exaggerated after the Prime Minister talks about accelerating deal

University of Manchester academic responds to David Cameron’s comments on a proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership between the EU and US

Responding to Prime Minister David Cameron’s comments on the proposed EU-US Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) at the closure of the G20 summit, lecturer in politics at The University of Manchester and critic of TTIP, Gabriel Siles-Brügge said:

“It’s crucial that we challenge the economic figures produced by such advocates of the TTIP as David Cameron. These are based on economic models that make a number of unrealistic assumptions about the degree to which TTIP will reduce barriers to trade. As such, they both vastly exaggerate the positive benefits of the agreement and disguise the potential downsides of the TTIP that are far less easy to measure. This could include, for example, the potential to dilute standards in areas such as the regulation of chemicals or food safety.”

Addressing public concern over the NHS and perceived risks of privatisation as a result of TTIP, he added:
“The assurances given by the UK government do not tell the full story. Making commitments in the area of health services as part of the TTIP may make it difficult for future governments to undo the marketisation of the NHS undertaken through the Health and Social Care Act, which would become enshrined in an international agreement.”

David Cameron yesterday told the press that there had been an agreement between G20 leaders to accelerate drawn out negotiations on TTIP which he described as "good for Britain, good for jobs, good for growth, and good for the British economy". He dismissed threats to the NHS as “nonsense”.

Estimates predict that the TTIP deal will generate an extra €119 billion GDP annually for the EU, or €545 for each family of four, by 2027 – figures that Gabriel deems ‘optimistic and misleading’.

Notes for editors

Notes to editors:
Gabriel is available for interview and can be contacted at gabriel.siles-brugge@manchester.ac.uk or, by phone, on 0161 306 6945.
Gabriel is a lecturer in politics at The University of Manchester. He has consulted for the World Development Movement and advised other NGOs campaigning against TTIP.

Media enquiries to:
Deborah Linton
Media Relations Officer
Faculty of Humanities
The University of Manchester
Tel: 0161 275 8257, 07789 948 783
Email: deborah.linton@manchester.ac.uk

Food Poverty: Experts Say Foodbanks Are Inevitable in the UK

Wed, 01 Oct 2014 01:00:00 +0100

Food insecurity and malnutrition in the UK is a much wider problem than has been recognised, according to experts from the University of Manchester.

Dr Kingsley Purdam says the demand for foodbanks is underestimated with large numbers of people thought to be at risk of malnutrition in the UK. Many older people also face food insecurity. The rapid growth in the number of foodbanks and food donation points in supermarkets suggests a ‘normalisation’ of food aid.

The research drew on survey evidence, case studies of foodbanks and interviews with foodbank users, and identified that:

In one Northwest city, there are seven Trussell Trust foodbanks, and a further thirty other food aid providers in the area.
Substantial numbers of people are constrained in their food choices and are skipping meals to prioritize their families.
The Government spends an estimated £13 billion on disease-related malnutrition each year (BAPEN 2012). The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has identified better nutrition as one of the key cost-saving initiatives for the NHS.

Dr Purdam said: “In political and media debates foodbank users have been variously described as being: ‘opportunists’, ‘not able to cook or budget’ and ‘living like animals’. Yet evidence from the Citizens Advice Bureau suggests that the main reported reason for referring a person to a foodbank was a delay in benefit payments.

“Moreover, the research suggests that people using foodbanks have a clear understanding of the costs of food and are limited in how they could change their financial circumstances. Many people were reluctant to use a foodbank because of the stigma and embarrassment. Grandparents and parents reported skipping meals so their children could eat, and also stated that they were not able to afford to have their children’s friends around for tea.”

Extracts from the case studies:

The foodbank users’ accounts demonstrate that they had concerns about the social stigma of asking for food aid:

“It throws your pride out of the window...I am doing it for my kids, I am not going to make my kids suffer just because of my pride.” (Female, 34).
“I was nervous coming here, I thought I had done something wrong…having to ask for food your ego takes a battering.” (Male, 40).
A mother described how she had collected a food parcel on behalf of her grown-up daughter who was too embarrassed to come. She stated: “My daughter doesn't want to be seen as a scrounger.” (Female, 55).

Many of the people visiting the case study foodbanks were vulnerable and in urgent need:

“I was willing to turn to prostitution if I did not get help from the foodbank.” (Female, unknown age).
“I need to make sure my kids have full bellies.” (Female, 40).
“We say to my mum make sure you eat but she says she’s not hungry…she’s just making sure we eat first.” (Child visiting foodbank with her mother).

Dr Purdam said there seems to be an inevitability to the scale of food insecurity given the economic recession and the present welfare reforms. He said: “Many of the foodbank users we spoke to seemed to be surviving from week to week even day to day. Some of the older people in need of food aid were not able to collect food parcels themselves and were having parcels delivered. Moreover, many people in need of food aid may not live near a foodbank. We also found that some of the foodbanks were running low on food supplies.”

“Whilst local authorities have provided some funding, food aid is predominantly reliant on volunteers, food donations and the support of supermarkets and food manufacturers.”

He said: “It can be questioned why the levels of food insecurity and malnutrition are so high in the UK and whether the government’s reliance on food aid is economically and politically efficient given the impact on people’s health and well-being”.

“Food has an important role in defining our identities and in terms of family relationships. Yet this seems to have been neglected in the political debates surrounding food aid.”

Notes for editors

Dr Purdam is available for interview.

The paper by K. Purdam, E. Garratt and A. Esmail entitled ‘Hungry? Food Insecurity, Social Stigma and Embarrassment in the UK’ is available upon request. The research is supported by the University of Manchester Institute for Collaborative Research on Ageing and 91ֱ�� City Council.

For further information or to request an interview, please contact Kath Paddison, Media Relations Officer, The University of Manchester, 0161 275 0790 or kath.paddison@manchester.ac.uk

‘State should expand policy on fuel poverty’

Tue, 21 May 2013 01:00:00 +0100

A University of Manchester academic is urging the Government to think about additional ways of helping the fuel poor.

Professor Stefan Bouzarovski says policy makers need to develop a more concerted and strategic approach towards the issue affecting households needing to spend more than 10% of their income on energy services.

According to The Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC), there were 4.5 million households in fuel poverty in 2011 in England, a fall of 250,000 on the previous year.

But those in fuel poverty would now need an average of £448 more a year, in order to heat their homes properly – an increase of £26 on 2012.

Professor Bouzarovski said: “ Over the past six months, there has effectively been a complete withdrawal of state funding for fuel poverty programmes.

“A recent report by the Association for the Conservation of Energy says that total funds estimated to reach the fuel poor are expected to decline by 44 per cent, from £376 million in 2009 to £209 million in 2013.

“In essence, we have seen the privatisation of energy efficiency and fuel poverty policy, so that is no longer funded via general taxation, but rather through an indirect levy on energy bills.”

Professor Bouzarovski’s call comes as The University of Manchester hosts an international conference on the spatial, social and environmental dimensions of energy vulnerability.

The event, which is supported by the Meeting Place of the UK Energy Research Centre (UKERC), will run from midday on the 21 May until midday on the 23 May. More than 60 participants from across the UK and Europe are expected to attend.

He added: “Government policy makers do not seem to be aware of the need to improve the domestic energy services or efficiency circumstances of groups that were ‘hard to reach’ in the past.

“These are people living in the private rented sector or multiple occupancy housing, particularly leasehold flats as well as ethic minority and ‘non-traditional’ flat-sharer households."

Notes for editors

The international conference on the spatial, social and environmental dimensions of energy vulnerability is supported by the Meeting Place of the UK Energy Research Centre (UKERC). It will run from midday on the 21 May until midday on the 23 May.

It includes an early career symposium with papers by more than 20 researchers working in the field (21-22 May), and a research colloquium (22-23 May) featuring presentations by a range of leading academics and policy-makers. More than 60 participants from across the UK and Europe are expected to attend.

The event is a joint initiative of the Energy Geographies Working Group of the Royal Geographical Society, and the International Energy Vulnerability Network.

Dr Bouzarovski is available for comment

For media enquiries contact:
Mike Addelman
Press Officer
Faculty of Humanities
The University of Manchester
0161 275 0790
07717 881567
Michael.addelman@manchester.ac.uk

Poor more generous than rich in recession, study shows

Wed, 03 Apr 2013 01:00:00 +0100

Professor Yaojun Li, of the Institute for Social Change, University of Manchester, analysed survey data on over 100,000 adults in England and Wales, over ten years to 2011.

He will tell the British Sociological Association’s annual conference in London that the average people gave to charity in the four weeks before being questioned during the year 2010/11 was £16, compared with £15 given by those questioned during 2007/08.

The £16 figure has been adjusted downwards to remove the effect of inflation, to allow precise comparison.

Professor Li said that in 2010/11 the poorest 20% gave 3.2% of their gross monthly income to charity during the four weeks before they were interviewed, and the richest 20% gave 0.9%. The remaining 60% gave under 2%. In absolute amounts, the figures were £31.44 for the richest 20%, and £6.35 for the poorest 20%.

“An inverse relationship is found between giving and income,” said Professor Li. “While people in higher income positions are found to give more in absolute terms in terms of pounds given, they are found to give less as a proportion of their or their family incomes.

“Given the voluntary and altruistic nature of charitable giving, how to get the economically well-off to ‘give their fair share’ – that is, to contribute relatively more –is a challenge, if our Society is to be made Big.”

However Professor Li also found that the professional and managerial classes tended to volunteer more in civic organisations, and also give more money in absolute terms. For instance, during the year 2010/11, 71% of those in the highest social class volunteered, and 84% donated to charity. These figures fell to 36% and 61% respectively for those in routine manual work.

Other findings are:

• Giving to charity as a proportion of income was highest among people of Pakistani or Bangladeshi ethnicity, who gave 5.3% of their monthly income in the four weeks before being questioned during 2010/11 (or £27.33). This compared with 1.7% among white British. However, in absolute terms, people of white British ethnicity gave more (at £16.30) than the average (at £16.10).

• In the four weeks before interview in 2010/11, 75% of Christians donated, compared with 63% of Muslims, 66% of atheists, and 56% of Hindus, the lowest of six categories. In terms of actual amounts, the figures for the religious groups were £17.53 for Christians, £10.06 for Hindus, £22.33 for Muslims, £8.94 for Sikhs, £15.69 for Jews, Buddhists and people of other religious affiliations, and £11.28 for atheists. Again this is in 2003 price.

“Muslims in general, and people of Pakistani or Bangladeshi origins in particular, are shown as giving the highest proportions of their incomes to charitable causes,” said Professor Li. “People of Pakistani or Bangladeshi origins are usually found to be amongst the poorest communities in the country.”

Professor Li found that overall the proportion of those donating had dropped since the beginning of the recession. Of those questioned during 2005, 79% said they had given to charity during the four weeks prior to interview, falling to 76% of those questioned during 2007/08 and 72% in 2010/11. But the total amount given remained approximately the same.

“Britons are overall quite generous, but the current crisis is taking a toll,” he said. “Yet it’s not all bad news – although fewer are giving, the total amount they are giving is roughly the same.

“The claims of a broken society are not well grounded but the evidence also shows that the government needs to do more to sustain and increase the level of participation in civic engagement, voluntary help and charitable giving.”

Notes for editors

For media enquiries, contact:
Tony Trueman
British Sociological Association
Tel: 07964 023392
tony.trueman@britsoc.org.uk

Or

Mike Addelman
Press Officer
Faculty of Humanities
The University of Manchester
0161 275 0790
07717 881567
Michael.addelman@manchester.ac.uk

US shale gas drives up coal exports

Mon, 29 Oct 2012 00:00:00 +0000

A report by researchers at The University of Manchester has concluded that whilst the US is burning less coal due to shale gas production, millions of tonnes of unused coal are being exported to the UK, Europe and Asia. As a result, the emissions benefits of switching fuels are overstated.

US CO2 emissions from domestic energy have declined by 8.6% since a peak in 2005, the equivalent of 1.4% per year.

However, the researchers warn that more than half of the recent emissions reductions in the power sector may be displaced overseas by the trade in coal.

Dr John Broderick, lead author on the report from the , comments: “Research papers and newspaper column inches have focussed on the relative emissions from coal and gas.

“However, it is the total quantity of CO2 from the energy system that matters to the climate. Despite lower-carbon rhetoric, shale gas is still a carbon intensive energy source. We must seriously consider whether a so-called “golden age” would be little more than a gilded cage, locking us into a high-carbon future.”

Professor Kevin Anderson of the Tyndall Centre notes: “Since 2008 when the shale gas supply became significant, there has been a large increase in US coal exports. This increases global emissions as the UK, Europe and Asia are burning the coal instead. Earlier Tyndall analysis suggests that the role for gas in a low carbon transition is extremely limited, with shale gas potentially diverting substantial funds away from genuinely low and zero carbon alternatives”

This Co-operative commissioned report “Has US Shale Gas Reduced CO2 Emissions?” is the third on shale gas from the Tyndall Centre – and builds on several years of research and submissions to the UK and European Parliaments as well as the International Energy Agency.

Chris Shearlock, Sustainable Development Manager at , said: “The proponents of shale gas have always claimed that it is a lower carbon alternative to coal. However, this is only true if the coal it displaces remains in the ground and isn’t just burnt elsewhere. Without a cap on global carbon emissions, shale gas is burnt in addition to other fossil fuels, increasing total emissions.”

Notes for editors

Please note the embargo for this story is 00:01 Monday 29 October.

An Executive Summary of this report and the full report are available from the Press Office. From Monday 29 October it will be available at

Dr Broderick and Professor Anderson are available for interview.

Please contact:

Daniel Cochlin
Media Relations Officer
Engineering and Physical Sciences
The University of Manchester

0161 275 8387
Daniel.cochlin@manchester.ac.uk

Or for The Co-operative, please contact:

Dave Smith
07702 152771
0161 8275614
dave.smith@co-operative.coop

Tyndall 91ֱ�� is a founder member of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research consortium, and is primarily based in the School of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering at the University of Manchester. It has a vibrant research community that brings together scientists, engineers, social scientists and economists, providing academic expertise on all aspects of energy and climate change. Tyndall 91ֱ�� also undertakes external consultancy projects and offers postgraduate supervision and other opportunities for early career researchers.

The Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research is an active and expanding partnership between the Universities of East Anglia (headquarters), Cambridge, Cardiff, 91ֱ��, Newcastle, Oxford, Southampton, Sussex, and recently Fudan University in Shanghai. It conducts research on the interdisciplinary aspects of climate change and is committed to promote informed and effective dialogue across society about the options to manage our future climate. www.tyndall.ac.uk

Fashion industry blamed for horrors of Italian sweatshops

Mon, 08 Oct 2012 01:00:00 +0100

The appalling conditions of up to 25,000 migrant clothes workers and their families in central northern Italy can be blamed on the fashion industry, according to a University of Manchester researcher.

Dr Jerónimo Montero says the state authorities are more concerned about Italy’s economic problems than the conditions of the workers - mostly trafficked from China and employed by hundreds of subcontractors.

Locked up for months, working up to 17 hours a day, sleeping where they work and earning as little as £240 a month, the workers produce clothing for well known brands available on the British High Street, and for high end fashion houses, says Dr Montero.

"The conditions are horrendous. But if that isn't enough, one labour inspector told me that with the little money they earned, the workers had to pay-off the costs of being trafficked into Italy," he said.

"It takes up to four years to pay off the debt, and only then are they free to leave these awful places."

Though Dr Montero's research was carried out five years ago, he believes that there is no evidence of change.

His research includes interviews with business leaders, union leaders and other officials in Prato and Tuscany, revealing another side to the renowned 'made in Italy' label.

He said: “Over recent years, Italy has been repeatedly condemned by the EU and the International Labor Organization for the way it treats migrant workers. But little has changed.

“I urge the state to comply with international protocols that protect victims of trafficking, rather than deport them.

“My research reveals that the exploitation of workers like those in Prato is how the fashion industry maintains its profitability.

“But it’s not just Italy: the fashion industry across the world has fostered a return to the widespread use of subcontracting because of unstable demand and the general instability of the global economy.

“It’s a result of their need for flexibility in production and to cut costs to meet increasing international competition."

According to the researcher based at the University’s School of Environment and Development, increasing importance of international financial markets and EU liberalisation have strongly affected manufacturing industries across Southern Europe.

He calls for new laws in Italy which force companies at the top of the production chain to be made legally responsible for the working conditions in their subcontractors' workshops.

He added: “Today, the high fashion houses and retailing chains have the power to control the whole production chain without having to face the risks typical of most companies.

“The 'ethical code' subscribed to by the fashion industry is not enough and has no legal weight.

“This must change.”

Notes for editors

The full report is available on request

Dr Montero is available for interview.

For media enquiries contact:
Mike Addelman
Press Officer
Faculty of Humanities
University of Manchester
0161 275 0790
07717 881567

Or in Florence until 10th October

Dr Jerónimo Montero Bressán

+39 334 763 2977

Time for a rethink on climate change, say top environmental economists

Mon, 27 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Governments have done so little to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, they should consider investing into the Rand D of large scale geo-engineering projects and their governance, according to 26 of the world’s leading environmental economists.

Examples could include firing sulphates into the atmosphere, Iron fertilisation of the oceans or oceanic ‘heat pipes’.

A ten point consensus, published this month in a book edited by two top environmental economists at The University of Manchester, argues that among other things, policy makers should ‘think outside the box’ to tackle climate change.

Also, argues the consensus, greenhouse emissions should be taxed or capped to help consumers, businesses and governments account for the social cost of their behaviour.

Professors Alistair Ulph and Robert Hahn - from the University’s Sustainable Consumption Institute (SCI) - say that despite ambitious international targets to cut greenhouse gas emissions, little progress has actually been achieved.

Their book published by Oxford University Press is built around a University of Manchester conference honouring Nobel Prize winning economist Professor Tom Schelling in 2010.

“Emissions from one country may be a small part of the global emissions that drive climate change - which means there is an incentive for such countries not to act to cut emissions unless others do so,” said Professor Ulph, who is Director of the SCI.

“Moreover, the impact of global warming and the costs of reducing emissions vary across regions and time periods, so a divergence of interests pits country against country and generation against generation.”

Game theory reveals a series of virtually intractable problems - such as tipping point analysis and the prisoners’ dilemma - which stand in the way of international agreement between nations. Most game theorists – such as Schelling- are pessimistic about ever getting agreement on climate change.

“Because the prospect of international action is so slim, Schelling argues that policymakers need to think outside the box,” he said.

“More research and development is needed in technologies for removing CO2 from the atmosphere and for managing solar radiation, even though these technologies may not be deployed for decades.”

Professor Hahn said: “Many countries already have explicit or implicit prices on greenhouse gas emissions.

“But the large revenue streams that result should be used productively by reducing other taxes that distort economic activity.

“If we do fail to regulate greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming or find alternative strategies, then the damage could be catastrophic.”

Notes for editors

Ten key points which form the Schelling consensus:
1.    Economic analysis suggests that Governments have underinvested in mitigation relative to the level of effort that would be economically efficient.
2.    All serious options for addressing climate change should be considered – including controlling greenhouse gas emissions, removing CO2 ,adaption and geo-engineering.
3.    International agreements are needed, but need not include all countries or sectors.
4.    New approaches that pass a benefit-cost test should be tried, but not necessarily in a single comprehensive agreement; e.g. individual greenhouse gasses could be handled in separate agreements.
5.    Putting a price on greenhouse emissions by taxing them or using emission caps would be desirable because it would help consumers, businesses and governments to account for the full social cost of their behaviours. Many countries already have explicit implicit prices on greenhouse gas reductions. The large revenue streams that result should be used productively by reducing other taxes that distort economic activity.
6.    Climate stabilization requires that net CO2 emissions decline significantly. Achieving that goal will require a technical revolution. This is one reason why R and D in energy technologies should be a priority, though policies should also ensure innovative efforts are socially productive.
7.    R and D is also needed in technologies for removing CO2 from the atmosphere and for managing solar radiation, even though these technologies may not be deployed for decades. Efforts should begin now to develop governance arrangements for the appropriate use of geo-engineering.
8.    Businesses need appropriate incentives for innovation, investment and behavioural change.
9.    The incentives for consumers, firms and governments to adapt are strong because they will bear most of the costs if they do not. The poorest countries will need assistance from industrialised countries, which may be best targeted to more economic development.
10.    There are great uncertainties about how best to manage the various components of the climate change problem. These uncertainties should be acknowledged by adopting a flexible approach to decision making that responds to new knowledge about climate change. Uncertainty should not be used as a rationale for inaction.

Climate Change and Common Sense: essays in honour of Tom Schelling is published by Oxford University Press.

Professors Ulph and Hahn are available for comment

For media enquiries contact:

Mike Addelman
Press Officer
Faculty of Humanities
The University of Manchester
0161 275 0790
07717 881567
Michael.addelman@manchester.ac.uk