Peter Hall Research Articles

Obituary—Peter Hall 1932–2014

Obituary—Peter Hall 1932–2014

Professor Sir Peter Hall (1932–2014)

Professor Sir Peter Hall (1932–2014)

Varieties of Economic Crisis, Varieties of Ideational Change: How and Why Financial Regulation and Macroeconomic Policy Differ

One of the principal tasks facing post-crash academic political economy is to analyse patterns of ideational change and the conditions that produce such change. What has been missing from the existing literature on ideational change at times of crises however, is a sense of how processes of persuasive struggle, and how the success of those ‘norm entrepreneurs’ arguing for ideational change is shaped by two contextual variables: the most immediate material symptoms and problems that a crisis displays (the variety of crisis); and the institutional character of the policy subsystem that agents have to operate within to affect change. Introducing these two variables into our accounts of persuasive struggle and ideational change enables us to deepen our understanding of the dynamics of ideational change at times of crisis. The article identifies that a quite rapid and radical intellectual change has been evident in the field of financial regulation in the form of an embrace of a macroprudential frame. In contrast in the field of macroeconomic policy – both monetary and fiscal policy, many pre-crash beliefs remain prominent, there is evidence of ideational stickiness and inertia, and despite some policy experimentation, overarching policy frameworks and their rationales have not been overhauled. The article applies Peter Hall's framework of three orders of policy changes to help illuminate and explain the variation in patterns of change in the fields of financial regulation and macroeconomic policy since the financial crash of 2008. The different patterns of ideational change in macroeconomic policy and financial regulation in the post-crash period can be explained by timing and variety of crisis; sequencing of policy change; and institutional political differences between micro policy sub systems and macro policy systems.

A Man for All Regions: Peter Hall and Regional Studies

Regional studies, or the study of regions, was central to Peter Hall (1932–2014) as a person and as a scholar. He was instrumental in founding the Regional Studies Association and the journal Regio...

TheClinicalJournal of Pathology: A new step in the evolution of publishing in pathology

The<i>Clinical</i>Journal of Pathology: A new step in the evolution of publishing in pathology

The politics of policy anomalies: bricolage and the hermeneutics of paradigms

This article addresses three issues troubling predominant models of paradigmatic policy change and proposes an alternative perspective on the subject. The first issue pertains to the conflation of very specific, but difficult to operationalize, types of policy change in Peter Hall’s standard three-order typology for understanding policy development. The second has to do with the view that exogenous phenomena, namely shifts in the locus of decision-making authority, are necessary for ‘paradigmatic’ policy change to occur. The third issue stems from Hall’s strict adaptation of Thomas Kuhn’s ideas concerning the (in)commensurability of succeeding paradigms. All three problems are shown to be derivative of the fact that policy change is more complex than often assumed. Instead of conceiving of policy change in definite or ‘ordered’ terms, it is argued that analytical focus should be directed toward the hermeneutic contest that unfolds as agents patch together ideas in the attempt to identify and explain the sources of policy problems. This largely discursive conflict takes place as agents vie to influence the structure of ‘solution sets’ in a process of ‘policy bricolage’. The article advances a revised and more actor-centered formula for understanding types of paradigmatic and intra-paradigmatic policy change by developing a more precise understanding of different types or ‘orders’ of policy anomalies and the role anomaly definition plays in the construction of new paradigms.

The Journal of Pathology: Clinical Research: a new step in the evolution of publishing in pathology

Evolution is perhaps the only constant in biology 1 and nothing makes sense in biology without evolution. Although Julian Huxley may have made a similar statement Dobzhansky is credited with the first clear use of this phrase. Of course the notion of evolution and the effects of selective pressure go far beyond biology and permeate every aspect of our world and our existence. Evolution is a feature of every walk of life. Nothing stays still. Change is a constant. This is apparent even in the world of scientific publishing. The Journal of Pathology has become the leading research pathology journal with enviable impact factor, turnaround times and a worldwide reputation for excellence. It is evolving and a new Journal, The Journal of Pathology: Clinical Research ( onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)2056‐4538) has just been launched.

Obituary—Peter Hall 1932–2014

Obituary—Peter Hall 1932–2014

Obituary—Peter Hall 1932–2014

Obituary—Peter Hall 1932–2014

Reassessing the concept of policy paradigm: aligning ontology and methodology in policy studies

ABSTRACTThe concept of policy paradigm, which was developed by Peter Hall in 1993, has given rise to an abundance of literature on ideas and policy dynamics. Despite its theoretical value, however, the original concept was insufficiently specified and has been used in problematic ways by many policy scholars, thereby undermining the validity of their descriptive and causal inferences. The main argument defended in this article is that scholars studying policy paradigms should devote as much attention to the ideas of policy makers as to the policies they adopt, while distinguishing between the two constructs as much as possible. This article reviews these issues and puts forward seven guidelines that aim to better circumscribe the concept of policy paradigm and improve research on ideas and policy dynamics.

Early-stage dementia

A CPD article helped Peter Hall ensure he achieves best practice in the care of patients with dementia

A világgazdaság irányító és ellenőrző központjai 2012-ben

Napjainkban a városokkal foglalkozó társadalomtudományi kutatások tekintélyes része fókuszál azokra a városokra, amelyek a globális gazdaságban meghatározó irányító és ellenőrző funkciókkal rendelkeznek. Az 1980-as évek közepétől ezekben a kutatásokban sokszor világvárosokként vagy globális városokként azonosítják a gazdaságirányítás csomópontjait (John Friedmann és Saskia Sassen hatására), elsősorban a „fejlett termelést segítő szolgáltatások” mennyiségi koncentrációja alapján. A tanulmányban visszatérek a világvárosok meghatározásának 1960/1970-es évekre jellemző, Peter Hall nevével fémjelzett irányzatához, és a multinacionális/transznacionális vállalatok, regionális nagyvállalatok, bankok és egyéb pénzpiaci szervezetek koncentrációja alapján definiálom a világgazdaság vezető csomópontjait. Az elemzésben a Forbes „The Global 2000” rangsorát, vagyis a világ 2000 legnagyobb tőzsdei cégét és azok főbb adatait (forgalom, piaci érték, profit, eszközállomány) tartalmazó adatbázist dolgozom fel. A globális irányító és ellenőrző központok rangsorát egy komplex mutató, az irányítás és ellenőrzés index segítségével vizsgálom meg. Alapvető célom egyrészt azt bemutatni, hogy 2012-ben mely városok voltak a világgazdaság irányító és ellenőrző központjai, másrészt azt megvizsgálni, hogy a feltörekvő gazdaságok, különösen a BRIC-országok vezető városai milyen viszonyban állnak a fejlett országok tradicionális gazdaságirányító központjaival.

The gradual transformation? The incremental dynamics of macroprudential regulation

AbstractThis article focuses on the transformatory potential of macroprudential ideas following the financial crash of 2008, examining how they are being mediated by existing institutional contexts and how and why the task of building a new body of technical macroprudential knowledge is proceeding slowly. It is argued that the movement toward a form of macroprudential regulation has a distinctly incremental dynamic that means any macroprudential transformation will be a gradual process that is likely to span a decade or more. Using Peter Hall's framework of three orders of policy change across substantive and temporal dimensions, the article argues that the macroprudential ideational shift can be compared to third order change. In this sense, it was intellectually radical and took place rapidly in a period of around six months. However, intellectual radicalism does not automatically translate into a radical change in regulatory practice, because of a variety of countervailing political, institutional, and informational variables. In this respect, the task of developing first and second order macroprudential policy is proving to be a much more politically contested process. Furthermore, macroprudential policy is being developed by cautious technocrats who rely on the gradual accumulation of data and evidence to justify policy. The result is a distinctly incremental dynamic to macroprudential policy development that displays many of the features of a process that historical institutionalists refer to as “layering.”

An isometric study of the Lindeberg–Feller central limit theorem via Stein’s method

We use Stein’s method to prove a generalization of the Lindeberg–Feller CLT providing an upper and a lower bound for the superior limit of the Kolmogorov distance between a normally distributed random variable and the rowwise sums of a rowwise independent triangular array of random variables which is asymptotically negligible in the sense of Feller. A natural example shows that the upper bound is of optimal order. The lower bound improves a result by Andrew Barbour and Peter Hall.

David Barron: a life in software, 1935–2012

David Barron: a life in software, 1935–2012

The New Political Economy of the Macroprudential Ideational Shift

From late 2008 onwards, in the space of six months, international financial regulatory networks centred around the Swiss city of Basel presided over a startlingly rapid ideational shift, the significance and importance of which remains to be deciphered. From being relatively unpopular and very much on the sidelines, the idea of macroprudential regulation (MPR) moved to the centre of the policy agenda and came to represent a new Basel consensus, as the principal interpretative frame, for financial technocrats and regulators seeking to diagnose and understand the financial crisis and to advance institutional blueprints for regulatory reform. This article sets out to explain how and why that ideational shift occurred. It identifies four scoping conditions of presence, position, promotion, and plausibility, that account for the successful rise to prominence of macroprudential ideas through an insiders' coup d'état. The final section of the article argues that this macroprudential shift is an example of a ‘gestalt flip’ or third order change in Peter Hall's terms, but it is not yet a paradigm shift, because the development of first order policy settings and second order policy instruments is still ongoing, giving the macroprudential ideational shift a highly contested and contingent character.

Simon Shepherd, The Cambridge Introduction to Modern British TheatreThe Cambridge Introduction to Modern British Theatre. Simon Shepherd. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 2009. Pp. vii+250.

<i>Simon Shepherd</i>, The Cambridge Introduction to Modern British Theatre<i>The Cambridge Introduction to Modern British Theatre</i>. Simon Shepherd. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 2009. Pp. vii+250.

Divided Loyalties: Peter Hall, Philip Parsons and the Dilemma of Utzon's Return

When Jørn Utzon resigned from the uncompleted Sydney Opera House project in February 1966, his successor Peter Hall was faced with innumerable and inevitably controversial design problems. But one of Hall's greatest dilemmas was not design-related. With Utzon signalling a wish to return to the job in early 1967, Hall found himself entangled in negotiations to pressure the government to reconcile with the original architect. Identified by the self-appointed conciliation strategist, Sydney academic Dr Philip Parsons, as the key intermediary by which negotiations succeeded or failed, Hall was torn between his professional regard for Utzon's claim to the building, doubts over Utzon's professed spirit of compromise and the contradictory advice of colleagues and government officials. Drawing on newly discovered documentation in Parsons' papers, this article explores the ambiguity of allegiances with which Hall was faced during 1967, Utzon's vacillating overtures and the well-intentioned dedication with which Parsons sought to affect a viable reconciliation. A little-known sequel to the much-published 1966 resignation story, the complex interweaving of Utzon's apparently changed attitude in 1967, Hall's divided loyalties and the government's continuing intransigence contribute new layers to the Opera House narrative.

Ideas and Policy Change

PeterHall's 1993 article came at the same time as a parallel body of literature was developing, some building explicitly, some only implicitly, on similar ideas. I review some literature on policy communities, ideas, and the nature of policy change before exploring the statistical distribution of budget changes at three levels of aggregation. The similarity of these results suggests that a single process may be at work rather than different processes for first‐, second‐, and third‐order change, asHall's original formulation has it. AsHall suggests, these processes typically generate only marginal adjustments but occasionally create fundamental change. The degree of discredit to the status quo may be an important unexplored variable in explaining the ability of policy reformers to enact marginal, substantial, or fundamental policy changes. In sum, this article shows the similarities and mutual value ofHall's approach with others that would appear to be starkly contrasting.

Leaders, footsoldiers and befrienders: The gendered nature of social capital and political participation in Britain

Feminist political scientists have had a two-track response to Robert Putnam's work on social capital. They have critiqued his original approach for failing to take gender into account, but they have also highlighted the potential of the concept for illuminating mechanisms that reproduce unequal gender relations. In the British case, Peter Hall and Vivien Lowndes have shown how key elements of Putnam's measures are highly gendered. Vivien Lowndes set out a research agenda for assessing the impact of men and women's group memberships upon political participation. This article tests Lowndes’ research questions using British data from the Citizenship Survey 2007. Men and women in Britain do belong to different formal associational networks but these differences do not appear to have a strong impact upon whether they participate in politics. Lowndes’ critique of the social capital literature's failure to incorporate women's informal child-care networks is supported; involvement in child-care networks is positively related to political participation in the form of signing petitions and negatively related to contacting Members of Parliament. Crucially, there are small but statistically significant divergences in the types of activities men and women undertake for organised groups and these roles are associated with variations in political participation.