Research Interests:
Kate’s main areas of research are productivity and competitiveness.  Kate’s research has looked at the impact of a variety of factors such as foreign direct investment, technology, skills and innovation on the productive performance of firms and industrial sectors.  Her research comprises of international comparisons of largely sectoral performance, and microeconometric analysis of UK firms.

External Activity:
Visiting Fellow at the National Institute of Economic and Social Research, London.
Academic expert on UKTI Steering Committee evaluating the progress of a project on the impact of FDI on business performance in the UK, 2008/09.

Recent Grants:
Low Pay Commission ‚The impact of Recent Upratings of the National Minimum Wage on Competitiveness, Business Performance and Sector Dynamics’ with John Forth, Ana Rincon-Aznar (NIESR), and Richard Harris, Glasgow (~£110,000 - £87,000 to NIESR)
Drivers of Sectoral Performance (with Micheal Peneder, WIFO, Emilio Rossi, Global Insight and Mary O’Mahony, Birmingham) – DG Enterprise study January – December 2007 (total of approx. €350,000, €100,000 to NIESR)
Business start-ups, closures and economic churn:  A review of the literature for the Small Business Service of the UK Department of Trade and Industry – March-August 2006 (£21,000)
Scottish Office: ‘Feasibility study of constructing sectoral Scottish productivity data’ (with Richard Harris)  January – May 2006 (£6,000)

Academic publications:

• Mas, Matilde, Lorenzo Serrano Martinez, Mari Kangasniemi and Catherine Robinson (2009) BBVA Working Paper nº 10/2009: The Economic Impact of Migration: Productivity Analysis for Spain and the United Kingdom.
• Kangasniemi, Mari and Catherine Robinson (2008) The impact of organisational change on productivity. Sectoral evidence from the UK, 1995-2005, EUKLEMS Working Paper 29.
• Kangasniemi, Mari, Matilde Mas, Catherine Robinson and Lorenzo Serrano (2008) The Economic Impact of Migration – Productivity Analysis for Spain and the UK, EUKLEMS Working Paper 30.
• ‘Productivity Growth in the US and the EU: A sectoral analysis’ (2008) Mary O’Mahony, Ana Rincon-Aznar and Catherine Robinson, National Institute Discussion Paper 307.
• ‘Sectoral Growth in the European Union: An overview of output and input trends’ (2008) Mary O’Mahony, Ana Rincon-Aznar and Catherine Robinson, National Institute Discussion Paper 306.
• O’Mahony, M., C. Robinson and M. Vecchi (2008) ‘The impact of ICT on the demand for skilled labour: A cross-country comparison’, Labour Economics, 15 (6), p.1435-1450.
• O’Mahony, M. and C. Robinson (2007) ‘UK Growth and Productivity in an International Perspective: Evidence from EUKLEMS’, National Institute Economic Review, 200 64-78.
• Harris, R.I.D. and C. Robinson, (2005) ‘Sources of Total Factor Productivity Growth in Assisted and Non-assisted Plants: evidence from UK manufacturing, 1990-1998’, Regional Studies, 3 (6), 751-765.
• Matteucci, N., M. O’Mahony, C. Robinson and T. Zwick (2005) ‘Productivity, workplace performance and ICT: Industry and firm level evidence for Europe and the US’, Scottish Journal of Political Economy, 52 (3), 359-386.
• Thorpe, A. and C. Robinson, (2004) ‘The biotechnological food revolution: exploring the governance issues’, International Journal of Agricultural Resources, Governance and Ecology, 3(1/2), 11-32.
• Thorpe, A. and C. Robinson, (2004) ‘When goliaths clash: US and EU differences over the labeling of food products derived from genetically modified organisms’, Agriculture and Human Values, 21, 287-298.
• Harris, R.I.D. and C. Robinson, (2004) ‘Industrial Policy in Great Britain and its effect on Total Factor Productivity in Manufacturing Plants, 1990-1998’, Scottish Journal of Political Economy, 51 (4), 528-543.
• Harris, R.I.D. and C. Robinson, (2004) ‘Productivity impacts and spillovers from foreign ownership in the United Kingdom’, National Institute Economic Review, 187, 58-75.
• O’Mahony, M. and C. Robinson (2003) ‘The Growth of ICT and Industry Performance – manufacturing in the US and UK compared’, National Institute Economic Review, 184, 70-82.
• Harris R.I.D. and C. Robinson, (2003) ‘Foreign Ownership and Productivity in the United Kingdom. Estimates for UK manufacturing using the ARD’, Review of Industrial Organization, 22(3), 207-223.
• Harris, R.I.D. and C. Robinson, (2002) 'The Impact of Foreign Acquisitions on Total Factor Productivity: Plant Level Estimates from UK Manufacturing 1987-1992' Review of Economics and Statistics, 84 (3), 562-568.
• Jaffry S., S. Pascoe and C. Robinson, (1999) 'Long run price flexibilities for high valued UK fish Species: a cointegration systems approach' Applied Economics, 31, 473-481.
• Pascoe S. and C. Robinson, (1998) 'Input controls, input substitution and profit maximisation in the English Channel beam trawl fishery' Journal of Agricultural Economics, 49 (1), 16-33.

Recent Reports:

• Contributions to various chapters, Competitiveness Report 2009 (forthcoming) and Competitiveness Report 2008.
• 2008, Sectoral Growth Drivers and Competitiveness in the European Union (Edited by Michael Peneder), co-authorship of chapters 1, 2, 8 and 9.2.
• 2003, EU productivity and competitiveness: An industry perspective. Can Europe Resume the
  catching-up process? (Edited by Mary O'Mahony and Bart van Ark), co-authorship of Chapters 2 and 3.