Productivity Puzzles Cue Podcasts

What do we know about where productivity is heading? What will happen to productivity in the UK, around Europe, and even around the world? This episode takes a forward-looking perspective on future productivity and what needs to be done to realise that productivity potential. What policy changes can be made and what measures can businesses implement to improve the productivity outlook.


Host Professor Bart van Ark is joined by:


Catherine Mann, External member of the Monetary Policy Committee at the Bank of EnglandKitty Ussher, Chief Economist at the Institute of DirectorsKlaas de Vries, Senior Economist at the Conference Board

For more information on the topic:


The Conference Board, Total Economy Database The Conference Board, Global Economic Outlook.Abdul Azeez Erumban and Klaas de Vries, Global Growth Projections for The Conference Board Global Economic Outlook 2019, The Conference Board, 2018.Klaas de Vries & Sacha Wunsch-Vincent, What is the future of innovation-driven growth: Productivity stagnation or revival?, World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), 2022.The Institute of Directors, How To Increase Business Investment: IoD response to the Treasury workstream on ‘People, Capital and Ideas’, 2022.

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. 

There is a new UK government department for science, innovation, and technology. Will the new standalone entity turn Britain into the science superpower that it hopes to become? Will the new department lift productivity growth during the hard times that the country is currently facing? This episode of Productivity Puzzles investigates these issues and more.


Host Professor Bart van Ark is joined by:


Richard Jones, Vice-President for Innovation and Regional Economic Development and Professor of Materials Physics and Innovation Policy, University of Manchester. Diane Coyle, Bennett Professor of Public Policy, University of Cambridge.

For more information on the topic:


Richard A.L. Jones (2022), Science and innovation policy for hard times: an overview of the UK’s Research and Development landscape.Diane Coyle and Jen-Chung Mei (2022), Diagnosing the UK Productivity Slowdown: Which Sectors Matter and Why?. A summary of the paper can be found on the Bennett Institute website.Richard A.L. Jones’ blog, Soft Machines.Richard A.L. Jones, (2007), Soft Machines: Nanotechnology and Life, Oxford University Press.William J. Baumol (2002), The Free-Market Innovation Machine: Analyzing the Growth Miracle of Capitalism, Princeton University Press.Nicholas Bloom, Charles I. Jones, John Van Reenen, and Michael Webb (2020), Are Ideas Getting Harder to Find?, American Economic Review 2020, 110(4): 1104–1144.Jon Agar (2019), Science Policy Under Thatcher, UCL Press.Tristram Hunt (2021), The Radical Potter: Josiah Wedgwood and the Transformation of Britain, Penguin Books.John Harvey-Jones (1990), Troubleshooter, BBC Books (via bookshops).Griliches, Zvi (1957), Hybrid Corn: An Exploration in the Economics of Technological Change, Econometrica, Vol. 25, No. 4 (Oct.), pp. 501-522.On the Haldane Principle:Ministry of Reconstruction (1918), Report of the Machinery of government committee.David Edgerton (2009), The ‘Haldane Principle’ and other invented traditions in science policy. History and Policy: Policy Papers.William Jayneway (2018), Doing Capitalism in the Innovation Economy: Markets, Speculation and the State, Cambridge University Press.

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. 

How do Further Education Colleges contribute to the provision of skills needed for innovation and productivity in regions, cities and towns? How do they identify what businesses need, and how do they work with firms, local government and other schools? This episode of Productivity Puzzles focuses on the findings of a summary report looking into these issues, which was commissioned by The Productivity Institute and supported by the Gatsby Foundation.






Host Professor Bart van Ark is joined by:






Jen Nelles, Senior Research Fellow with the Innovation Caucus and co-director of the Oxford Regions, Innovation, and Enterprise Lab (ORIEL) at Oxford Brookes Business School.Ben Verinder, Founder and Managing Director of Chalkstream Ltd.





For more information on the topic:






J. Nelles, B. Verinder, K. Walsh and T. Vorley (2023) Skills, Innovation, and Productivity: The Role of Further Education Colleges in Local and Regional Ecosystems, The Productivity Institute and Innovation Caucus.J.Nelles, K. Walsh, M. Papazoglu, T. Vorley (2022) FECS, innovation, and skills: A literature review, Productivity Insights Paper No. 012, 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. 

Is the five-day work week becoming something of the past? Does working less make us and the organisations that we work for better off? Could it even make us more productive?


This episode explores the four-day work week, which has become a popular topic in the media, chats at the water-cooler, and, more recently, in boardrooms. With more firms committing to a shorter work week without a noticeable cut in workers’ wages, Bart and his guests look at how we could maintain productivity while reducing hours by around 20%. To put it differently, can productivity per hour be increased by 25%?






Host Professor Bart van Ark is joined by:


Nina Jörden, Research Associate with the Bennett Institute for Public Policy at the University of Cambridge.Joe Ryle, Director of the 4 Day Week Campaign and Media and Communications Lead at Autonomy.Jon Boys, Senior Labour Market Economist at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.





For more information on the topic:


Autonomy, The results are in: the UK's four-day week pilot, February 2023.Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, The four-day week: Employer perspectives on moving to a shorter working week, October 2022.





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.

Can we make the economy greener and still be productive? Or even better, can productivity help us to make the economy greener? This episode of Productivity Puzzles examines what climate change and the transition to a Net Zero means for productivity, and whether the challenges to green the economy make it even harder to raise productivity. Crucially, can productivity help to make the economy greener? Can green technology and innovation be used more productively than other technologies?






Host Professor Bart van Ark is joined by:






Anna Valero, Senior Policy Fellow at the Centre for Economic Performance at the LSE and Deputy Director of the Programme on Innovation and Diffusion (POID).Antoine Dechezleprêtre, Senior Economist in the Productivity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship Division, Directorate for Science, Technology and Innovation (STI), OECD.Jonatan Pinkse, Professor of Strategy, IMP Innovation, Strategy and Sustainability, at the Manchester Institute of Innovation Research (MIoIR), Alliance Manchester Business School, The University of Manchester.





For more information on the topic:


Resolution Foundation (2022), Growing clean: Identifying and investing in sustainable growth opportunities across the UK, The Economy 2030 Inquiry.The Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, POID, CEP (2021), Are ‘green’ jobs good jobs? How lessons from the experience to-date can inform labour market transitions of the future. Frank Geels, Jonatan Pinkse, Dimitri Zenghelis (2021) Productivity opportunities and risks in a transformative, low-carbon and digital age. Working Paper No. 009, The Productivity Institute.OECD (2023), Driving low-carbon innovations for climate neutrality, Science, Technology and Industry Policy Papers, No. 143Mission Zero. Independent Review of Net Zero, Chris Skidmore, 2022





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. 

In this episode Bart talks to three esteemed economists - Andy Haldane, Dame Kate Barker and Professor Nick Crafts - who explain what productivity actually is and why it matters to everyone. 


They discuss why UK productivity has slowed down since the 2008 financial crisis, creating a rising gap between the UK and other advanced economies in Europe. They also explain why increased productivity is important for raising living standards - drawing on lessons from the industrial revolution, how it has been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic and what critical things can be done to manage the post-crisis challenges.


Productivity Puzzles is sponsored by Capita and 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. 


The Productivity Institute is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council. To find out more, visit:


https://esrc.ukri.org/about-us/strategy-and-priorities/productivity/


Find out more about at www.productivity.ac.uk