Mr Alan Shipman
Senior Lecturer In Economics
Biography
Professional biography
Studied Economics in the Cambridge tradition and worked at the National Institute of Economic and Social Research before spells as a business journalist, emerging markets commentator and financial analyst. Joined the Open University in 2008 as the Global Financial Crisis broadened opportunities to bring more heterodox perspectives into teaching and research.
Research interests
Macroeconomic accounting; cultural economy, especially relating to ‘festivalisation’ and early jazz history; power and elites; transmission of ideas; Chinese multinational enterprise.
Links to published research available on Open Research Online:
https://oro.open.ac.uk/view/person/as23764.html
Teaching interests
Contributions to modules including Economics in Practice (DD226), You and Your Money (DB125), Doing Economics (DD320) and Economics for a Changing World (DD321).
Impact and engagement
Editorial board, Cambridge Journal of Economics
Publications
Book
The New Power Elite: Inequality, Politics and Greed (2018)
Capitalism without Capital: Accounting for the crash (2015)
Personal Investment: Financial Planning in an Uncertain World (2010)
Book Chapter
Combating and Co-opting Immersion: Lessons from Audio-Visual Entertainment (2024)
How can finance better serve the real economy? (2019)
Why do we need publicly listed companies? (2019)
The rise of the embedded intellectual: new forms of public engagement and critique (2013)
Transforming the intellectual (2011)
Bubbles and investment behaviour (2010)
Conclusion: investing for the long term (2010)
Social science and the democratic ideal: from technocracy to dialogue (2009)
Journal Article
On philanthropic foundation work, or what is wrong with Pasadena? (2026)
Lester C Thurow, Generating Inequality: A 50-Year Retrospective (2025)
Streaming the festival: what is lost when cultural events go online (2024)
Big Tech Oligopolies, Keith Cowling, and Monopoly Capitalism (2022)
Introducton to the Special Issue: Towards a production-centred agenda (2018)
Chinese expatriate management in emerging markets: A competitive advantage perspective (2017)
Relevant knowledge and recipient ownership: Chinese MNCS’ knowledge transfer in Africa (2016)
Accounting for productive investment and value creation (2014)
Restructuring and innovation in pharmaceuticals and biotechs: the impact of financialisation (2014)
Other
Financialisation As An Enabler Or Inhibitor Of Innovation? The Case Of UK Biotech (2012)
