Dr David Yarrow
Job Title
Lecturer in Political Economy

Room number
B0.8Building (Address)
16-19, George SquareCity (Address)
EdinburghCountry (Address)
UKResearch interests
Research interests
International Political Economy; Comparative Political Economy; Constructivism; Politics of Economic Ideas; History of Economic Thought; Neoliberalism; Digital Capitalism; Artificial Intelligence; Automation and the Labour Market; Economic Modelling; Economic Forecasting.
Theoretically, my research draws on constructivist approaches to international and comparative political economy. I am interested in the dynamics of ideational continuity and change in advanced capitalism, the relationship between economic ideas, economic interests and distributional/normative questions, and how economic expertise interacts with democratic governance in the context of emergent populist and 'post-truth' politics. In particular, my work seeks to understand how economic ideas and epistemic practices inform contested diagnoses of the challenges, crises and structural transformations facing contemporary global capitalism, and define the scope of viable political responses to these challenges.
Empirically, my research has focused on the politics of modelling, forecasting and accounting practices across a number of fields of economic governance, including macroeconomic and fiscal forecasting, debt sustainability analysis and global environmental accounting. Increasingly, my work looks to analyse debates surrounding digital capitalism, automation and AI and how economic ideas legitimize particular political accounts of the implications of digital technologies for the trajectory of capitalist governance.
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)
Critical Data Studies
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 (2024-25)
Perspectives on Digital Capitalism (PLIT10138) - Course Convenor
International Political Economy (PGSP11171) - Lecturer
Selected Publications
Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles
Yarrow, D. (forthcoming) 'Rethinking the Ideational Shaping of Structural Power: The Case of Trussonomics', Review of International Political Economy.
Yarrow, D. and Kranke, M. (2024) 'Constructing National Policy Space: Forecasting, Macroeconomic ‘Gaps’ and Technocratic Governance', British Journal of Politics and International Relations, 26(3), 668–693. https://doi.org/10.1177/13691481231191914.
Yarrow, D. and Holmes, C. (2023) 'Global Environmental Accounting and the Remaking of the Economy-Environment Boundary', Economy and Society, 52(3), 449-474. https://doi.org/10.1080/03085147.2023.2237350.
Yarrow, D. (2022) 'Valuing Knowledge: The Political Economy of Human Capital Accounting', Review of International Political Economy, 29(1), 227-254. https://doi.org/10.1080/09692290.2020.1796751.
Niker, F. and Yarrow, D. (2021) 'Regulating the Public Sphere in a Post-Truth World', The Political Quarterly, 92 (4), 594-597. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-923X.13030.
Yarrow, D. (2021) 'Normative Reasoning in the New Public Sphere', The Political Quarterly, 92 (4), 621-628. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-923X.12999.
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. https://doi.org/10.1080/13563467.2018.1545754.
Yarrow, D. (2017) 'Progressive Responses to Populism: A Polanyian Critique of Liberal Discourse', Political Quarterly, 88 (4), 570-578. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-923X.12370.
Book Chapters
Yarrow, D. (forthcoming) '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.
Works within
Staff Hours and Guidance
My semester 2 office hours are Monday, 9.30 - 12.00. Please use the link below if you wish to book an appointment: Book time with David Yarrow: Office Hours
NOTE: I will be in my office (B08, 19 George Square) if you wish to meet in person - please still book a meeting slot using the link above.