James D. G. Wood

Associate Teaching Professor in Political Economy · University of Cambridge

Innovation Policy · Housing · Comparative Political Economy · Macroeconomic Governance

I am an Associate Teaching Professor in the Department of Politics and International Studies at the University of Cambridge and a Staff Fellow in Politics at Trinity Hall, where I serve as Director of Studies for Human, Social, and Political Sciences.

My research examines the comparative political economy of the United States and the United Kingdom, with a focus on innovation policy, housing markets, household debt, and macroeconomic governance. My book, States of Innovation: Driving the American Economy in the 21st Century (Bristol University Press, 2026), develops the Polycentric Innovation State framework to reconceptualise the role of the state in American economic development.

My work has appeared in Politics & Society, New Political Economy, the Review of International Political Economy, and the Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, where I also serve as Associate Editor.

Before entering academia, I spent nearly a decade in the US mortgage industry, an experience that informs my research on housing finance and financial governance.

You can find my CV here.