Role
Piers's teaching is focused on microeconomics topics. On the MSc Economics course he leads:
- Behavioural Applications in Economics and Finance.
This module looks at how behavioural economics may be used to explain a number of phenomena in real life.
He currently supervises PhD and DBA students covering topics from entrepreneurship in deprived areas, culture and entrepreneurship through to the relationship between health and economic growth.
He is the Head of Department for Economics.
Career overview
Before joining Nottingham Trent University Piers was employed as a lecturer in economics at Cardiff Metropolitan University. His teaching at Cardiff Metropolitan University included microeconomics courses covering topics such as public sector economics, health economics and game theory. During this time he was also a member of a number of PhD supervisory teams, with students’ topics ranging from Regional Economic Convergence to Currency Crises. Prior to this he worked as a research assistant at the University of Glamorgan, employed as part of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) team in Wales.
Research areas
Piers has published over 60 peer reviewed journal articles including papers in highly regarded journals including: Journal of Economic Geography; Economic Geography; and Small Business Economics. His work falls into three main areas, which are connected by a common thread of considering how softer factors such as culture and personality affect them.
Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management His work on entrepreneurship has stemmed from his previous employment on the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) project. The GEM study is an international study of entrepreneurial activities and attitudes. Piers worked as part of the team based in Wales contributing to the reports covering entrepreneurial activity and changes in attitudes. He has published papers on the topics of ethnic entrepreneurship, financing of small firms and third sector organisations, female entrepreneurship, and the relationship between FDI and domestic enterprise. He has undertaken work on female entrepreneurship funded by the European Union.
Regional and Local Competitiveness Recent research projects have been focused around benchmarking regional competitiveness including co-authoring the 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021 and 2023 UK Competitiveness Index (UKCI) and contributing to the assessment of the knowledge economy of Cardiff as part of the Knowcities project. He has written reports based on the UKCI for D2N2 Local Enterprise Partnership, Swindon and Wiltshire Local Enterprise Partnership, Nottingham Post, and Cardiff Capital Region. He is also co-author of The Global Competitiveness of Regions which covers the World Competitiveness Index of Regions a benchmarking exercise of over 500 regions around the world. He also co-edited the Handbook of Regions and Competitiveness.
Local and Regional Economic Development Piers has written a number of papers that consider local and regional development more broadly. These have considered both economic and non-economic outcomes such as well-being. Much of this work has considered how conditions create the desire and ability for individuals to affect their networks, skills and even their environment in a manner that collectively results in different development outcomes. Much of this work has been brought together in the book A Behavioural Theory of Economic Development: The Uneven Evolution of Cities and Regions co-authored with Professor Robert Huggins (Cardiff University). His project 'Innovation and the Pandemic: The Resilience and Evolution of Innovation Systems' was funded by the ESRC through the Productivity Insight Network.
External activity
Piers is the chairperson of the Economic Issues Trustees Board. This is the charity that looks after the journal Economic Issues based in Nottingham Trent University. Economic Issues is a peer reviewed journal that publishes articles in all fields of economics, but particularly promotes those that have implications for the teaching of economics.
Sponsors and collaborators
Professor Robert Huggins (Cardiff University)
Dr Caleb Kwong (University of Essex)
Press expertise
Piers has written and contributed to pieces that have been include in the Nottingham Post.