Each term, the Cañada-Blanch Centre at LSE organises a Fellows' Workshop, where the visiting LSE-Miguel Dols Fellows and the winner of the Cañada Blanch-Universitat de València prize present their research projects that they have worked on during their stay at the School.
Meet our fellows
Paula Granell Ramírez, PhD candidate at the University of Valencia (Spain)
Simplification of Transfer Pricing Rules
Globalisation has enabled multinational enterprises to exploit profit-shifting opportunities through transfer pricing practices. The arm’s length principle, as reflected in the OECD Transfer Pricing Guidelines, was intended to address these distortions, yet its technical complexity and demanding implementation limit its effectiveness—especially in less developed countries. Existing transfer pricing rules often fail to match the administrative capacities and fiscal needs of these jurisdictions. A more pragmatic approach calls for the incorporation of targeted simplification tools, with well-designed safe harbours playing a central role. Such measures can enhance tax capacity, foster a more administrable and certain system, and promote a fairer distribution of taxing rights between jurisdictions.
Raj Kharel, PhD candidate at the University of Stavanger (Norway)
Maximising Innovation: Connectivity and the Returns on R&D Investment
This paper examines whether inter-regional connectivity matters for regional innovation amid convergence observed in innovation performance across European regions. While R&D investment has long been considered a key driver of innovation, recent work suggests that connectivity – captured through knowledge pipelines – may further strengthen innovation, especially in regions with limited internal investments. To quantify connectivity, we construct a novel ‘knowledge network centrality’ indicator using social network analysis of co-inventor links across Europe to measure how well regions are embedded in global knowledge networks. Our results show that a) connectivity matters, b) convergence is being led by well-connected regions, and c) that well-connected regions experience higher returns on R&D investment.
Ruoxuan Li, PhD candidate at King's College London
Financialization of Climate Governance: Carbon Markets, Shareholding State, and the Politics of Offsetting
This work-in-progress dissertation investigates how China deploys carbon offsetting as a strategic instrument of climate governance within its distinctive shareholding state. Combining political economy framework with multi-scalar case studies of major SOEs, the research conceptualizes a model of state-led financialization that repurposes carbon markets as tools of industrial policy, technological upgrading, and spatial governance. By analysing the design of the CCER system, the state-directed expansion of CCUS, and the mediating role of local governments, the thesis develops the concept of 'carbon statecraft' to explain how China leverages financialised carbon instruments to steer decarbonization and consolidate its long-term developmental priorities.
Prof. Mita Marra, Professor of Political Economy at the University of Naples Federico II
How can universities help peripheral regions innovate?: Applying an ecosystem approach
By integrating insights from economics, regional science, and innovation studies, this study examines the determinants of innovation and entrepreneurship in Southern Italy—a set of moderately innovative regions facing persistent socio-economic challenges yet possessing significant latent potential. Using regional, sectoral, and firm-level data, a three-step econometric analysis identifies universities as pivotal nodes of knowledge production. Moving beyond a technology-centered model, the study argues for an ecosystem-oriented approach—anchored in talent retention, patient financing, and collaborative governance—as a pathway to translate scientific research into productive innovation and foster sustainable regional development.
Santiago Quintero Suárez, PhD candidate at King's College London
The bureaucratic politics of environmental decentralisation outcomes
This paper examines how decentralisation affects environmental performance and how bureaucratic professionalisation conditions this relationship. While scholars increasingly focus on the political determinants of decentralisation outcomes, the role of bureaucratic institutions has received limited attention. I argue that reforms that reduce political control over the public administration strengthen the capacity of states to manage the short-run disruptions associated with decentralisation. Using a novel dataset covering more than 90 countries from 2005–2020, I find that political and fiscal decentralisation tends to harm environmental outcomes, but bureaucratic professionalisation substantially mitigates these effects.
Dr. Jonna Rickardsson, postdoctoral researcher at Jönköping University
Local economic shocks and positive shifts in rural and declining areas: Impacts on labor markets, migration, and political outcomes
This presentation outlines research projects on the local impacts of (expected) positive changes in trajectory in rural and declining areas: focusing on labor markets, migration, and political outcomes. Within this line of research, the author will present a joint paper, “Diffusion of Economic Shocks in the Labor Market: Evidence from a Mining Boom,” co-authored with Gabriel Rodríguez-Puello. In this study, we examine the 2004 mining boom in Sweden as a case of a positive, exogenous local labor market shock. The findings reveal substantial and persistent improvements in earnings and employment near mining areas – up to 27 km from the mines during the initial boom years and up to 83 km in later years – however the impacts are heterogeneous across sectors and demographics, implying widening earnings gaps between certain groups.
Juan Pablo Rodríguez Paredes, PhD candidate at the Autonomous University of Madrid
Retail digitalization during the health crisis and individual-level wage adjustment drivers
This study analyzes individual wage adjustments in the U.S. retail sector after the digitalization shock triggered by the 2020 health crisis. Using IPUMS-ACS microdata for employed retail workers in 2017–2019 and 2023 harmonized to 2020 PUMAs, pre-shock wage equations were estimated and used to predict counterfactual 2023 wages, yielding an individual wage-adjustment index. Sectoral Bartik and synthetic spatial instrumental variables address the endogeneity of market potential and employment density. The estimates show that greater market access systematically mitigated wage losses, whereas high employment density slightly intensified the losses. Omnichannel-ready and essential subsectors display above-trend wage performance, while contact-intensive, digitally lagging formats experience stronger downward adjustments, reinforcing spatial and sectoral wage divides among retail workers.
Meet our chair
Prof. Andrés Rodríguez-Pose is the Princesa de Asturias Chair and a Professor of Economic Geography at the London School of Economics. He is the Director of the LSE Cañada Blanch Centre. He was formerly the Head of the LSE's Department of Geography and Environment between 2006 and 2009. He was formerly the President of the Regional Science Association International (RSAI) (2015-2017) and served as Vice-President of the RSAI in 2014. He was also Vice-President (2012-2013) and Secretary (2001-2005) of the European Regional Science Association.
More about this event
The Cañada Blanch Centre at LSE sets out to achieve the Fundación Cañada Blanch's goal of developing and reinforcing links between the United Kingdom and Spain. This is done by fostering cutting-edge knowledge generation and undertaking joint research projects between researchers in the United Kingdom and the LSE on the one hand, and Spain on the other hand.
You can follow us on X (formerly Twitter) and on LinkedIn.
LSE holds a wide range of events, covering many of the most controversial issues of the day, and speakers at our events may express views that cause offence. The views expressed by speakers at LSE events do not reflect the position or views of The London School of Economics and Political Science.
From time to time there might be changes to event details so we strongly recommend to check back this webpage on the day of the event if you are planning to attend.