Research:

Professor Henley has research interests in self-employment and entrepreneurship, in the economics of human resources, and in housing finance. The main focus of his current research on investigating entrepreneurial aspirations and the factors associated with individual decisions to choose entrepreneurship or self-employment as an occupation. Recent research has focused on analysis of the British Household Panel Survey, the UK’s major longitudinal survey of 5000 households since 1991. Closely related work focuses on investigating the growth on the informal (unregistered) sector in Latin America, and in particular on whether individuals are pushed into the informal sector by the lack of quality jobs or whether this sector represents dynamic entrepreneurialism in the economy. Research on housing finance addresses the question of whether the growth of housing wealth affects individual and household decisions concerning the labour market and savings behaviour.

Administration:

Director, LEAD Wales Programme
Head of School of Business and Economics (2005 to 2010)
Member of the University Management Board.

External Activity:

2008 to date: Research Fellow, IZA Institute for Labor, Berlin (www.iza.org/profile?key=3168)
2002 to date: Appointed member of the Welsh Assembly Government’s Economic Research Advisory Panel (http://new.wales.gov.uk/about/aboutresearch/econoresearch/advisorypanel/?lang=en)
2006 to 2009: Council Member, Wales Management Council (www.crc-wmc.org.uk)
2007 to date: Member, Scientific Advisory Committee, UK Household Longitudinal Survey
2005-2007: Member, Scientific Steering Committee, British Household Panel Survey

Selected recent publications:

• House price shocks, negative equity and household consumption in the UK, Journal of the European Economic Association (forthcoming) (with Richard Disney and John Gathergood)
• On defining and measuring the informal sector: evidence from Brazil, World Development (2009 in press) (with G.R. Arabsheibani and F.G. Carneiro [http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2008.09.011]
• Entrepreneurial aspiration and transition into self-employment: evidence from British longitudinal data, Entrepreneurship and Regional Development 19(3): 253-280 (May 2007) [http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08985620701223080]
• Entrepreneurship and rural economic development: a scenario analysis approach, International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour and Research 12(5): 289-305 (October 2006) (with N. Fuller-Love, P. Midmore and D. Thomas) [ http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/13552550610687655]
• Changes in human capital and earnings inequality: recent evidence from Brazil, Journal of Development Studies 42(5): 837-867 (July 2006) (with G.R. Arabsheibani and F.G. Carneiro[http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00220380600742084]
• Scenario analysis and regional economic development: the case of mid Wales, European Urban and Regional Studies 13(2): 143-150 (April 2006) (with N. Fuller-Love P. Midmore and D. Thomas). [http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0969776406062523]
• On regional growth convergence in Great Britain, Regional Studies, 39(9): 1245-60 (December 2005) [http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00343400500390123]
• Job creation by the self-employed: the roles of entrepreneurial and financial capital, Small Business Economics 25(2): 175-196 (2005). [http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11187-004-6480-1]
• Earnings and Linguistic Proficiency in a Bilingual Economy, The Manchester School 73(3): 300-320, (June 2005) (with Rhian Eleri Jones) [http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9957.2005.00448.x]
• House price shocks, windfall gains and hours of work: British evidence for the 1990s, Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics 66(4): 439-456 (September 2004). [http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.14680084.2004.00088.x]
• Self-employment status: The role of state dependence and initial conditions, Small Business Economics 22(1): 67-82 (February 2004). [http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/B:SBEJ.0000011573.84746.04
• Industry-wide versus firm-specific uncertainty and investment: British company panel data evidence, Economics Letters 78: 87-92 (January 2003) (with Alan Carruth and Andy Dickerson). [http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0165-1765(02)00169-6]
• Pot of gold or winner’s curse? An event study of the auctions of 3G mobile telephone licences in the UK, Fiscal Studies, 23(4): 447-462 (December 2002) (with John Cable and Kevin Holland).
• Housing costs, house price shocks and savings behaviour among older households in Britain, Regional Science and Urban Economics, 32(5): 607-625 (September 2002) (with Richard Disney and Gary Stears). [http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0166-0462(01)00086-2]
• Public service employment and the public-private wage differential in British regions, Regional Studies 35(3): 229-240 (May 2001) (with Dennis Thomas).[http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00343400120039632]