About

We are economists and thinkers from a range of disciplines who challenge conventional wisdom and advance ideas to better serve society.

Research

We develop research that challenges economic orthodoxy and serves society.

Articles

Commentary, analysis, interviews, and research summaries by INET-affiliated writers.

Video

Interviews, presentations and video series with provocative economic thinkers, public figures and students.

Podcast

Economics and Beyond with Rob Johnson, a podcast featuring interviews with some of the world’s most important thinkers, artists, and activists about the pressing issues of our time. The podcast is also available on all major podcasting platforms, such as Apple, Spotify, Google, and Podbean.

Education

Video series and courses for students and educators interested in exploring new economic thinking.

Events

To foster new economic thinking, we host convenings that gather together a diverse community of thinkers from different fields, countries, and schools of thought.

YSI

Through the Young Scholars Initiative (YSI), INET provides support to students, young professionals, or others who embrace new and critical ways of thinking about the economy. YSI fosters conversation among those who wish to engage with new economic thinking and connects young scholars to the Institute’s vast network of economists.

Topics

Browse all INET content organized by topic

John MCombie

John McCombie is Professor of Regional and Applied Economics in the Department of Land Economy, and Director of the Cambridge Centre for Economic and Public Policy at the University of Cambridge, UK. He is Fellow and Director of Studies of Economics and Land Economy at Downing College, Cambridge. He has previously been a member of the Department of Economics at the University of Hull, U.K. and University of Melbourne, Australia. John McCombie is a Fellow of the Regional Studies Association and a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences.

He is co-editor of Spatial Economic Analysis. His research interests are regional economics, the causes of regional and national growth rate disparities, economic growth and the balance-of-payments constraint and economic methodology in the light of the current economic crisis. He has published widely in such journals as the Economic Journal, Oxford Economic Papers, Urban Studies, Cambridge Journal of Economics, Metroeconomica, and the Journal of Post Keynesian Economics. His latest major work is the book (co-authored with Jesus Felipe) entitled The Aggregate Production Function and Technical Change. ‘Not Even Wrong’ (Edward Elgar, 2013), which is a fundamental critique of this widely used macroeconomic concept.

By this expert

Income Inequality and Growth: Problems with the Orthodox Approach

Paper Conference paper | By John MCombie | Mar 2015

This paper discusses the main issues about increasing inequality, whether it matters and its impact on economic activity and growth. It starts by briefly considering the empirical evidence of the share of income going to the top one percent since 1945 in the advanced countries. It then considers whether this represents an increase in the productivity of the top one percent or merely an extraction of economic rent.