Professor of Quantitative Social Science at UCL’s Social Research Institute. He is a Research Fellow at IZA in Bonn, the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) in London (former head of the Employment Group), WISERD in Cardiff and Rutgers in New Jersey. Prior to that he was Research Director at the Policy Studies Institute where he worked for nineteen years.
Alex is Chief Editor of Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society and an editor of the Journal of Participation and Employee Ownership.
Research
Alex is an applied labour economist with a background in sociology. His research focuses on work and employment relations. Current funded research projects examine (funder in brackets):
- wage and employment dynamics (ESRC)
- the gender wage gap over the life course (ESRC)
- the impact of teacher pay reforms on teacher careers and pupil attainment (ESRC)
- incidence and consequences of trade unionism in Wales (ESRC/WISERD)
- the economic and social value of health (Health Foundation)
- the labour market in social care (Health Foundation)
- the role of trade unions and employer organizations in the economy (Norwegian Research Council)
- the effects of technological change on workers and firms (Norwegian Research Council)
He also works on sports economics, workers’ well-being, management practices and their effects on workers and firms, racial discrimination in the labour market, and predicting economic downturns.
