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All Outputs (11)

The regulator’s trilemma: On the limits of technocratic governance in digital markets (2024)
Journal Article
O'Donovan, N. (2024). The regulator’s trilemma: On the limits of technocratic governance in digital markets. Competition and Change, 28(5), 643-662. https://doi.org/10.1177/10245294241266048

Policymakers increasingly recognise the need for regulatory intervention in the digital economy to promote competition, privacy and innovation, among other policy objectives. Much policy-focused literature presents regulation as a technical puzzle to... Read More about The regulator’s trilemma: On the limits of technocratic governance in digital markets.

The OBR and the unintended economic consequences of Mr Osborne (2024)
Journal Article
O’Donovan, N. (in press). The OBR and the unintended economic consequences of Mr Osborne. British Politics, https://doi.org/10.1057/s41293-024-00262-5

The creation of the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) was heralded as a major change in UK economic governance, purporting to offer objective analysis insulated from partisan politics. In the tumultuous years since the OBR’s foundation, however,... Read More about The OBR and the unintended economic consequences of Mr Osborne.

Turning less into more: Measuring real GDP growth in the green transition (2024)
Journal Article
O'Donovan, N. (2024). Turning less into more: Measuring real GDP growth in the green transition. Ecological Economics, 224, Article 108293. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2024.108293

Proponents of degrowth query the compatibility of ecological sustainability with economic growth and a capitalist system predicated on the ongoing expansion of economic output. This article deploys insights from constructivist political economy and r... Read More about Turning less into more: Measuring real GDP growth in the green transition.

Building back before: fiscal and monetary support for the economy in Britain amid the COVID-19 crisis (2022)
Journal Article
Berry, C., Bailey, D., Beel, D., & O’Donovan, N. (2023). Building back before: fiscal and monetary support for the economy in Britain amid the COVID-19 crisis. Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, 16(1), 49-64. https://doi.org/10.1093/cjres/rsac024

This paper explores the local impact of various forms of fiscal and monetary support for UK-based companies in the context of disruption caused by COVID-19 and associated public health restrictions, including support for household incomes (and theref... Read More about Building back before: fiscal and monetary support for the economy in Britain amid the COVID-19 crisis.

Demand, dysfunction and distribution: The UK growth model from neoliberalism to the knowledge economy (2021)
Journal Article
O’Donovan, N. (2023). Demand, dysfunction and distribution: The UK growth model from neoliberalism to the knowledge economy. British Journal of Politics and International Relations, 25(1), 178-196. https://doi.org/10.1177/13691481211058018

Theories of ‘growth models’ explain capitalist diversity by reference to shifting drivers of aggregate demand in different national economies. This article expands the growth models framework beyond its conventional focus on debt-driven and export-dr... Read More about Demand, dysfunction and distribution: The UK growth model from neoliberalism to the knowledge economy.

One‐off wealth taxes: theory and evidence (2021)
Journal Article
O'Donovan, N. (2021). One‐off wealth taxes: theory and evidence. Fiscal Studies, 42(3-4), 565-597. https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-5890.12277

In periods where the national public debt has grown rapidly beyond ‘normal’ levels, the idea of drawing on the stock of national private wealth in order to pay down that debt, whether in whole or in part, has gained currency. ‘Capital levies’ or ‘one... Read More about One‐off wealth taxes: theory and evidence.

From Knowledge Economy to Automation Anxiety: A Growth Regime in Crisis? (2019)
Journal Article
O’Donovan, N. (2020). From Knowledge Economy to Automation Anxiety: A Growth Regime in Crisis?. New Political Economy, 25(2), 248-266. https://doi.org/10.1080/13563467.2019.1590326

In the 1990s, the ‘knowledge economy’ was hailed as a key driver of future prosperity by progressive policymakers in developed democracies. According to its proponents, in the knowledge economy, companies and countries alike would succeed by cultivat... Read More about From Knowledge Economy to Automation Anxiety: A Growth Regime in Crisis?.

Does deliberative democracy need deliberative democrats? Revisiting Habermas’ defence of discourse ethics (2012)
Journal Article
O'Donovan, N. (2013). Does deliberative democracy need deliberative democrats? Revisiting Habermas’ defence of discourse ethics. Contemporary Political Theory, 12(2), 123-144. https://doi.org/10.1057/cpt.2012.13

Many political theorists today appeal to, or assume the existence of, a political culture in which the public values of Western liberal democracies are embedded – a political culture that is necessary to render their ideas plausible and their proposa... Read More about Does deliberative democracy need deliberative democrats? Revisiting Habermas’ defence of discourse ethics.

Causes and Consequences: Responsibility in the Political Thought of Max Weber (2011)
Journal Article
O'Donovan, N. (2011). Causes and Consequences: Responsibility in the Political Thought of Max Weber. Polity, 43(1), 84-105. https://doi.org/10.1057/pol.2010.21

Many scholars view Max Weber's exposition of an “ethic of responsibility” in his 1919 lecture “Politik als Beruf” as a defense of pragmatic political action. This article re-examines Weber's argument in the context of his social scientific writings.... Read More about Causes and Consequences: Responsibility in the Political Thought of Max Weber.

There are no wrong answers: an investigation into the assessment of candidates’ responses to essay‐based examinations (2005)
Journal Article
O’Donovan, N. (2005). There are no wrong answers: an investigation into the assessment of candidates’ responses to essay‐based examinations. Oxford Review of Education, 31(3), 395-422. https://doi.org/10.1080/03054980500222114

Essay‐based examinations form a cornerstone of the public assessment system in the UK, but comparatively little research has been conducted into the processes involved in designing, answering and appraising essay‐based questions/responses. This study... Read More about There are no wrong answers: an investigation into the assessment of candidates’ responses to essay‐based examinations.