School of Social and Political Science

Dr David Yarrow

Lecturer in Political Economy

profile pic
david.yarrow@ed.ac.uk
B0.8
16-19, George Square
Edinburgh
UK

Research interests

International Political Economy Research Group Work & Economy

International Political Economy; Comparative Political Economy; Historical Institutionalism; Constructivism; Politics of Economic Ideas; History of Economics; Neoliberalism; Growth Models; Digital Capitalism; Economic Statistics; Politics of Measurement; GDP

Theoretically, my research engages with constructivist and institutionalist political economy. I am interested in the dynamics of ideational continuity and change in advanced capitalist democracies, the relationship between economic ideas and economic interests, and how economic expertise interacts with historical state forms and governance projects. In particular, my work seeks to understand how contingent economic ideas and knowledge claims inform (and legitimise) particular political and institutional diagnoses of the challenges facing contemporary (post-neoliberal) political economies. Empirically, my recent research has focused on the politics of global statistical, accounting and measurement practices across a number of fields of economic governance, including the post-GDP accounting agenda, global environmental accounting, macroeconomic forecasting and the use of demographic projections in debt sustainability analysis. 

My research has been published in leading journals including Review of International Political Economy, New Political Economy, Economy and Society, and the British Journal of Politics and International Relations. 

Research Groups

International Political Economy

Centre for Science, Knowledge and Policy (SKAPE)

Social Studies of Finance

If you are interested in being supervised by David Yarrow, please see the links below (open in new windows) for more information:

Background

Biography

I am a Lecturer in Political Economy and Programme Director of the MA in Politics, Philosophy and Economics in the School of Social and Political Science. I currently convene the International Political Economy research group. Prior to my current role I was a post-doctoral Research Fellow in SPS, having completed ESRC-funded doctoral research at the University of Warwick in 2018.

Qualifications

  • PhD, Politics and International Relations (Warwick)
  • MSc, International Relations (Bristol)
  • BA, History (Bristol)
  • Postgraduate Certificate in Social Science Research (ESRC)

Teaching (2023-24)

International Political Economy (PGSP11171) - Course Convenor

Selected Publications

Journal Articles

Yarrow, D. and Kranke, M. (forthcoming 2024) 'Constructing National Policy Space: Demographic Forecasting, Macroeconomic ‘Gaps’ and Technocratic Governance', British Journal of Politics and International Relations. 

Yarrow, D. and Holmes, C. (2023) 'Global Environmental Accounting and the Remaking of the Economy-Environment Boundary', Economy and Society, 52 (3), 449-474. 

Yarrow, D. (2022) 'Valuing Knowledge: The Political Economy of Human Capital Accounting', Review of International Political Economy, 29 (1), 227-254.

Niker, F. and Yarrow, D. (2021) 'Introduction: Regulating the Public Sphere in a Post-Truth World', The Political Quarterly, 92 (4), 594-597.

Yarrow, D. (2021) 'From Fact-checking to Value-checking: Normative Reasoning in the New Public Sphere', The Political Quarterly, 92 (4), 621-628.

Yarrow, D. and Kranke, M. (2019) 'The Global Governance of Systemic Risk: How Measurement Practices Tame Macroprudential Politics', New Political Economy, 24 (6), 816-832.

Yarrow, D. (2017) 'Progressive Responses to Populism: A Polanyian Critique of Liberal Discourse', Political Quarterly, 88 (4), 570-578.

Book Chapters

Yarrow, D. (forthcoming 2024) 'Green Markets', in Wissenburg, M. and Machin, A. (eds.), Handbook of Environmental Political Theory in the Anthropocene. Edward Elgar.

Yarrow, D. (2021) 'Intergenerational Justice, Neoliberal Welfare and COVID-19' in F. Niker and A. Bhattacharya (Eds.), The Political Philosophy of the Pandemic. Bloomsbury.

Holmes, C. and Yarrow, D. (2019) 'Economic Ideas', in G. Dale, C. Holmes and M. Markantonatou (Eds.), Karl Polanyi's Economic and Political Thought: A Critical Guide, London: Agenda, 7-26.

PhD Thesis

Yarrow, D. (2019) 'Accounting Against the Economy: Beyond GDP and the Limits of the Market Mentality', PhD Thesis: University of Warwick.

Blogs and Media

(2021) 'Wellbeing Economics and Post-COVID Welfare Policy', Centre for Science, Knowledge and Policy (SKAPE).

(2020) 'The Impact of Human Capital Accounting on Global Economic Governance', Centre for the Understanding of Sustainable Prosperity (CUSP).

(2019) On Grade Inflation in the Neoliberal University, The Guardian.

Works within

My semester 2 office hours are Monday, 9.30 - 12.30. Please use the link below if you wish to book an appointment: https://outlook.office.com/bookwithme/user/18a46baede2747959622c72faf3373c8@ed.ac.uk/meetingtype/zrujtVxORE2v8cpODTAJSA2?anonymous 

NOTE: I will be in my office (B08, 19 George Square) if you wish to meet in person rather than online - please still book a meeting slot using the link above.