Please book a slot 24 hours in advance or by arrangement online or in-person (email: cd12@soas.ac.uk)
Research interests
Ciaran Driver (Professor of Economics in the School of Finance and Management) pursues research on capital investment, innovation, corporate governance, and economic policy. Current projects include a study of UK dividend behaviour; South African business survey forecasts; UK capital investment constraints; and stakeholding theory. He co-authored with Paul Temple The Unbalanced Economy, Palgrave-Macmillan (2014) and co-edited with Grahame Thompson Corporate Governance in Contention , Oxford University Press 2018. Recent articles include the topics: Research & Development (Research Policy 2012); economics of advertising (Journal of Economic Surveys 2017); executive pay (Industrial and Corporate Change 2017). He is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences and a Trustee of the New Economics Foundation.
Potential PhD candidates should have a Masters with distinction in Economics OR in a cognate discipline such as statistics or political science and be well versed in both qualitative and quantitative research.
Some candidates may prefer to pursue the MRes pathway available in the School of Finance and Management. Research students may complete three papers or work in a traditional thesis format. Indicative topics are listed below but related themes may be proposed. Interdisciplinary topics are welcome as long as the candidate has a solid undergraduate foundation in a single discipline.
Corporate Governance:
Corporate governance, managerial style and productivity effects
Corporate governance models with real option theory
Financial Economics:
Theory and econometrics of dividends, capital investment, and intangible investment such as R&D.
Economics of Innovation:
Theorising the links between innovation and advertising spending
Intellectual property protection design for local economic development
Economics:
Concepts and measures of economic uncertainty; effects on company investment
Debates on South African trade policy: theory and empirics
Economic Policy:
Regeneration of low performing areas
Publications
The Unbalanced Economy: A Policy Appraisal
Driver, Ciaran and Temple, Paul (2012). Basingstoke: (Palgrave Macmillan)
Driver, Ciaran and Harris, Laurence (2021). In: Oqubay, Arkebe, (eds.), Tregenna, Fiona, (eds.) and Valodia, Imraan, (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of the South African Economy. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp 441-466
Broadening the ambit of industrial strategy to include latent demand and corporate governance
Driver, Ciaran (2021). In: Berry, Craig, (eds.), Froud, Julie, (eds.) and Barker, Tom, (eds.), The Political Economy of Industrial Strategy in the UK. Newcastle upon Tyne: Agenda Publishing, pp 149-160
Investment, industrial strategy and corporate governance
Driver, Ciaran (2018). In: Berry, Craig, (ed.), What do we really mean when we talk about Industrial Strategy?. Manchester: Manchester Metropolitan University, pp 168-173
Bo, Hong and Driver, Ciaran (2012). In: Dietrich, M., (eds.) and Krafft, J., (eds.), Handbook on the Economics and Theory of the Firm. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar
Stakeholder Champions: How to Internationalize the Corporate Social Responsibility Agenda
Driver, Ciaran and Thompson, Grahame (2008). In: Stoll, Mary Lyn, (eds.), Palmer, Daniel E., (eds.) and Zakhem, Abe J., (eds.), Stakeholder Theory: Essential Readings in Ethical Leadership and Management. Amhurst, New York: Prometheus Books
Measuring Innovation by Market and Financial Indicators
Driver, Ciaran and Tidd, Joe (2000). In: Tidd, Joe, (ed.), From Knowledge Management to Strategic Competence: measures of technological, market and organisational innovation. London: Imperial College Press
Evidence Paper 8: Capital Investment: what are the main long-term trends in relation to UK manufacturing businesses, and how do these compare internationally?
Driver, Ciaran and Temple, Paul (2013). London: (in 'The future of manufacturing: a new era of opportunity and challenge for the UK'. London: Foresight, UK Government Office for Science)
