Productivity Puzzles

The Productivity Institute

Join Bart van Ark, Professor of Productivity Studies at the University of Manchester, and the managing director of The Productivity Institute as he brings you discussions with leading minds from the UK and abroad about how to improve productivity for almost everything: from health care to car manufacturing, at national and regional levels, for business and for your own personal productivity. This podcast series investigates why UK productivity is lower than in many other countries and why are there such large differences in productivity across and within the regions and devolved nations. We’ll also get the best insights from research on smart policies and effective business practices to increase productivity and find out how this will drive prosperity, wellbeing and inclusive sustainable growth. Productivity Puzzles is brought to you by The Productivity Institute, a research project involving nine academic institutions across the UK, eight regional productivity forums throughout the nation, and a national independent Productivity Commission to advise policymakers at all levels of government.  Find out more about at www.productivity.ac.uk The Productivity Institute is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council.

  1. 13 HR AGO

    What Does it Take to Improve NHS Productivity?

    Why does productivity vary so widely between NHS organisations? Can new technologies like AI and remote monitoring help the health service seize the opportunity to redesign care for the long term?  This episode of Productivity Puzzles explores the critical challenges and opportunities facing the UK’s health service, with a discussion centring on the NHS Productivity Commission’s major new report, From Diagnosis to Delivery: A Framework for Accelerating NHS Productivity Growth. Host Professor Bart van Ark is joined by: Anita Charlesworth, Senior Economic Adviser at the Health Foundation and co-chair of the NHS Productivity Commission.Tera Allas, Honorary Professor at Alliance Manchester Business School and co-chair of the NHS Productivity Commission.Mark Britnell, Professor at the Global Business School for Health at University College London and Chair of Health Innovation Manchester. For more information on the topic: Tera Allas, Anita Charlesworth, Hannah Chhoa-Howard, Katie Fozzard, Alison Moulds and Stephen Rocks (2025) From Diagnosis to Delivery: A Framework for Accelerating NHS Productivity Growth, The Health Foundation.Mark Britnell (2019) Human: Solving the global workforce crisis in healthcare, Oxford Academic.Joel Hoskins and Bart van Ark (2025) Productivity and Responsible AI in Adult Social Care, The Productivity Institute.World Economic Forum (2016) Misaligned Stakeholders and Health System Underperformance, World Economic Forum White Paper. About Productivity Puzzles: Productivity Puzzles is brought to you by The Productivity Institute, a research body involving nine academic institutions across the UK, nine Productivity Forums throughout the nation, and a national independent Productivity Commission to advise policy makers at all levels of government. It is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council.

    51 min

  2. 16 JAN

    Place-Based Policy Making in Modern Times

    What does it really mean to grow a place? This episode unpacks the concept of place-based productivity and explores how it differs from traditional regional development. The discussion examines real-world examples and whether this approach works everywhere, from rural towns to major metropolitan areas. The episode also looks at how the world is changing around place-based strategies, diving into the big shifts shaping the landscape: deglobalisation, digitalisation, and political upheaval. Should policy stay technocratic, or embrace politics to make place-based growth stick? Host Professor Bart van Ark is joined by: Jeff Anderson, Professor at the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service and Department of Government at Georgetown University.Andy Westwood, Professor of Public Policy, Government and Business at The University of Manchester and Policy Director at The Productivity Institute. For more information on the topic: Jeff Anderson and Andy Westwood (2026) The New Political Economy of Place-Based Policymaking, The Productivity Institute.Joe Peck, Huw Spencer, Samuel Thorpe and Andy Westwood (2025) Place-Based Industrial Policy: Six Lessons for the UK, The Productivity Institute.The Productivity Institute, Investment in Places campaign.Jack Shaw (2025) The role of place and the ‘zonification’ of growth, The Productivity Institute.Andy Westwood (2025) Regional growth, Labour and the biggest decisions still to come, The Productivity Institute.Tony Pipa and Natalie Geismar (2020) Reimagining rural policy, Brookings.The Guardian (2025) ‘Deeply demoralizing’: how Trump derailed coal country’s clean-energy revival.Andrés Rodríguez-Pose, The revenge of the places that don’t matter (and what to do about it), Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, Volume 11, Issue 1, March 2018, Pages 189–209.Bennett School of Public Policy (2019) Measuring wealth, delivering prosperity.UK Government (2022) Levelling Up the United Kingdom. About Productivity Puzzles: Productivity Puzzles is brought to you by The Productivity Institute, a research body involving nine academic institutions across the UK, nine Productivity Forums throughout the nation, and a national independent Productivity Commission to advise policy makers at all levels of government. It is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council.

    51 min

  3. 18/11/2025

    Will We Get a Productive Budget?

    The Chancellor’s Budget is on the horizon. Will it bring higher taxes, deeper cuts, or more borrowing? Does the Budget really matter for productivity? And how does productivity shape the Budget? This episode of Productivity Puzzles looks into these big questions for this important fiscal event, as well as examining where public spending and investment should go to help boost productivity. Host Professor Bart van Ark is joined by: Tera Allas, Honorary Professor at Alliance Manchester Business SchoolLouise Hellem, Chief Economist at the Confederation of British IndustryStephen Millard, Deputy Director of the National Institute of Economic and Social Research For more information on the topic: The Productivity Institute (2025) Joining up Pro-Productivity Policies.Confederation of British Industry (2025) Autumn Budget Submission.National Institute of Economic and Social Research (2025) Economic Outlook: Stability First.Health Foundation (2025) From diagnosis to delivery: A framework for accelerating NHS productivity growth.UK Government (2025) UK Infrastructure: A 10 Year StrategyOffice for Budget Responsibility (2025) Economic and fiscal outlook – March 2025. About Productivity Puzzles: Productivity Puzzles is brought to you by The Productivity Institute, a research body involving nine academic institutions across the UK, nine Productivity Forums throughout the nation, and a national independent Productivity Commission to advise policy makers at all levels of government. It is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council.

    46 min

  4. 23/10/2025

    Lessons Learned and What’s Next?

    Productivity is the key to economic growth and living standards. But has the productivity puzzle been solved yet? Have we been asking the right questions? And what’s next? After five years of research at The Productivity Institute, we’re kicking off season 4 of the podcast with reflections from our recent international research conference on productivity, held at the University of Manchester on the 4-5 September 2025. Five big themes. And still, big questions ahead. Host Professor Bart van Ark is joined by: Josh Martin, Economic Advisor at the Bank of England and Research Associate with the Economic Statistics Centre of Excellence.Mary O’Mahony, TPI Research Director and Professor of Applied Economics at King’s Business School.Catherine Mann, External member of the Monetary Policy Committee at the Bank of England and Honorary Professor at Alliance Manchester Business School and The Productivity Institute.Chander Velu, Professor of Innovation and Economics at The University of Cambridge.Kate Penney, Research Fellow at The Productivity Institute. For more information on the topic: Bart van Ark, Jim Pendrill, Kate Penney, James Wilson and Raquel Ortega-Argilés (2025), Regional Productivity Agenda, The Productivity Institute.Bart van Ark, Stephen Millard, Adrian Pabst, Andy Westwood et al. (2025) Joining Up Pro-Productivity Policies in the UK, The Productivity Institute and National Institute of Economic and Social Research.Diane Coyle, Bart van Ark, Jim Pendrill (2023), The Productivity Agenda, The Productivity Institute.Josh Martin (2025), The UK Productivity Slowdown: A Review of Timing, Magnitude, and Drivers, International Productivity Monitor Number 48, Spring 2025.Institute for the Future of Work (2025), Final Report of the Pissarides Review into the Future of Work and Wellbeing, Institute for the Future of Work.Chander Velu (2024), Business Model Innovation: A Blueprint for Strategic Change, Cambridge University Press.The Productivity Institute, Productivity Research Conference 2025 programme.TPI Productivity Lab website. About Productivity Puzzles: Productivity Puzzles is brought to you by The Productivity Institute, a research body involving nine academic institutions across the UK, nine Productivity Forums throughout the nation, and a national independent Productivity Commission to advise policy makers at all levels of government. It is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council.

    46 min

  5. 19/06/2025

    Trade and UK Productivity: From Global Markets to Local Gains

    This episode explores the vital link between international trade and the UK's productivity challenges. Host Bart van Ark is joined by three experts as they discuss why trade matters for productivity, the current state of UK trade post-Brexit and COVID and the structural issues impacting trade and productivity. The conversation also looks at potential trade policies and agreements to strengthen the UK’s position and boost productivity. Host Professor Bart van Ark is joined by: Jun Du, Professor of Economics at Aston Business School & Director of the Centre for Business Prosperity.Emily Fry, Senior Economist, the Resolution Foundation.Alan Lowry, CEO, Environmental Street Furniture, Newtownabbey. For more information on the topic: J. Du., Shepotylo, O., & Yuan, X. (2025). How did the Brexit uncertainty impact services exports of UK firms? Journal of International Business Policy.Emily Fry, James Smith and Gregory Thwaites (2025), Trump Tariff turmoil: The impact of higher US tariffs and the risk of a global recession, Spotlight, The Resolution Foundation, 14 April.Emily Fry and Sophie Hale (2024), Trading blows. How should Britain buy and sell in a turbulent world?, The Resolution Foundation.Anton Spisak (2025), A perfect storm: Britain’s trade malaise, weak growth and a new geopolitical moment, Centre for European Reform, 21 May.Matthew Ward (2020), UK trade, 1948-2019: statistics, House of Commons Library, Number CBP 8261, 10 December.Halima Jabril and Stephen Roper (2022), Of chickens and eggs: Exporting, innovation novelty and productivity, The Productivity Institute, Working Paper No.027.Holger Breinlich and Martina Magli, Changes to firms’ service delivery post-Brexit, 7 November 2024. VoxEU. About Productivity Puzzles: Productivity Puzzles is brought to you by The Productivity Institute, a research body involving nine academic institutions across the UK, eight Regional Productivity Forums throughout the nation, and a national independent Productivity Commission to advise policy makers at all levels of government. It is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council.

    53 min

  6. 29/05/2025

    Books Festival: Diane Coyle & Jan Mischke

    This episode explores new insights into the productivity puzzle from two fresh pieces of work. First, Diane Coyle discusses her book The Measure of Progress, explaining why what we measure is profoundly important but increasingly difficult. Then, Jan Mischke from the McKinsey Global Institute shares a striking finding from their report The Power of One: a relatively small number of "standout firms" deliver a very big share of a country's productivity growth. Host Professor Bart van Ark is joined by: Diane Coyle, Bennett Professor of Public Policy and Co-Director of the Bennett Institute for Public Policy.Jan Mischke, Partner at McKinsey Global Institute. For more information on the topic: Diane Coyle (2025), The Measure of Progress: Counting What Really Matters, Princeton University Press.Jan Mischke et al. (2025), The power of one: How standout firms grow national productivity, McKinsey Global Institute May.Kate Barker (2025), Review of The Measure of Progress, The Society of Professional Economists, 14 April.McKinsey Global Institute (2025), Online summary of The Power of One.The Productivity Institute (2023), The Productivity Agenda. A blueprint for boosting the UK’s productivity.The Productivity Institute (2024), Productivity Primer. Why productivity matters for the economy, business and places.Diane Coyle and Leonard Nakamura (2021), Time Use, Productivity, and Household-Centric Measurement of Welfare in the Digital Economy, The International Productivity Monitor.Diane Coyle (1999), The Weightless World: Strategies for Managing the Digital Economy, MIT Press.Diane Coyle (2021), Cogs and Monsters: What Economics Is, and What It Should Be, Princeton University Press.Zvi Griliches, Productivity, R&D, and the Data Constraint, The American Economic Review Vol. 84, No. 1 (Mar., 1994), pp. 1-23. About Productivity Puzzles: Productivity Puzzles is brought to you by The Productivity Institute, a research body involving nine academic institutions across the UK, eight Regional Productivity Forums throughout the nation, and a national independent Productivity Commission to advise policy makers at all levels of government. It is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council

    57 min

  7. 16/04/2025

    A Regional Productivity Agenda for England

    Regional growth is a key component for improving productivity growth in the UK. The gaps in productivity between English regions are unusually large compared to other countries. Why is that? What can be done about it? Host Professor Bart van Ark is joined by: Andy Westwood, Professor in Public Policy, Government and Business at The University of Manchester & Policy Director at The Productivity Institute.Jennifer Williams, Northern England Correspondent at The Financial Times.Jack Shaw, Senior Advisor at Labour Together and Policy Fellow at The Productivity Institute's Policy Unit. For more information on the topic: Bart van Ark, Jim Pendrill, Kate Penney, James Wilson and Raquel Ortega-Argilés (2025), Regional Productivity Agenda, The Productivity Institute.Bart van Ark and Andy Westwood (2025), The Productivity Agenda Needs to be Joined Up and Scaled Up Across Regions, The Productivity Institute, 27 JanuaryJennifer Williams (2025), Need more joined up thinking on the north, The Financial Times, 3 April.Andy Westwood (2025) Regional growth, Labour and the biggest decisions still to come, Policy Brief, The Productivity Institute, 5 March.Jack Shaw (2024), Devolution: the importance of scale and coterminosity, Policy Brief, The Productivity Institute, 28 November.JP Spencer (2025), Nation Rebalanced: How do we create a country that works for all places?, Labour Together.Michiel Daams, Colin Mayer and Philip McCann (2024) Regions, cities and finance: The role of capital shocks and banking reforms in shaping the UK geography of prosperity, Productivity Insights Paper No. 041, The Productivity Institute.Michiel Daams, Philip McCann, Paolo Veneri and Richard Barkham (2023) Capital Shocks and UK Regional Divergence, Working Paper No. 035, The Productivity Institute. About Productivity Puzzles: Productivity Puzzles is brought to you by The Productivity Institute, a research body involving nine academic institutions across the UK, eight Regional Productivity Forums throughout the nation, and a national independent Productivity Commission to advise policy makers at all levels of government. It is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council.

    58 min

  8. 30/01/2025

    A Productivity Agenda for the Devolved Nations

    In this episode of Productivity Puzzles, we examine the productivity performance of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. How do the three devolved nations perform on productivity? What are the differences and the similarities between them? How do they compare to England? The discussion features insights from Melanie Jones, John Turner, and Graeme Roy. Together, they discuss the economic indicators influencing productivity in the devolved nations and explore how regional and national policies can drive productivity growth. Highlighting the role of education, health, and business innovation, the conversation provides an in-depth analysis of the systemic challenges and potential solutions for improving productivity in each of the devolved nations. Host Professor Bart van Ark is joined by: Graeme Roy, Professor of Economics, Adam Smith Business School; Assistant Vice Principal, University of Glasgow.John Turner, Professor of Finance and Financial History, Queen’s Business School, Queen’s University Belfast. Melanie Jones, Professor of Economics, Cardiff Business School, Cardiff University For more information on the topic: Bart van Ark, Jim Pendrill, Kate Penney, James Wilson, Raquel Ortega-Argilés (2025) Regional Productivity Agenda, The Productivity Institute.Daniel Williams, John Tsoukalas, Bridgette Wessels, Pawel Gaska (2025) Scotland’s Productivity Challenge: Exploring the issues – 2025. Productivity Insights Paper No. 045, The Productivity Institute.Melanie Jones (2025) Wales’ Productivity Challenge: A Focus on the Future. Productivity Insights Paper No. 051, The Productivity Institute.Ruth Donaldson, David Jordan and John Turner (2025) NI Productivity 2040: Addressing Northern Ireland’s productivity gap for greater prosperity, Productivity Insights Paper No. 049, The Productivity Institute.Ruth Donaldson, David Jordan and John Turner (2024) Northern Ireland Productivity Dashboard 2024, The Productivity Institute.Productivity Puzzles podcast (2022) The Wales Productivity Challenge, The Productivity Institute.Productivity Puzzles podcast (2021) Productivity in Northern Ireland, The Productivity Institute.Spotlight podcast (2022) Productivity and workplace dialogue, University of Glasgow.Fatima Garcia Elena, Reitze Gouma, Olga Menukhin, Raquel Ortega-Argilés, William Sarsfield and Ruby Watson (2024), TPI UK ITL1 Scorecards, TPI Productivity Lab, The Productivity Institute.Fatima Garcia Elena, Reitze Gouma, Olga Menukhin, Raquel Ortega-Argilés, William Sarsfield and Ruby Watson (2024), TPI UK ITL3 Scorecards, TPI Productivity Lab, The Productivity Institute. About Productivity Puzzles: Productivity Puzzles is brought to you by The Productivity Institute, a research body involving nine academic institutions across the UK, eight Regional Productivity Forums throughout the nation, and a national independent Productivity Commission to advise policy makers at all levels of government. It is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council.

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About

Join Bart van Ark, Professor of Productivity Studies at the University of Manchester, and the managing director of The Productivity Institute as he brings you discussions with leading minds from the UK and abroad about how to improve productivity for almost everything: from health care to car manufacturing, at national and regional levels, for business and for your own personal productivity. This podcast series investigates why UK productivity is lower than in many other countries and why are there such large differences in productivity across and within the regions and devolved nations. We’ll also get the best insights from research on smart policies and effective business practices to increase productivity and find out how this will drive prosperity, wellbeing and inclusive sustainable growth. Productivity Puzzles is brought to you by The Productivity Institute, a research project involving nine academic institutions across the UK, eight regional productivity forums throughout the nation, and a national independent Productivity Commission to advise policymakers at all levels of government.  Find out more about at www.productivity.ac.uk The Productivity Institute is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council.

Information

  • Creator
    The Productivity Institute
  • Years Active
    2021 - 2026
  • Episodes
    49
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © All Rights Reserved 2021
  • Show Website
    Productivity Puzzles

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