Technological change· Economic growth Cogs and Monsters How economics needs to adapt to solve the world’s crises UpcomingTuesday 12 October 2021 In-person event and live interactive webinar. This event will be streamed online with a limited in-person audience. Digital technology, big data, machine learning and AI are revolutionizing both the tools of economics and the phenomena it seeks to measure, understand, and shape. The profession faces enormous challenges and opportunities in responding effectively to these dizzying … Continued SIGN UP
Good job? How our experience of work has changed over the past 30 years UpcomingMonday 20 September 2021 In-person event and live interactive webinar. This event will be streamed online with a limited in-person audience. The world of work has changed substantially over the past 30 years – from what job we do, to how we do it and what we get paid. These things matter for our job satisfaction – indeed our … Continued SIGN UP
Ventures Can tech help boost worker power? Tuesday 14 September 2021 Live interactive webinar. Register to receive access link. For many workers the rise of tech has resulted in greater insecurity, increased managerial control and more stressful working conditions. But tech can also be deployed to help boost worker power, increase choices and improve information. What potential is there for unions to develop tech-based approaches? What … Continued READ MORE
Social care· Public spending· Economy and public finances Nationally insured? Analysing the Government’s tax-raising plan to fund health and social care Wednesday 8 September 2021 Having promised a plan to reform social care and to not raise National Insurance in the 2019 General Election Manifesto, the Government has delivered on one promise, and broken the other, in spectacular fashion today. With over £30 billion worth of tax rises being announced in just six months, further funding for the NHS coming … Continued READ MORE
Public spending· Economy and public finances The Chancellor’s Autumn crunch Assessing the key economic decisions to come Monday 6 September 2021 Since his surprise promotion in March 2020, Rishi Sunak has spent his first 18 months as Chancellor in full Covid crisis mode. But as the worst of the crisis appears to be behind us, the Government has an Autumn crunch of tough decisions ahead of it – with a Spending Review and potential Budget to … Continued READ MORE
Economy 2030· Economic growth From boom to bust and back again 200 years of economic change across Britain Thursday 2 September 2021 Book launch for ‘Two hundred years of muddling through’ by Duncan Weldon The UK is facing a decisive decade of change, responding to the triple shocks of Brexit, Covid-19 and the transition to Net Zero. But this is not the first time Britain has faced such a radical upheaval. From industrial revolutions and the rise … Continued READ MORE
Coronavirus· Household debt· Pensions & savings· Wealth & assets Whose wealth? Assessing the full impact of the pandemic on household wealth Monday 12 July 2021 While the Covid-19 pandemic has been about curbing and contraction – from normal activities to employment – many aspects of household wealth have grown very swiftly. Families unable to spend have amassed extra savings and homeowners have seen the value of their properties soar. But these wealth surges have been far from even, with some … Continued READ MORE
Coronavirus· Living standards· Labour market The final furlough? Family finances in the Covid recovery Thursday 1 July 2021 The UK economy is bouncing back after the deepest downturn in over three centuries. That bounce is being felt in the labour market too, with furlough rates falling and some firms even reporting challenges hiring. However, almost three million people are still not working, while unemployment may rise later in the year. While the UK’s … Continued READ MORE
Economy 2030 A decisive decade for British business In conversation with Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng Tuesday 22 June 2021 Having suffered the biggest economic contraction in 300 years, the UK economy is back on the road to recovery. But the Covid recovery is just one of many huge economic shifts confronting British businesses over the next decade as the country embarks on a new future outside the EU, faces an urgent transition towards a … Continued READ MORE
Coronavirus· Demographics· Intergenerational Centre Boomers and boomerangs The past and pandemic present of multi-generational living Monday 21 June 2021 The Covid-19 pandemic has had huge impacts on young people. Many have been furloughed, while others have lost their job or been unable to find one in the first place. And everyone has heard stories about how coping with these difficulties has seen many young people return to live with their parents. So-called ‘boomerangs’, opting … Continued READ MORE
Ventures· Job quality and security Technology and low pay How Workertech can help build a better post-Covid future for workers Tuesday 8 June 2021 Discussions of the Future of Work frequently tend to focus on the role of technology in facilitating remote working for knowledge workers, the rise of the robots and the implications of AI. They seldom discuss how technology could be deployed to improve the prospects of low paid and insecure workers. The Resolution Foundation, in partnership … Continued READ MORE
Labour market· Low pay· Pay· Living Wage Earning back better The future of low pay in Britain Monday 7 June 2021 Britain’s low-paid workers have been at the epicentre of the Covid-19 crisis – as key workers unable to work from home during lockdown, or as those most likely to have lost their jobs as our low-paying social sectors – from hospitality to retail – have closed. As the economy reopens, low-paid workers should be at … Continued READ MORE
Coronavirus· Fiscal policy· Macroeconomic policy Returning to centre stage Fiscal policy in the recovery Tuesday 1 June 2021 Fiscal policy has returned centre stage during the Covid-19 pandemic. But as countries begin to recovery from the crisis, they are taking different approaches to the scale of fiscal expansion and the timing of fiscal retrenchment. What is the right approach to fiscal policy in the recovery, and what are the challenges in terms of … Continued READ MORE
Coronavirus· Economic growth Building back better Structural change in post-pandemic economies Thursday 27 May 2021 From the emptying of city centres and closure of entire industries, to the rapid growth in remote offices and new methods of work, the Covid-19 pandemic has fast-forwarded change in our economies. How much of this change is permanent, and what does it mean for how and where we live and work? How can policy … Continued READ MORE
Coronavirus· Productivity & industrial strategy· Economic growth Powering ahead Raising our productivity game post-pandemic Wednesday 26 May 2021 The period between the Global Financial Crisis and the Covid-19 pandemic has been marked by chronically weak productivity across many advanced economies. In the UK that has seen weak pay growth and stagnant living standards. The Covid recovery offers an opportunity to reset this dismal productivity record, but how should policy makers do this? In … Continued READ MORE
Coronavirus The Covid Recovery Overcoming the Economic Challenges Monday 24 May 2021 The Covid-19 pandemic is far from over. But the roll-out of vaccines across the world holds out the promise that the Covid recovery, while not assured, is in sight. Due to the nature and scale of the crisis – which has upended everything from household working trends to government deficits – this means the Covid … Continued READ MORE
Social care Time to care? Prospects for social care reform post-pandemic Thursday 20 May 2021 For decades now, successive Governments have promised to reform the UK’s fraying social care system. But reform has not come. Delay and inaction has instead left the system closer to breaking point, and its failures have been devastatingly exposed during a crisis in which tens of thousands of care home residents have lost their lives. … Continued READ MORE
Living standards· Labour market· Brexit & trade· Technological change· Economic growth The UK’s decisive decade Launch of The Economy 2030 Inquiry Tuesday 18 May 2021 The UK is on the brink of a decade of change. In the 2020s, the country will need to not just recover from Covid-19, but also emerge from the EU, urgently transition towards a Net Zero future, and adapt to transformative technology. Instead of simply being the post-pandemic period, this is the decisive decade in … Continued READ MORE
Coronavirus· Jobs· Labour market· Wellbeing A hidden Covid crisis? Assessing the pandemic’s impact on young workers and their mental health Thursday 13 May 2021 Many young people have had to put their lives and livelihoods on hold over the past year. They have experienced the biggest employment hit, and a big deterioration in their mental health. But the link between these two issues of job insecurity and poor mental health is rarely discussed. As the country reopens, understanding the … Continued READ MORE
Tax Taxing times The good, bad and ugly of tax through the ages Monday 10 May 2021 Book launch for ‘Rebellion, Rascals, and Revenue’ by Michael Keen and Joel Slemrod. Pre-order here. Live interactive webinar. Register for event access link. Taxation is famously the only certainty in life, beyond death. But the story of its evolution across the world over the centuries is far livelier and more unpredictable than this implies. … Continued READ MORE
Living standards· Social care· Welfare Post-pandemic, post-Beveridge? Assessing the case for redesigning the welfare state Thursday 29 April 2021 Millions of us have been supported by social security during the pandemic, which has provided a living standards lifeline amid a deep economic shutdown. But the inadequacy of the UK’s benefit system has also been exposed. The Chancellor had to invent whole new kinds of income protection overnight and boost the basic level of benefits, … Continued READ MORE
Coronavirus· Intergenerational Centre Covid secure? Older workers during the pandemic Monday 26 April 2021 The age spread of labour market damage from the Covid-induced economic crisis is distinctly U shaped. The youngest workers have been worst affected, accounting for two-thirds of the fall in payrolled employment. But older workers have also been hard hit and the challenges they face from job losses are significant – from longer periods of … Continued READ MORE
Coronavirus· Living standards· Incomes Covid Comparisons How household finances have been hit across the UK, France and Germany Wednesday 21 April 2021 The Covid-19 pandemic has been a truly global crisis but, while every country has been affected, not all have been affected equally. Individual countries have taken different approaches to tackling the virus, and protecting workers and families from its economic impacts. Crucially households entered this crisis with very different levels of financial resilience in different … Continued READ MORE
Coronavirus The 12-month stretch How has Britain coped with a year of Covid-19? Thursday 18 March 2021 On 23rd March 2020, Prime Minister Boris Johnson ordered the country to ‘stay at home, protect the NHS and save lives’ to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic. Twelve months on and several lockdowns later, the crisis has triggered the biggest economic slump in three centuries, an unprecedented £340 billion of emergency support and, tragically, the loss … Continued READ MORE
Coronavirus· Economy and public finances· Macroeconomic policy The economic outlook Speech by the Governor of the Bank of England Andrew Bailey Monday 8 March 2021 The Covid-19 pandemic has sparked a truly global economic crisis, affecting families, firms and institutions throughout the world. The UK has been hard hit – experiencing the biggest economic contraction in over three centuries – but the fast pace of its vaccine roll-out means that the economy is expected to recover rapidly this year. The … Continued READ MORE
