David Spencer
@davidaspencer.bsky.social
Prof of Economics and Political Economy (Uni of Leeds, UK).
Work; Work Time; Work Reform. Authored: "Making Light Work" (2022) https://www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?book_slug=making-light-work-an-end-to-toil-in-the-twenty-first-century--9781509548620
Work; Work Time; Work Reform. Authored: "Making Light Work" (2022) https://www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?book_slug=making-light-work-an-end-to-toil-in-the-twenty-first-century--9781509548620
"One feature of capitalism is its ability to create work for people to do. A world without work is incompatible with capitalism," says me in this piece on AI and job loss - heartening to see a link to my book here www.dazeddigital.com/life-culture...
‘They said it was more cost effective’: The young workers replaced by AI
In recent years, the AI boom has sparked global panic about long-term job security. For an unlucky few, AI has come for their jobs already
www.dazeddigital.com
November 7, 2025 at 10:53 AM
"One feature of capitalism is its ability to create work for people to do. A world without work is incompatible with capitalism," says me in this piece on AI and job loss - heartening to see a link to my book here www.dazeddigital.com/life-culture...
Ironically, the government's stance against a four-day working week seems likely only to increase support for it as a societal goal www.theguardian.com/business/202...
Business and charity leaders urge ministers to lead England’s transition to four-day week
Open letter signed by more than 100 leaders comes after local government secretary criticised a council for switching to shorter week
www.theguardian.com
October 30, 2025 at 2:27 PM
Ironically, the government's stance against a four-day working week seems likely only to increase support for it as a societal goal www.theguardian.com/business/202...
The centrist economist doth protest too much, methinks www.theguardian.com/business/202...
The perils of centrist economics in a polarised world | Kenneth Rogoff
A decade ago, a prominent analysis was falsely cast as a call for austerity. Our real offence was suggesting there might be a trade-off between debt and growth
www.theguardian.com
October 27, 2025 at 9:27 AM
The centrist economist doth protest too much, methinks www.theguardian.com/business/202...
Review of my book in French (testing my language limits but Google translates suggests it has positive aspects: "His book 'Making Light Work' makes an important and instructive contribution to the literature on the quality of work") journals.openedition.org/travailemplo...
David A. Spencer, Making Light Work: An End to Toil in the Twenty-F...
David Spencer, professeur d’économie politique à l’université de Leeds, est l’un des penseurs britanniques du travail les plus influents. Son livre Making Light Work apporte une contribution à la f...
journals.openedition.org
October 20, 2025 at 3:05 PM
Review of my book in French (testing my language limits but Google translates suggests it has positive aspects: "His book 'Making Light Work' makes an important and instructive contribution to the literature on the quality of work") journals.openedition.org/travailemplo...
Participants in financial markets and buyers of gold display rational sentiments - discuss www.theguardian.com/business/202...
Global markets fall and gold hits record high amid jitters over US banks
Signs of credit stress send markets in Europe and Asia down, while investors turn to safe haven assets
www.theguardian.com
October 17, 2025 at 12:29 PM
Participants in financial markets and buyers of gold display rational sentiments - discuss www.theguardian.com/business/202...
Instead of cutting BS jobs, AI floods us with “workslop” - with comments from me cybernews.com/ai-news/ai-b...
Instead of cutting BS jobs, AI floods us with “workslop”
Experts say artificial intelligence is unlikely to reduce “bullshit jobs,” which are jobs that even people who perform them think are meaningless.
cybernews.com
October 15, 2025 at 1:09 PM
Instead of cutting BS jobs, AI floods us with “workslop” - with comments from me cybernews.com/ai-news/ai-b...
Unsure how these estimates are arrived at if the underlying data lacks info on hours worked... but if productivity is rising faster then its likely roots in lower headcounts and more intensive work hardly offers the basis for a step-change in the "UK's economic fortunes" www.ft.com/content/734f...
UK records rare burst of productivity growth, think-tank says
Resolution Foundation estimates output per hour worked rose 1.6% over past year
www.ft.com
October 15, 2025 at 8:27 AM
Unsure how these estimates are arrived at if the underlying data lacks info on hours worked... but if productivity is rising faster then its likely roots in lower headcounts and more intensive work hardly offers the basis for a step-change in the "UK's economic fortunes" www.ft.com/content/734f...
The question is not whether new technology will bring us more leisure time (this seems unlikely on current trends) but whether it *should* bring us more leisure time - what matters here is how technology like AI is developed and used www.ft.com/content/4011...
Are we about to enter an age of leisure? Don’t bet on it
Productivity gains won’t necessarily translate into the embrace of free time — especially in America
www.ft.com
October 14, 2025 at 2:58 PM
The question is not whether new technology will bring us more leisure time (this seems unlikely on current trends) but whether it *should* bring us more leisure time - what matters here is how technology like AI is developed and used www.ft.com/content/4011...
I guess in a path dependent world post neoclassical endogenous growth theory was bound to win a Nobel prize one day
October 13, 2025 at 10:33 AM
I guess in a path dependent world post neoclassical endogenous growth theory was bound to win a Nobel prize one day
Confused journalists googling Peter Howitt and finding a British actor and film director...
October 13, 2025 at 10:28 AM
Confused journalists googling Peter Howitt and finding a British actor and film director...
"As a working class teenager growing up in the 1980s much of what Harrison captures in V is a potent reminder of the world I had to navigate“ — words that resonate with me. And V remains powerful still today www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Tony Harrison poem V to be performed in Holbeck Cemetery
Tony Harrison's poem V will be read in Holbeck Cemetery in Leeds by five actors.
www.bbc.co.uk
October 12, 2025 at 8:46 AM
"As a working class teenager growing up in the 1980s much of what Harrison captures in V is a potent reminder of the world I had to navigate“ — words that resonate with me. And V remains powerful still today www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
I understand the bond markets are influential but it is concerning to say the least that they can effectively dictate fiscal policy. There is a real question of democracy here. The economy should be managed for people not for bond traders www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
Rachel Reeves looks for extra headroom in budget to insulate UK economy against bond market
Chancellor hopes to raise enough funds to stop damaging speculation about breaching fiscal rules
www.theguardian.com
October 11, 2025 at 9:31 AM
I understand the bond markets are influential but it is concerning to say the least that they can effectively dictate fiscal policy. There is a real question of democracy here. The economy should be managed for people not for bond traders www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
This result is hard to reconcile with persistently low investment levels in the UK - if jobs are in shorter supply, this is more likely due to old-fashioned cost-cutting than increases in business investment in AI www.theguardian.com/money/2025/o...
Gen Z faces ‘job-pocalypse’ as global firms prioritise AI over new hires, report says
British Standards Institution study across seven countries found quarter of bosses believe entry-level tasks could be automated to reduce costs
www.theguardian.com
October 9, 2025 at 4:08 PM
This result is hard to reconcile with persistently low investment levels in the UK - if jobs are in shorter supply, this is more likely due to old-fashioned cost-cutting than increases in business investment in AI www.theguardian.com/money/2025/o...
“living his best life” on holiday not doing research - a sobering message here for all academics (including the vast majority without Nobel prizes)
www.theguardian.com/science/2025...
www.theguardian.com/science/2025...
Nobel committee unable to reach prize winner who is ‘living his best life’ hiking off grid
Fred Ramsdell was among those honoured with a 2025 Nobel Prize in Medicine but might not know because he is somewhere in Idaho and uncontactable
www.theguardian.com
October 7, 2025 at 8:16 AM
“living his best life” on holiday not doing research - a sobering message here for all academics (including the vast majority without Nobel prizes)
www.theguardian.com/science/2025...
www.theguardian.com/science/2025...
Mixed feelings about this scheme: it creates opportunity to learn new skills and gain a discount on a house (cooperative housebuilding is the future) yet it also looks like a way to secure cheap labour (the going rate for a labourer is probably > £20 per hour) www.theguardian.com/money/2025/o...
‘Sweat equity’: homebuyers turn builders for £10k off their mortgage
In exchange for 500 hours of work, the schemes can provide more than just a route to home ownership
www.theguardian.com
October 4, 2025 at 7:18 AM
Mixed feelings about this scheme: it creates opportunity to learn new skills and gain a discount on a house (cooperative housebuilding is the future) yet it also looks like a way to secure cheap labour (the going rate for a labourer is probably > £20 per hour) www.theguardian.com/money/2025/o...
Reposted by David Spencer
Simon called it the "Information Fallacy." We call it "efficient inefficiency"--more efficiently doing things which aren't worth doing:
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Efficient Inefficiency: Organisational challenges of realising economic gains from AI
Organisations are increasingly using artificial intelligence (AI). Where AI performs productive tasks more efficiently than humans, organisations will…
www.sciencedirect.com
October 2, 2025 at 7:15 AM
Simon called it the "Information Fallacy." We call it "efficient inefficiency"--more efficiently doing things which aren't worth doing:
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
A notion of a hierarchy of courses fits with a functional view of education (one in step with human capital theory) www.theguardian.com/education/20...
Labour to bring back maintenance grants for students on ‘priority’ courses
Education secretary says means-tested grants for ‘those who need them most’ will be funded by new international student levy
www.theguardian.com
September 29, 2025 at 6:07 PM
A notion of a hierarchy of courses fits with a functional view of education (one in step with human capital theory) www.theguardian.com/education/20...
I guess it is equally morally hazardous to not intervene to protect jobs in the wider car sector www.ft.com/content/27e5...
‘Moral hazard’ warning after £1.5bn government loan guarantee for JLR
Carmaker receives official backing after cyber attack that has halted production
www.ft.com
September 29, 2025 at 6:32 AM
I guess it is equally morally hazardous to not intervene to protect jobs in the wider car sector www.ft.com/content/27e5...
Tony Harrison RIP. He never forgot his roots in Leeds and wrote with great passion and force www.theguardian.com/books/2013/f...
Tony Harrison's poem V is a timeless portrayal of working-class aspiration
Anthony Clavane: V reflects the social divisions that seem to have hardened 25 years after the poem's Channel 4 appearance caused outrage
www.theguardian.com
September 28, 2025 at 10:01 AM
Tony Harrison RIP. He never forgot his roots in Leeds and wrote with great passion and force www.theguardian.com/books/2013/f...
Not yet a furlough scheme but evidence of the active role that the state can and must play in managing shocks www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Government mulls financial support for JLR supply chain firms
Fears are growing that some of the car maker's suppliers could go bust without support.
www.bbc.co.uk
September 25, 2025 at 5:47 AM
Not yet a furlough scheme but evidence of the active role that the state can and must play in managing shocks www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
To stress a point often missed, govt borrowing acts to offset gaps in private spending and offers a support to growth - worry less about it than an economy that systematically fails to sustain higher private sector investment www.theguardian.com/business/202...
UK borrowing hits five-year high for August at £18bn
Worsening public finances mean Rachel Reeves will almost certainly announce tax rises in November budget
www.theguardian.com
September 19, 2025 at 10:25 AM
To stress a point often missed, govt borrowing acts to offset gaps in private spending and offers a support to growth - worry less about it than an economy that systematically fails to sustain higher private sector investment www.theguardian.com/business/202...
The UK labour market is "too flexible" to cope with disruption like a cyber attack and it would be better if it had a furlough scheme to protect jobs and livelihoods www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
JLR supply chain staff told to apply for universal credit, union says
Staff are being laid off with
www.bbc.co.uk
September 17, 2025 at 1:50 PM
The UK labour market is "too flexible" to cope with disruption like a cyber attack and it would be better if it had a furlough scheme to protect jobs and livelihoods www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
“could” and probably won’t if the aversion to business investment in the UK economy remains www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
AI could boost UK economy by 10% in 5 years, says Microsoft boss
Boss Satya Nadella said it was the biggest investment the firm had made outside of the US.
www.bbc.co.uk
September 17, 2025 at 8:01 AM
“could” and probably won’t if the aversion to business investment in the UK economy remains www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Forget the rise of the robots, the labour market is cooling on the back of increased uncertainty and continued weak investment www.theguardian.com/business/202...
UK labour market cools as pay growth slows and job losses rise
ONS figures come as the government is under pressure to revive Britain’s economy before the budget
www.theguardian.com
September 16, 2025 at 8:22 AM
Forget the rise of the robots, the labour market is cooling on the back of increased uncertainty and continued weak investment www.theguardian.com/business/202...
Jonas Gahr Støre has the support of all Leeds fans #lufc www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Tight vote in Norway to decide whether to stick with Labour or turn right
Norwegians go to the polls on Sunday and Monday, with domestic issues expected to be at the forefront of voters' minds.
www.bbc.co.uk
September 7, 2025 at 6:23 PM
Jonas Gahr Støre has the support of all Leeds fans #lufc www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...