Blanca L. Navarro (University of Granada, Spain) and Josephine D. Baker (New School for Social Research, United States) received the 2025 Fred Lee Early Career Prize, which awards papers submitted by early career scholars for the AHE annual conference.
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INSTITUTIONAL TRANSFORMATIONS AND THE NEW ACCUMULATION REGIME (1993–2023): THE SPANISH CASE
Blanca L. Navarro
Navarro applies Regulation Theory to Spain’s institutional and economic trajectory from 1982 to 2023. Her research highlights that Spain’s development model has been shaped by the dominant neoclassical ideology of EU institutions, producing economic policy continuity across political parties. Even prior to the 2007/08 crisis, institutional reforms established a new regime characterised by the financial sector’s dominance, weakened fiscal capacity, privatised strategic sectors, stagnating productivity, declining labour conditions, and wealth inequality. Despite successive crises (GFC, Eurozone debt crisis, Covid-19, cost-of-living crisis), the basic institutional and neoliberal structure has persisted, resulting in structurally high unemployment and exclusion. Navarro thus argues that tackling current macroeconomic and social challenges requires acknowledging the limits of mainstream economic thinking and overcoming Europe’s intellectual rigidity.
Blanca Lozano Navarro is a PhD student in Economics at the University of Granada, affiliated with the Research Group on Economic History, Institutions, and Development. Her dissertation draws on institutional and heterodox approaches—particularly Regulation Theory—to examine the evolution of the European Union’s mode of development. Her research focuses on political-economic transformations, with special attention to capital–labour relations, fiscal systems, market dynamics, the role of the state, and international integration. Committed to an interdisciplinary and critical perspective, she seeks to expose how neoliberal institutional arrangements undermine democratic sovereignty and economic justice, while advocating for a renewed welfare project grounded in solidarity and equality.
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THE ECONOMICS OF INTANGIBLE CONCENTRATION: POWER LAWS, INTANGIBLE ASSETS, AND INTELLECTUAL MONOPOLY
Josephine D. Baker
Baker investigates theories of knowledge monopolisation and market competition by analysing intangible-related firm attributes across Germany, Great Britain, France, Italy, and Spain (2018–2022). She explores whether intangible assets tend to concentrate disproportionately among a small number of firms. Despite the short period of observation, she finds no significant increase in the concentration of intangible assets or intangible-to-tangible ratios. However, her results support the idea that intangible assets follow different market dynamics and display stable patterns across countries, years, and firm sizes, suggesting a persistent underlying mechanism favouring intangible intensity and potential monopoly-like tendencies.
Josephine Baker is a PhD student in Economics at the New School for Social Research in New York city, USA. Josephine specialises in the economics of knowledge and information, quantitative political economy, and data visualisation. Josephine is one of the coordinators of the Quantitative Political Economy stream in the AHE.
The Association for Heterodox Economics (AHE) is delighted to announce that Andrew Mearman (University of Leeds) has been awarded Honorary Life Membership in recognition of his transformative, sustained contributions to the Association and to heterodox economics more broadly. Dr Mearman was co-ordinator of AHE’s Management Committee for 3 years (2004-2007), leading the Association’s move towards pluralism and sustainability.
Andrew’s dedication and leadership have had a profound and enduring impact on the health and vibrancy of AHE. Central to this has been his role in convening the PhD Workshop on Heterodox Research Methods for Early Career Researchers, which has become a cornerstone of our community. The workshop not only nurtures new generations of scholars but also reinforces a supportive and collaborative spirit that is vital to the continued strength of the Association.
We are thrilled to honour Andrew with this lifetime recognition. The title of Honorary Life Member reflects the deep appreciation and gratitude of the AHE for his transformative contributions.
