Danilo Spinola

Welcome to my professional page!

About Me

I am a Senior Lecturer in Economics at Birmingham City University (BCU), a Senior Economics Consultant at the French Development Agency (AFD) and an affiliated researcher at the United Nations University - Maastricht Economics Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (UNU-Merit), Maastricht University. I hold a PhD in the Economics of Innovation from Maastricht University/UNU-MERIT. My research examines how macroeconomic dynamics, productive structures, and environmental constraints interact to shape development trajectories in emerging and middle-income economies.

My work is grounded in structuralist, Keynesian, and evolutionary economics and combines dynamic macroeconomic modelling, agent-based simulations, and network analysis to evaluate industrial, innovation, and climate policies under real-world financial and structural constraints.

Research Profile

🔹 Ecological Macroeconomics & Green Transitions: Modelling climate policy, land use, energy systems, and environmental regulation in developing economies.

🔹 Structural Change & Industrial Policy: Demand-led growth, productive transformation, and balance-of-payments constraints.

🔹 Innovation Systems & Capability Building: Agent-based models of learning, coalition formation, and inclusive innovation.

🔹 Trade, Networks & Global Production: Digital technologies, value chains, and geopolitical restructuring of trade networks.

Publications appear in journals such as Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Review of Political Economy, Metroeconomica, and Review of Evolutionary Political Economy.

Teaching and Supervision

At Birmingham City University, I teach across undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in:

• Economics for Sustainable Development
• Political Economy
• Labour Economics
• Economic History
• Industrial Economics

I supervise PhD and MSc students working on development economics, innovation systems, macroeconomic modelling, and ecological transition policies. I am a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA) and committed to research-led and policy-relevant teaching.

Current Research Themes

• Dynamic system-dynamics extensions of the Leontief input–output model
• Macroeconomic impacts of climate and conservation policies (NDCs)
• Innovation systems in structurally constrained economies
• Green industrial policy and mission-oriented innovation
• Digital production technologies and trade network restructuring

These projects are often conducted in collaboration with international organisations and policy institutions, including ECLAC, IDB, and INET.

Contact and CV

📄 Download CV: (click here)
📧 Email: danilo.spinola@bcu.ac.uk
📍 Office: Curzon Building, Room C213, Birmingham City University, UK

I welcome collaboration proposals, research partnerships, and enquiries from prospective postgraduate students.