David A. Spencer
Education
Ph.D University of Leeds, 1998, ‘Economic Analysis and the Theory of Production: A
Critical Appraisal’
MA Economics, 1994, University of Leeds
BA (Hons) Economics, Upper Second, 1992, University of Central England
Professional Positions
2004-present: Senior Lecturer in Economics, Economics Division, Leeds University
Business School, University of Leeds
1998-2004: Lecturer in Economics, Economics Division, Leeds University Business
School, University of Leeds
2003, January-March: Visiting Scholar, University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia
Administrative Experience
2004-2007: Programme Director for MA Economics, MA Economics and Finance, and
MA Economics and Development
2001-present: Cohort Tutor for BA Economics programme
2006-present: Member of the executive committee of the Leeds Social Science Institute
External Activities
2004-present: External examiner, Leeds Metropolitan University, Economics for
Business programme
2005-2007: External examiner, Nottingham Trent University, Political Economy
programme
Peer reviewer for the following journals: Cambridge Journal of Economics,
Contemporary Economic Policy, International Review of Applied Economics, Journal of
Economic Surveys, Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Oxford Economic
Papers, Review of Political Economy
Referee for ESRC proposals (Research grant scheme)
Proposal reviewer for Routledge and University of Michigan Press
Awards
2007: Winner of the Ian Beardwell Prize for best research paper at the CIPD
Professional Standards Conference (with Andrew Brown, Andy Charlwood and Chris
Forde)
2006 February-October: ‘Changing job quality in Great Britain, 1998-2004’, Department
of Trade and Industry, £12500, Co-investigator (with Andrew Brown, Andy Charlwood
and Chris Forde)
Publications
Books
Spencer, D.A. The Political Economy of Work, Routledge, forthcoming
Refereed Journal Articles
Spencer, D.A. (2009) ‘Work in Utopia: Pro-work Sentiments in the Writings of Four
Critics of Classical Economics’, European Journal of the History of Economic Thought,
forthcoming
Sawyer, M. and Spencer, D.A. (2008) ‘On the Definition of Involuntary Unemployment’,
Journal of Socio-Economics, forthcoming.
Brown, A., Charlwood, A. Forde, C. and Spencer, D (2007) ‘Job Quality and the
Economics of New Labour: A Critical Appraisal Using Subjective Survey Data’,
Cambridge Journal of Economics, vol.31, no.6, pp.941-971.
Forde, C. Slater, G. and Spencer, D.A. (2006) ‘Fearing the Worst? The Threat of Job
Loss, Participation and Productivity’, Economic and Industrial Democracy, vol.27, no.3,
pp.369-398.
Forde, C. Slater, G. and Spencer, D.A. (2006) ‘It’s the Taking Part that Counts?
Participation, Performance and External Labour Market Conditions’, Relations
Industrielles/ Industrial Relations, vol.61, no.2, pp.296-320.
Spencer, D.A. (2006) ‘Work for all those who want it? Why the neoclassical labour
supply curve is an inappropriate foundation for the theory of employment and
unemployment’, Cambridge Journal of Economics, vol.30, no.3, pp.459-472.
Spencer, D. A. (2005) ‘A Question of Incentive? Lionel Robbins and Dennis H.
Robertson on the Nature and Determinants of the Supply of Labour’, European Journal
of the History of Economic Thought, vol.12, no.2, pp.261-278.
Spencer, D.A. (2005) ‘Rejoinder on Laurent Derobert’s ‘The Labor-less Labor Supply
Model: A Little Further’, Journal of the History of Economic Thought, vol. 27, pp.105106.
Spencer, D.A. (2004) ‘Deconstructing the Labour Supply Curve’, Metroeconomica, vol.
55, no. 4, pp.442-458.
Spencer, D.A. (2004) ‘From Pain Cost to Opportunity Cost: The Eclipse of the Quality of
Work as a Factor in Economic Theory’, History of Political Economy, vol.36, no.2,
pp.387-401.
Spencer, D.A (2003) ‘Love’s Labour’s Lost? The Disutility of Work and Work
Avoidance in the Economic Analysis of Labour Supply’, Review of Social Economy,
vol.61, no.2, pp.235-60.
Spencer, D.A. (2003) ‘The Labour-less Labour Supply Model in the Era Before Phillip
Wicksteed’, The Journal of the History of Economic Thought, vol.25, no.4, pp.505-513.
Brown, A, Slater, G. and Spencer, D.A. (2002) ‘Driven to Abstraction? Critical Realism
and the Search for the ‘Inner Connection’ of Social Phenomena’, Cambridge Journal of
Economics, vol.26, no.6, pp.773-778.
Spencer, D.A. (2002) ‘Shirking the Issue? Efficiency Wages, Work Discipline, and Full
Employment’, Review of Political Economy, vol.14, no.3, pp.313-327.
Spencer, D.A. (2001) ‘All Work and No Play? A Comment on Prasch’s ‘Reassessing the
Labor Supply Curve’’, Journal of Economic Issues, vol.35, no.4, pp.995-1000.
Spencer, D.A. (2001) ‘Empowering Economics’ (Review article of Jim Stanford, Lance
Taylor, and Ellen Houston, eds. Power, Employment, and Accumulation. Social
Structures in Economic Theory and Practice), International Review of Applied
Economics, vol.15, pp.465-470.
Slater, G. and Spencer, D.A. (2000) ‘The Uncertain Foundations of Transaction Costs
Economics’, Journal of Economic Issues, vol. 34, no.1, pp.61-87.
Spencer, D.A. (2000) ‘Braverman and the Contribution of Labour Process Analysis to the
Critique of Capitalist Production – Twenty- Five Years On’, Work Employment and
Society, vol.14, no.2, pp.223-243.
Spencer, D.A. (2000) ‘The Demise of Radical Political Economics? An Essay on the
Evolution of a Theory of Capitalist Production’, Cambridge Journal of Economics,
vol.24, no.5, pp.543-564.
Book Chapters
Spencer, D.A. (2003) ‘Investment and Capital Accumulation’, in G. Dawson et.al. (eds.),
Economics and Economic Change. Macroeconomics, Open University: Milton Keynes,
pp.487-511
Book Reviews
Spencer, D.A. (2004) Review of Designing Inclusion: Tools to Raise Low-end Pay and
Employment in Private Enterprise edited by Edmund S. Phelps, Cambridge University
Press: Cambridge, 2003, British Journal of Industrial Relations, vol.42, no.4, pp.759760.
Spencer, D.A. (2002) Review of Social and Economic Motivation at Work. Theories of
Motivation Reassessed, by Steen Scheuer. Handelshøjskolens Forlag: Copenhagen
Business School Press, 2000, pp.218, Contemporary Sociology, 2002, vol.31, no.3,
pp.283-4.
Reports
Brown, A., Charlwood, A. Forde, C. and Spencer, D.A., ‘Changing Job Quality in Great
Britain 1998 – 2004’, pp.70, DTI Employment Relations Research Series, No. 70, 2006
Presentations
Invited Presentations
Brown, A., Charlwood, A. Forde, C. and Spencer, D.A. (2007) ‘Job quality and New
Labour’, COMPASS/Centre for Employment Relations Innovation and Change
Conference, Leeds University Business School, 3rd November.
Spencer, D.A. (2007) ‘Blood, Sweat, and Toil: The Economics of Work in Retrospect’,
Work and Social Justice, Centre of Ethics, University of Zurich, 1-2nd November
Brown, A., Charlwood, A. Forde, C. and Spencer, D.A. (2007) ‘A Realist Methodology
Incorporating Large Quantitative Datasets’, Presentation to the Leeds Social Science
Institute Research Methods Seminar Series, University of Leeds, 24th May.
Brown, A. Charlwood, A. Forde, C. and Spencer, D.A. (2007) ‘Changing job quality in
Great Britain, 1998-2004’ Presentation to the Work Foundation, 14th March
Brown, A., Charlwood, A., Forde, C. and Spencer, D.A. (2006) ‘Changing job quality in
Great Britain’, Presentation at Department of Trade and Industry Annual Labour Market
Research Conference, London, 11th-12th December
Brown, A., Charlwood, A., Forde, C. and Spencer, D.A. (2006) ‘Changing job quality in
Great Britain’, Presentation at the Department of Trade and Industry WERS Small Grants
Fund Conference, 26th September
Forde, C., Sawyer, M., Slater, G. and Spencer, D.A. (2002) ‘Exploring the Workplace
Requirements for Sustainable Employment’, Presentation at Workshop on Underutilisation of Europe's Labour Resources, organized by the Centre of Full Employment
and Equity-Europe, Maastricht, 4th–5th October
Conference Papers
Brown, A. and Spencer, D.A. (2007) ‘The Status and Relevance of Robbins’s Essay on
the Nature and Significance of Economic Science after seventy five years’, Lionel
Robbins 75th Anniversary conference, LSE, 10-11th December
Brown, A., Charlwood, A., Forde, C. and Spencer, D.A. (2007) ‘Job quality and Labour
markets’, Presentation at the WERS 2004 User Group, 3rd Meeting, University of
Warwick, 26th October
Brown, A., Charlwood, A., Forde, C. and Spencer, D.A. (2007) ‘Is Job satisfaction U
shaped in earnings?’, Presentation at the Work, Employment and Society Conference,
University of Aberdeen, 12th-14th September.
Brown, A., Charlwood, A., Forde, C. and Spencer, D.A. (2007) ‘Job quality and the
economics of New Labour: A critical appraisal’, Presentation at the Association for
Heterodox Economists Annual Conference, University of the West of England, 13th-15th
July.
Brown, A., Charlwood, A., Forde, C. and Spencer, D. (2007) ‘Changes in Human
Resource Management and Job Satisfaction 1998-2004: Evidence from the Workplace
Employment Relations Survey’, CIPD Professional Standards Conference, Keele
University, 26th-28th June.
Brown, A., Charlwood, A., Forde, C. and Spencer, D. (2006) ‘Changing job quality in
Great Britain 1998-2004: Evidence from WERS’, Employment Research Unit Annual
Conference, Cardiff Business School. 1-2nd September
Forde, C., Slater, G. and Spencer, D. (2004) ‘The Limits to Worker Participation: Issues
and Evidence’, Presentation at the Work, Employment and Society conference, UMIST,
1st –3rd September.
Forde, C., Slater, G. and Spencer, D. (2004) ‘The Nature and Limits of Workplace
Participation’, Presentation at the 12th Conference of the International Association for the
Economics of Participation, St Mary's University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, 7th-9th July.
Forde, C., Sawyer, M., Slater, G. and Spencer, D. (2003) ‘The Workplace Requirements
for Sustainable Full Employment’, Presentation at the Economics for the Future
Conference, University of Cambridge, 17th -19th September.
Spencer, D.A. (2001) ‘The Work as ‘Bad’ Thesis in Economic Analysis’, Presentation at
the Eastern Economics Association Conference, New York, 23rd –25th February
Brown, A. and Spencer, D.A. (2000) ‘Driven to Abstraction? Critical realism and the
search for the “inner connection” of social phenomena’, Presentation at the Association
for Heterodox Economists Annual Conference, June.
Spencer, D.A. (1998) ‘The Demise of Radical Political Economics? An Essay on the
Evolution of a Theory of Capitalist Production’, Second Annual Conference of the
European Society of History of Economic Thought, University of Bologna, Italy, 27th
February to 1st March.
Updated February 2008