Bailey studied Economics at the University of Birmingham, winning the Hargreaves-Beare Prize for best graduating student and graduating with a First Class Honours degree in 1988. This was followed by a master's degree at Birmingham in Russian and East European Studies with Economics, and later a PhD at the Birmingham Business School. He has written extensively on industrial and regional policy and globalisation, especially in relation to the auto industry, and appears frequently in the local, national and international media. Bailey was principal investigator on an ESRC funded project with Alex de Ruyter, Caroline Chapain, Gill Bentley and Stephen Hall looking at the impact of the MG Rover closure on workers, families and communities, and the policy response to this. This ESRC funded work on the impact of the MG Rover closure has attracted widespread publicity and was featured in the first of the booklets published by the Academy of Social Science and the ESRC on 'Making the Case for Social Science'. Bailey has held visiting posts at the University of Bologna, and in the US, Japan, France and the Czech Republic. Bailey took up his first post at the Birmingham Business School as a Research Associate working with George Harte and Roger Sugden, and was appointed a Professor in 2006 and Director of the Birmingham Business School in 2008. He moved to Coventry University Business School in 2009. In September 2013, he was appointed as 'Professor of Industrial Strategy' at Aston Business School, Aston University, before returning to the Birmingham Business School in May 2019. Outside of the Birmingham Business School, Bailey is Chair of the Regional Studies Association Europe Foundation, a Vice-Chair of the Regional Studies Association, having been Chair for two terms over 2006–2012, and an active blogger and columnist at The Birmingham Post newspaper. Bailey was elected an Academician of the Social Sciences in 2008. Bailey's high media profile and numerous roles have led to him being ranked in several listings of the most influential people in the region, including those in Business Insider magazine and the Birmingham Post 'Power 50'; in the latter he was ranked at No. 8 in 2009. Most recently he has been active through his academic work, blogs and extensive media work in keeping the plight of the ex-MG Rover workers in the public eye, in making the case for support for the firm Jaguar Land Rover, in pushing the case for support for the auto industry, in the campaign to defend Cadbury's independence and to push for greater protection for UK firms from takeover, and the need for the retention of some form of regional tier post RDAs.
Books
Keeping the Wheels on the Road: UK Auto after Brexit, edited by David Bailey, Alex de Ruyter, Neil Fowler and John Mair
The Political Economy of Brexit, edited by David Bailey and Leslie Budd
Devolution and the UK Economy, edited by David Bailey and Leslie Budd
New Perspectives on Industrial Policy for a Modern Britain, edited by David Bailey, Keith Cowling and Philip Tomlinson
Industrial Policy beyond the Crisis, edited by David Bailey, Helena Lenihan and Josep-Maria Arauzo-Carod
The Recession and Beyond. Local and Regional Responses to the Downturn, edited by David Bailey and Caroline Chapain 978-0-415-71015-2
Blogs from the Blackstuff. The Case for Rewiring the Economy, by David Bailey and John Clancy, Fifth Way Press, in association with Coventry University..
Industrial and Regional Policy in an Enlarging EU, edited by David Bailey and Lisa De Propris,.
Transnationals and Governments. Recent Policies in Japan, France, Germany, the United States and Britain, by David Bailey, George Harte and Roger Sugden,. 978-0-203-06662-1
Making Transnationals Accountable. A Significant Step for Britain by David Bailey, George Harte and Roger Sugden, 978-0-415-06870-3 978-0-203-01666-4
Regional Studies Association
Bailey was elected a Trustee and Board member of the Regional Studies Association in 2004, and was elected its Chair in 2006, serving two terms until 2012. Bailey is now a Vice-Chair of the Association and Editor of the journal Regional Studies
