Stephen Jonathan Machin (born 23 December 1962) is a British

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this field there are ...

and professor of

economics Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics analy ...

at the

London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 mill ...

(LSE). Moreover, he is currently director of the Centre for Economic Performance (CEP) and is a fellow of the

British Academy The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the same year. It is now a fellowship of more than 1,000 leading scholars span ...

, the

Society of Labor Economists A society is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Societi ...

and the

European Economic Association The European Economic Association (EEA) is a professional academic body which links European economists. It was founded in the mid-1980s. Its first annual congress was in 1986 in Vienna and its first president was Jacques Drèze. The current pres ...

. His current research interests include labour market inequality, the economics of education, and the economics of crime.

Biography

Stephen Machin earned a

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four ye ...

in economics from Wolverhampton Polytechnic in 1985 as well as a Ph.D. from the

University of Warwick , mottoeng = Mind moves matter , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £7.0 million (2021) , budget = £698.2 million (202 ...

in 1988, wherein he analysed the impact of

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits (s ...

s on economic performance. After his Ph.D., he worked first as a lecturer (1988–93), then as a reader (1993-96), and finally as professor of economics at

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = � ...

(1996-2016). Since 1994, Machin has repeatedly held positions at the Centre for Economic Performance (CEP) at the

London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 mill ...

(LSE) before becoming CEP's director and accepting a professorship in economics at LSE in 2016. Additionally, Machin has served as director of the Centre for the Economics of Education at LSE (1999-2009) and held visiting appointments at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

(1993–94) and at MIT (2001–02). In terms of professional service and responsibilities, Stephen Machin is a member of the council of the

Royal Economic Society The Royal Economic Society (RES) is a professional association that promotes the study of economic science in academia, government service, banking, industry, and public affairs. Originally established in 1890 as the British Economic Association, ...

, a fellow of the

(EEA),

, and

, and an editor of ''

Economica ''Economica'' is a peer review, peer-reviewed academic journal of generalist economics published on behalf of the London School of Economics by Wiley-Blackwell. Established in 1921, it is currently edited by Nava Ashraf, Oriana Bandiera, Tim Besl ...

''. In the past, Machin has been a council member of the EEA (2014–18), president of the Economics Section of the

British Science Association The British Science Association (BSA) is a Charitable organization, charity and learned society founded in 1831 to aid in the promotion and development of science. Until 2009 it was known as the British Association for the Advancement of Scien ...

(2013), a president of the European Association of Labour Economists (2009–11), and was an editor of the ''

Economic Journal ''The Economic Journal'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal of economics published on behalf of the Royal Economic Society by Oxford University Press. The journal was established in 1891 and publishes papers from all areas of economics.The edit ...

'' (1998-2013) and of the ''

International Journal of Industrial Organization International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...

'' (1995–97).

Research

Stephen Machin's research focuses on labour economics, the economics of education, the

economics of crime Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics analyze ...

, and

industrial economics In economics, industrial organization is a field that builds on the theory of the firm by examining the structure of (and, therefore, the boundaries between) firms and markets. Industrial organization adds real-world complications to the perfe ...

. According to

IDEAS/RePEc Research Papers in Economics (RePEc) is a collaborative effort of hundreds of volunteers in many countries to enhance the dissemination of research in economics. The heart of the project is a decentralized database of working papers, preprints, ...

, Machin belongs to the 1% of most-cited economists, in particular ranking 9th among education economists.

Labour economics

In labour economics, main areas of Machin's research include

minimum wage A minimum wage is the lowest remuneration that employers can legally pay their employees—the price floor below which employees may not sell their labor. Most countries had introduced minimum wage legislation by the end of the 20th century. B ...

s, trends in

wage inequality In economics, income distribution covers how a country's total GDP is distributed amongst its population. Economic theory and economic policy have long seen income and its distribution as a central concern. Unequal distribution of income causes eco ...

and

social mobility Social mobility is the movement of individuals, families, households or other categories of people within or between social strata in a society. It is a change in social status relative to one's current social location within a given societ ...

, and

skill-biased technological change Causes of income inequality in the United States describes the reasons for the unequal distribution of income in the US and the factors that cause it to change over time. This topic is subject to extensive ongoing research, media attention, and ...

. In the mid- and late 1990s, following

David Card David Edward Card (born 1956) is a Canadian-American labour economist and professor of economics at the University of California, Berkeley. He was awarded half of the 2021 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences "for his empirical contributi ...

and

Alan B. Krueger Alan Bennett Krueger (September 17, 1960 – March 16, 2019) was an American economist who was the James Madison Professor of Political Economy at Princeton University and Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. He served ...

's re-evaluation of the employment effects of the minimum wage, Stephen Machin (with Alan Manning) conducted research in the U.K. on the subject. In general, they find that the decrease in the ratio between Britain's minimum wage and its average wage significantly contributed to growing wage dispersion in the 1980s but didn't increase employment, which in turn suggests that - with the possible exception of young workers - the minimum wage had either no or a small positive effect on employment. They further argue that this finding extends to other European countries for 1966-1996 and is in line with monopsonistic models of labour demand. The rise in

in the United Kingdom from the late 1970s prompted Machin to research the subject, along with developments in

intergenerational mobility Social mobility is the movement of individuals, families, households or other categories of people within or between social strata in a society. It is a change in social status relative to one's current social location within a given societ ...

. Amongst other things, Machin (with

Lorraine Dearden Lorraine Margaret Dearden (born 1 October 1961) is an Australo- British economist and professor of economics and social statistics at the Department of Social Science of the Institute of Education, University College London. Her research focus ...

and Howard Reed) finds that intergenerational mobility is low in Britain as upward mobility from the bottom of the wage distribution fails to compensate for the rigidity of downward mobility from its top. With regard to wage inequality, Machin, Costas Meghir and Amanda Gosling argue that the growth in British wage inequality in 1978-95 is mainly due to increases in the differences between returns to education and the persistently slow growth of entry level wages. Related to his work on the role of wage-education differentials, Machin has also conducted research on

. In particular, he finds (with

John van Reenen John van Reenen (26 March 1947 – 21 August 2018) was a South African graphic artist and discus thrower, who was best known for setting the world record in the men's discus event in 1975. He was drafted in the 14th round of the 1972 NFL Draft ...

) that the relative demand for skilled workers increased throughout the 1970s and 1980s all across the

OECD The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; french: Organisation de coopération et de développement économiques, ''OCDE'') is an intergovernmental organisation with 38 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate ...

(and not only in the U.S.) as technical change required workers to upgrade their skills and shows (with Eli Berman and John Bound) that the larger the skill-biased technological change is, the larger its potential to depress the relative wages of less-skilled workers, thus resulting in higher wage inequality.

Economics of education

In the economics of education, Machin's research ranges from the effect of school quality on property prices, trends in educational inequality, the impacts of

school choice School choice is a term for education options that allow students and families to select alternatives to public schools. The most common in the United States, by both the number of programs and by the number of participating students are schol ...

, school competition, and ICT in primary education on student achievement to education policy. With Stephen Gibbons, he finds that a 10pp increase in a British neighbourhood in the share of children reaching the grade corresponding to their age increases the neighbourhood's property prices by 6.7%, implying that society values improved primary school performance by up to GBP 90 per year and per child at 2000 property prices. In research with Jo Blanden on educational inequality in the UK, Machin finds that the expansion of British higher education from the 1970s to 1990s has disproportionately benefited children from relatively richer backgrounds and widened participation gaps between rich and poor children. Addressing methodological shortcomings in the earlier literatures, Machin, Gibbons,

Sandra McNally Sandra McNally (born July 1972) is an Irish economist, who is Professor of Economics at the University of Surrey and works at the Centre for Economic Performance (CEP), at the London School of Economics (LSE). Her research interests include econ ...

and Olmo Silva use IV estimations to study the impact of new technology in British primary schools, of increased school choice for students and of stronger competition between schools on student achievement, and find a positive impact for ICT investments, though generally no or only very limited effects for school choice and competition.

Economics of crime

A more recent area of Machin's research has been the economics of crime. In particular, Machin and Meghir find a strong negative link between low-skilled workers' wages and crime rates, as well as important effects for crime deterrents and returns to crime, thus further emphasizing the importance of economic incentives for crime. Exploiting changes in

compulsory schooling Compulsory education refers to a period of education that is required of all people and is imposed by the government. This education may take place at a registered school or at other places. Compulsory school attendance or compulsory schooling ...

laws in the UK through a

regression discontinuity design In statistics, econometrics, political science, epidemiology, and related disciplines, a regression discontinuity design (RDD) is a quasi-experimental pretest-posttest design that aims to determine the causal effects of interventions by assigning a ...

, Machin, Olivier Marie and Suncica Vujic find that education can substantially reduce (property) crime rates. Finally, Machin, Brian Bell and Francesco Fasani find that the influx of asylum seekers into the UK in the late 1990s and early 2000s modestly increased property crime, whereas the influx of immigrants from eastern European EU members decreased it property crime, with immigration having no effect on violent crime in either case, thus underlining the importance of labour market opportunities as a means to reduce crime rates.

Industrial and urban economics

Investigating the impact of developing an innovation on British corporations' profitability, Machin,

van Reenen Van Reenen (pronounced "Fun Reenen") is a settlement in Uthukela District Municipality in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. It is located on the N3 national road at the top of Van Reenen's Pass on the Great Escarpment of the Drakensbe ...

and

Paul Geroski Paul Andrew Geroski (18 October 1952 – 28 August 2005) was a leading economist in the United Kingdom. Although born in Pleasantville, New York, United States, Geroski studied and spent most of his career in Britain, where he settled perma ...

observe that the indirect effects of innovation on profits due to innovation signalling firms' internal commitment to improving their competitiveness are up to three times as large as the direct effect of producing a new product or using a new, more efficient production process. Around the same time, Machin (with Paul Gregg and Stefan Szymanski) also studied the vanishing relation between directors' pay and their firms performance over the 1980s and early 1990s, finding that directors' pay became completely disconnected from corporate performance around 1988 and was instead driven by corporate growth. Finally, Machin and Gibbons pioneered a new approach to estimating consumers' valuation of rail access through housing prices, finding that local households significantly valued the construction of new stations in the context of improvements to the

London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England. The U ...

and

Docklands Light Railway The Docklands Light Railway (DLR) is an automated light metro system serving the redeveloped Docklands area of London, England and provides a direct connection between London's two major financial districts, Canary Wharf and the City of L ...

in South East London in the late 1990s.Gibbons, S., Machin, S. (2005). Valuing rail access using transport innovations. ''Journal of Urban Economics'', 57(1), pp. 148-169.
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References

External links

Stephen Machin's homepage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Machin, Stephen British economists 1962 births Labor economists Education economists Alumni of the University of Warwick Microeconometricians Academics of the London School of Economics Living people Fellows of the European Economic Association