Neil Lee

CASE Associate and Associate Professor in Economic Geography, Department of Geography, LSE

Expertise: economic geography

Telephone:

+44 (0)20 7955 5477

Email:

n.d.lee@lse.ac.uk

Room:

LSE

Connect:

Twitter
Website

Links:

CASE
LSE Geography and Environment

Biography

Neil is an Associate Professor of Economic Geography at the LSE and CASE Associate. Neil's research considers cities, economic change and the social dimensions of innovation. He is particularly interested in the distribution of the proceeds of growth and the links between innovation and inequality. He has also published on the economics of the creative industries and the link between cultural diversity, innovation and urban economies.

Neil Lee's current research interests are:

Cities
Inclusive growth
Labour markets and unemployment
Enterprise and deprivation
Economic change and inequality

Latest

Blog

What is levelling up? (video)

18 April 2023

Neil Lee

Neil Lee explains what levelling up is and how investing in more cities outside of London can help close the socio-economic gap between different areas in the UK.... Read more...

Journal article

Inclusive innovation in cities: from buzzword to policy

24 February 2023

Neil Lee

'Inclusive innovation' has become an increasingly important subnational policy agenda. This paper reviews this agenda, critiques its current usage and presents a new framework for how the concept can be applied by city g... Read more...

Journal article

Progressive cities: Urban-rural polarisation of social values and economic development around the world

02 February 2023

Neil Lee, Davide Luca, Jonas Stein and Javier Terrero-Davila

In contrast to the conservative values of rural populations, cities are often seen as bulwarks of more tolerant, liberal and progressive values. This urban-rural divide in values has become one of the major fault lines i... Read more...

Journal article

Level best? The levelling up agenda and UK regional inequality

30 January 2023

Mark Fransham, Max Herbertson, Neil Lee, Margarida Bandeira Morais and Mihaela Pop

'Levelling up' - a policy agenda focused on reducing regional inequalities - has become the new mantra in British politics. This paper critiques the policy programme from its emergence in 2019 to the publication of the 2... Read more...

Blog

Investments Zones can drive innovation if we learn from past mistakes

13 December 2022

Max Herbertson and Neil Lee

A key part of the previous government's plan for growth and currently being reformulated, Investment Zones have for decades been a policy aimed at delivering regional economic development, or levelling-up. Drawing on evi... Read more...

Journal article

Trade in creative services: relatedness and regional specialization in the UK

17 October 2022

Patrizia Casadei, Neil Lee and Enrico Vanino

Creative services have become an important, but understudied, part of global trade. This paper presents new evidence on the transformation, geography and industrial relatedness of creative service exports in the UK, usin... Read more...

Journal article

Systems of innovation, diversification, and the R&D trap: A case study of Kuwait

22 November 2021

Husam Arman, Simona Iammarino, J Eduardo Ibarra-Olivo and Neil Lee

The relationship between research and development (R&D) investment and economic development is well established. Yet, at a global scale, the resource-rich countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council are consistent outliers... Read more...

Blog

Inclusive Growth in cities: Good intentions, difficult policy

12 June 2018

Neil Lee

Journal article

Innovation, SMEs and the liability of distance: The demand and supply of bank funding in UK peripheral regions

01 January 2017

Ross Brown and Neil Lee

This article considers geographical variations in the demand and supply of bank finance for innovative firms in the UK. It uses a detailed survey on the finances of almost 40,000 UK Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises fo... Read more...

CentrePiece - The magazine of the Centre for Economic Performance

In brief: Powerhouse of cards?

04 October 2016

Neil Lee

It is not yet clear whether the UK government’s commitment to a ‘Northern Powerhouse’ will survive the change of personnel at the top. But as Neil Lee explains, the idea of seeking to reduce regional disparities via spat... Read more...

CEP/Geography Urban and Regional Economics Seminars

Cultural Diversity, Cities and Innovation: Firm Effects or City Effects?

06 December 2013

Neil Lee (LSE)