Neil Lee

Neil is an Assistant Professor of Economic Geography at the LSE. He is also Director of the MSc in Local Economic Development and the BSc in Geography with Economics. He joined the Department in 2013, having previously been Head of Socio-Economic Research at The Work Foundation. He holds a PhD in Economic Geography from the LSE and was a visiting scholar at TCLab, Columbia University.

His research considers cities, economic change and the social dimensions of innovation. He is particularly interested in the distribution of the proceeds of growth and the links between innovation and inequality. He has also published on the economics of the creative industries and the link between cultural diversity, innovation and urban economies.

• Cities

• Regional and local economic development

• Inequality

• Innovation

• Labour markets

• The creative industries

• Enterprise

• Urban and regional policy

Selected recent publications:

• Lee, N. and Rodriguez-Pose, A. (2014) Innovation in Creative Cities: Evidence from British Small Firms. Industry and Innovation, 21 (6). pp. 494-512

• Lee, Neil and Drever, Emma (2014) Do SMEs in deprived areas find it harder to access finance?: evidence from the UK small business survey. Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, 26 (3-4). pp. 337-356. ISSN 0898-5626

• Lee, N. and Rodriguez-Pose, A. (2014) “Creativity, cities and innovation” Environment and Planning A,  46(5) 1139 – 1159

• Lee, N. & Rodríguez-Pose, A. (2013) “Innovation and spatial inequality in Europe and the United States” Journal of Economic Geography, 13 (1), 1- 22.

• Nathan, M. & Lee, N. (2013) “Cultural diversity, innovation and entrepreneurship: Firm-level evidence from London” Economic Geography, DOI: 10.1111/ecge.12016.

• Hutton, W. & Lee, N. (2012) “The City and the cities: Finance, ownership and the geography of recession” Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society.  5 (3). pp. 325-337