Resolution Foundation Podcast

Stagnation Nation? The decisive decade

Session 2 at The Economy 2030 Inquiry conference.
This decade has already seen the UK leave the EU and come through the biggest economic contraction in a century as a result of a global pandemic. The UK is now confronting the highest inflation in 40 years, and over the coming years will need to accelerate the transition to net zero. What will it take to manage these changes well?
Speakers:
Dr Linda Yueh, Economist, writer and broadcaster
Lord Nicholas Stern, IG Patel Professor of Economics and Government at the LSE
Sophie Hale, Principal Economist at the Resolution Foundation
Dr Anna Valero, Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Economic Performance
Lord David Willetts, President of the Resolution Foundation (Chair)
Read the full report: https://economy2030.resolutionfoundation.org/reports/stagnation-nation/ 
Watch back the event: https://www.resolutionfoundation.org/events/stagnation-nation/ 

Stagnation Nation? The risk of stagnation

Session 1 at The Economy 2030 Inquiry conference.
Britain is a privileged and prosperous country, with many strengths. But it is currently in a period of relative economic decline, with low productivity, stagnant wages, and high inequality. Turning around this stagnation is the central challenge of the decade ahead.
Speakers:
Baroness Minouche Shafik, Director of the LSE
Lord Adair Turner, Economist and business leader
Mairi Spowage, Director of the Fraser of Allander Institute
Gregory Thwaites, Research Director at the Resolution Foundation
Torsten Bell, Chief Executive of the Resolution Foundation (Chair)
Read the full report: https://economy2030.resolutionfoundation.org/reports/stagnation-nation/ 
Watch back the full event: https://www.resolutionfoundation.org/events/stagnation-nation/ 

Power, pay and profits: What do shifts in firm and worker power mean for wages?

Firms create value – at least the successful ones do. But who benefits, the firm’s owners or workers, and by how much, is often up for grabs. That’s why power in our labour market matters. It doesn’t just affect the level of wages, but the inequality of those wages too. The power of workers – via unions or a tight labour market – or of employers – via being a town’s only hospital – matters. And yet it hardly features in most British policy discussions, despite changing considerably over time, and returning to centre stage in policy debates elsewhere.
To what extent has worker power declined as trade union membership has shrunk, or have other sources of leverage taken their place? Has employer power shrunk or grown in recent decades? How much difference does firm or worker power make to wages? And what should policy makers do about this balance of power over the coming decade?
The Resolution Foundation is hosting an in-person and interactive webinar – as part of The Economy 2030 Inquiry, funded by the Nuffield Foundation – to debate and answer these questions. Following a presentation of the key highlights from new joint RF / LSE research on changes in worker and employer power over time, we will hear from leading experts on what these findings tell us about the level and distribution of wages across Britain.
Read the report: https://economy2030.resolutionfoundation.org/reports/power-plays/ 
View the event slides: https://www.resolutionfoundation.org/events/power-pay-and-profits/ 

The long view of living standards: What drives income growth and inequality in modern Britain?

Britain is in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis that is squeezing the incomes of households across the country. That crisis is particularly challenging because it comes against a backdrop of low-income growth and high inequality. Turning these worrying trends around is a key task for the 2020s, with history providing an important guide to how it might be done.
Does economic growth feed through into household incomes? How important are wages, employment, taxes, benefits and housing costs in explaining changes? Why has inequality remained high for decades despite falling unemployment and a rising minimum wage? And how can the lessons of history inform a strategy for higher incomes and lower inequality in the future?
The Resolution Foundation is hosting an in-person and interactive webinar to debate and answer these questions. Following a presentation of the key highlights from our annual Living Standards Audit, we will hear from leading experts on what these findings tell us about the state of living standards and inequality in modern Britain, and how to foster stronger growth in the future.
Read the report: https://www.resolutionfoundation.org/publications/the-living-standards-audit-2022/ 
View the event slides: https://www.resolutionfoundation.org/events/the-long-view-of-living-standards/ 

Mind the gap (part II): What drives productivity gaps across the UK?

People’s incomes are fundamental to their living standards, and productivity is fundamental to those incomes. But Britain is beset by big productivity gaps – between North and South, and between metro and non-metro areas. Understanding what has driven these gaps and how they’ve changed over time is critical for an economic strategy that successfully tackles them.
How big are productivity gaps across Britain, and how they changed over time? Are all productivity gaps a problem, or should we focus on some more than others? What do the causes of those gaps tell us about what it would take to close them? And are we on course to do so?
The Resolution Foundation is hosting an in-person and interactive webinar – as part of The Economy 2030 Inquiry, funded by the Nuffield Foundation – to debate and answer these questions. Following a presentation of the key highlights from new research joint with the LSE on productivity gaps between places, we will hear from leading experts on what these findings tell us about the UK’s spatial inequalities and how to close these gaps.
Read the report: https://economy2030.resolutionfoundation.org/reports/bridging-the-gap/ 
View the event slides: https://www.resolutionfoundation.org/events/mind-the-gap-part-ii/ 

Mind the gap (part I): How do people’s incomes differ across the UK?

People’s incomes are fundamental to their living standards, and closing regional income gaps is central to levelling up the UK. But there are many moving parts to household incomes, they play very different roles across the country, and there are big gaps in what official statistics tell us about this crucial question. An economic strategy which grapples with these nuances stands a markedly better chance of addressing the real causes of Britain’s spatial inequalities.
How have income gaps between and within places changed over the last two decades? To what extent are different sources of income – such as investment and self-employment income – fuelling these changes? And how can these findings be used at both local and national levels in order to close these gaps?
The Resolution Foundation is hosting an in-person and interactive webinar – as part of The Economy 2030 Inquiry, funded by the Nuffield Foundation – to debate and answer these questions. Following a presentation of the key highlights from new joint RF / LSE research on income gaps between places, we will hear from leading experts on what these findings tell us about the UK’s spatial inequalities and how to close these gaps.
Read the report: https://economy2030.resolutionfoundation.org/reports/income-outcomes/ 
View the event slides: https://www.resolutionfoundation.org/events/mind-the-gap-part-i/ 

Brexit Britain: Assessing the impact of Brexit on people, places and firms

The British economy has altered substantially since the Brexit referendum result, as firms and workers have seen changes to investment and wages respectively. But the longer lasting impacts of Brexit on our economy are ahead, not behind us as our economy goes through the process of adjusting to life outside the single market. Some sectors will shrink, but others will grow. Some places will be affected more than others. So understanding how Brexit is, and will, affect people, places and firms is crucial to the UK navigating the challenges and opportunities of the 2020s.
What were the initial impacts of the Brexit referendum result on the British economy? How has the impact changed since the UK’s Trade and Cooperation Agreement with the EU came into effect? What further shifts can we expect over the coming decade – and up to 2050 – as Brexit continues to alter the economic structure of the UK? And what does this mean for the UK’s aim of becoming a high-growth, high-productivity economy?
The Resolution Foundation is hosting an in-person and interactive webinar – as part of The Economy 2030 Inquiry, funded by the Nuffield Foundation – to debate and answer these questions. Following a presentation of the key highlights from new research on the impact of Brexit on people, places and firms over the coming decade, co-written by the Resolution Foundation and the LSE, we will hear from leading experts on how to manage this change well.
Read the report: https://economy2030.resolutionfoundation.org/reports/the-big-brexit/ 
View the event slides: https://www.resolutionfoundation.org/events/brexit-britain/ 

The net zero job: How will decarbonisation affect the world of work?

The net zero transition has changed debates about the future of the labour market, with new jobs – like wind energy engineering – growing year-on-year and worries about rapid declines in carbon-intensive industries like steel production. But the main effect of the net zero transition will be to change our jobs, as firms adapt to using low-emission technologies and processes, rather than creating or destroying them. The scale, impact and geography of this transition are hugely uncertain, and the task of making it a reality has barely begun.
How might the net zero transition impact the jobs people do and the way they do them? How could this economic change affect different regions of the UK? And are our education and training systems ready for such change?
The Resolution Foundation is hosting an in-person and interactive webinar – as part of The Economy 2030 Inquiry, funded by the Nuffield Foundation – to debate and answer these questions. Following a presentation of the key highlights from new research on the labour market impact of the transition to net zero, we will hear from leading experts on how to support workers and businesses to take advantage of the opportunities this transition presents.
Read the report: https://economy2030.resolutionfoundation.org/reports/net-zero-jobs/ 
View the event slides: https://www.resolutionfoundation.org/events/the-net-zero-job/