Dr James Wood

Trinity Hall
  • Associate Teaching Professor
Dr James Wood

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About

James Wood is an Associate Teaching Professor in Political Economy in the Department of Politics and International Studies. James also holds a Staff Fellowship in Politics at Trinity Hall, where he is the HSPS Director of Studies and Undergraduate Tutor, and he has previously held the role of Acting Senior Tutor of the College.

James completed his undergraduate degree in economics at the University of Sussex (2010–2013) before obtaining his MA (2014) and PhD (2017) in International Political Economy at King’s College London. He has also held visiting positions at Copenhagen Business School (2015–2016) and King’s College London (2020-2021). James is a co-convenor of the Political Studies Association’s British and Comparative Political Economy Specialist Group.

Prior to academia, James worked at one of the largest mortgage joint ventures in the United States for almost a decade.

Research

James’ research examines the political legitimation of economic policymaking from a Comparative Political Economy perspective with a focus on the United States and United Kingdom, and Denmark. More specifically, his work explores how the construction of political and economic crises, and the politics of homeownership and household debt, maintain political support for neoliberalism. James is currently writing a manuscript for Bristol University Press on innovation policy in the USA from 2008 onwards, with a comparative focus on Michigan, Maine, California, and Texas.

Key publications: 

Books

Journals

  • WOOD, J.D.G. and Ausserladscheider, V. 2026. ‘The Supply Chain of Economic Ideas: Institutional Discourse and Policy Change in U.S. Economic Governance, 1945–2024’, Governance, 39.
  • WOOD, J. D. G. 2026. 'The spatial dynamics of America’s debt-driven growth model'. Finance and Space, 3(1), 1-16.
  • WOOD, J. D. G. 2026. 'Strategic repoliticisation: inflation, blame, and the fracturing of democratic accountability in the United States'. New Political Economy, 1-23.
  • WOOD, J. D. G. 2025. 'The US’ Polycentric Innovation State'. Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, 1-12.
  • KOHL, S. & WOOD, J. D. G. 2024. 'The state house prices make: the political elasticities of house prices and rents'. Housing Studies, 1–24.
  • WOOD, J. D. G. & STOCKHAMMER, E. 2024. 'Bringing Household Finance Back In: House Prices and the Missing Macroeconomics of Comparative Political Economy'. Politics & Society, 52, 486-511.
  • WOOD, J. D. G., AUSSERLADSCHEIDER, V. & SPARKES, M. 2023. 'The manufactured crisis of COVID-Keynesianism in Britain, Germany and the USA'. Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, 16, 19–29.
  • WOOD, J. D. G. & AUSSERLADSCHEIDER, V. 2021. P'opulism, Brexit, and the manufactured crisis of British neoliberalism'. Review of International Political Economy, 28, 1487-1508.
  • SPARKES, M. & WOOD, J. D. G. 2021. 'The Political Economy of Household Debt & The Keynesian Policy Paradigm'. New Political Economy, 26, 598-615.
  • WOOD, J. D. G. 2020. 'Can household debt influence income inequality? Evidence from Britain: 1966–2016'. The British Journal of Politics and International Relations, 22, 24-46.
  • WOOD, J. D. G. 2019. 'Mortgage Credit: Denmark’s Financial Capacity Building Regime'. New Political Economy, 24, 833-850.
  • WOOD, J. D. G. 2018. 'The integrating role of private homeownership and mortgage credit in British neoliberalism'. Housing Studies, 33, 993-1013.
  • WOOD, J. D. G. 2017. 'The effects of the distribution of mortgage credit on the wage share: Varieties of residential capitalism compared'. Comparative European Politics, 15, 819-847.

Teaching and supervision

Teaching: 

Undergraduate Papers

  • POL1: The Modern State and its Alternatives
  • POL4: Comparative Politics
  • POL4D: The United States and the United Kingdom: Exploring the Diversity of
    Modern Capitalism
  • POL5: Themes and Issues in Politics and International Relations
  • POL6: Statistics and Methods in Politics and International Relations
  • POL9: Conceptual Issues and Texts in Politics and International Relations
  • POL19: The Politics of the International Economy
  • HP3: Theory and Practice in History and Politics 

Postgraduate Papers

  • Comparative Political Economy
  • Advanced Political Analysis