Resolution Foundation Events Podcast

Turning a corner? The political and economic outlook for a critical election year

The worst of the cost of living crisis appears to be behind us, with inflation more than halving since its peak. But 2024 may not be plain sailing economically, and it certainly won’t be politically with an election in store. While wages are at last growing faster than prices, economic growth has flatlined while taxes, and housing costs, are rising. Meanwhile, the outlook for the public finances is unstable, as politicians try to tempt voters with tax and spending commitments in the run up to the election. With the economy set to be the key election battleground for the first time since 2015, how households feel about their financial prospects, and that of the country as a whole, will matter hugely.
How is the cost-of-living crisis likely to evolve in 2024? What economic challenges and opportunities – for households, businesses and the country – can we expect in the year ahead? What role will the economy play in the coming general election – and what aspects of it will different parties want to focus on?
The Resolution Foundation is hosting an in-person and online event to debate and answer these questions. We will hear from a leading panel of experts on what will shape British politics and economics in the year ahead, before an interactive audience Q&A.
Read the report: https://www.resolutionfoundation.org/publications/from-merry-christmas-to-a-messy-new-year/ 
View the event slides: https://www.resolutionfoundation.org/events/turning-a-corner/ 

Rising rents and rebounding wages: Where is Britain’s cost-of-living crisis heading?

Inflation is down, but Britain’s cost-of-living crisis is still very much with us. The legacy of previous price rises for energy and food are now combining with a new pressure: housing. Private rents are rising at their fastest rate in over a decade, while the impact of higher interest rates is still feeding through into mortgages. But there is a glimmer of hope in pay packets, which are growing again in real terms after another painful squeeze.
How are the twin trends of rising housing costs and rebounding pay being felt? How much variation do these averages hide – and is it the same people seeing their rents surge and pay rise? Are renters or those with a mortgage being harder hit? And what does this all mean for the next stage of the cost-of-living crisis?
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 latest cost-of-living survey, we will hear from leading experts on how Britain’s latest living standards crunch is evolving.
Read the report: https://www.resolutionfoundation.org/publications/pressure-on-pay-prices-and-properties/ 
View the event slides: https://www.resolutionfoundation.org/events/rising-rents-and-rebounding-wages/ 

Ending Stagnation: Steering economic change

The goal of a new economic strategy is not a somewhat richer, somewhat fairer, version of the UK’s stagnant status quo, but a more enduring shift in direction; economic change will have to be embraced and steered. And yet despite popular claims that change is speeding up, it is slowing down; the reallocation of labour between sectors is at its lowest level in over 90 years.
Panel discussion on 'Steering economic change' at the final report conference for The Economy 2030 Inquiry.
Speakers:
Gregory Thwaites, Research Director at the Resolution Foundation
Martin Wolf, Chief Economics Commentator at the Financial Times
Professor David Edgerton, Professor of History at King’s College London
Stephanie Flanders, Head of Bloomberg Economics
Lord David Willetts, President of the Resolution Foundation (Chair)
Read the report: https://economy2030.resolutionfoundation.org/reports/ending-stagnation/ 
View the event slides: https://www.resolutionfoundation.org/events/ending-stagnation/ 

Ending Stagnation: Keir Starmer MP in conversation with Zanny Minton Beddoes

Leader of the Opposition, Keir Starmer MP, in conversation with Zanny Minton Beddoes, Editor-in-Chief of The Economist, at the final report conference for The Economy 2030 Inquiry.
The UK has great strengths, but is a decade and a half into a period of stagnation. The combination of slow growth and high inequality is proving toxic for low- and middle-income Britain. The result is a country falling behind its peers, where taxes, rather than wages, are rising, and living standards were under strain long before the cost of living crisis struck. The task facing the UK is to embark on a new path.
A new economic strategy for Britain must leverage rather than downplay its strengths, confront rather than ignore its weaknesses, face-up to rather than wish-away trade-offs, and align rather than silo agendas stretching from industrial policy to tax reform and the net zero transition.
Over the past three years, the Resolution Foundation has been collaborating with the Centre for Economic Performance at the LSE on The Economy 2030 Inquiry, funded by the Nuffield Foundation, to investigate, understand and confront these economic challenges. The project culminated in a major new book and conference – Ending Stagnation – where we set out and discussed Britain’s path to a fairer and more prosperous future.
Read the report: https://economy2030.resolutionfoundation.org/reports/ending-stagnation/  

Ending Stagnation: Getting inequality down

For poorer and middle-income families today, it is not just low growth but also the skewed way in which it is shared, that produces stagnation. Indeed, low growth and high inequality means typical households in Britain are 9 per cent poorer than their French counterparts, while our low-income families are 27 per cent poorer.
Panel discussion on 'Getting inequality down' at the final report conference of The Economy 2030 Inquiry.
Speakers:
Lindsay Judge, Research Director at the Resolution Foundation
Mark Drakeford, First Minister of Wales
Christina McAnea, General Secretary of UNISON
Andy Haldane, Chief Executive of the Royal Society of Arts
Gavin Kelly, Chair of the Resolution Foundation (Chair)
Read the report: https://economy2030.resolutionfoundation.org/reports/ending-stagnation/ 
View the event slides: https://www.resolutionfoundation.org/events/ending-stagnation/ 

Ending Stagnation: Getting growth up

The UK has many strengths, from world-class universities and creative industries to high employment. But having grown more quickly than most advanced economies from the 1990s to the mid-2000s, the UK has been in relative decline ever since: the average productivity gap with France, Germany and the US doubled, to 18 per cent, between 2008 and 2022.
Panel discussion on 'Getting growth up' at the final report conference of The Economy 2030 Inquiry.
Speakers:
Emily Fry, Economist at the Resolution Foundation
Dr Swati Dhingra, Associate Professor of Economics at CEP LSE
Tom Riordan, Chief Executive of Leeds City Council
Dame Sharon White, Chair of the John Lewis Partnership
Professor Diane Coyle, Director of the Bennett Institute for Public Policy at Cambridge University
Dr Anna Valero, Distinguished Policy Fellow at CEP LSE (Chair)
Read the report: https://economy2030.resolutionfoundation.org/reports/ending-stagnation/ 
View the event slides: https://www.resolutionfoundation.org/events/ending-stagnation/ 

Ending Stagnation: Jeremy Hunt MP in conversation with Zanny Minton Beddoes

Chancellor of the Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt MP, in conversation with Zanny Minton Beddoes, Editor-in-Chief of The Economist, at the final report conference for The Economy 2030 Inquiry.
The UK has great strengths, but is a decade and a half into a period of stagnation. The combination of slow growth and high inequality is proving toxic for low- and middle-income Britain. The result is a country falling behind its peers, where taxes, rather than wages, are rising, and living standards were under strain long before the cost of living crisis struck. The task facing the UK is to embark on a new path.
A new economic strategy for Britain must leverage rather than downplay its strengths, confront rather than ignore its weaknesses, face-up to rather than wish-away trade-offs, and align rather than silo agendas stretching from industrial policy to tax reform and the net zero transition.
Over the past three years, the Resolution Foundation has been collaborating with the Centre for Economic Performance at the LSE on The Economy 2030 Inquiry, funded by the Nuffield Foundation, to investigate, understand and confront these economic challenges. The project culminated in a major new book and conference – Ending Stagnation – where we set out and discussed Britain’s path to a fairer and more prosperous future.
Read the report: https://economy2030.resolutionfoundation.org/reports/ending-stagnation/ 

Ending Stagnation: The case for ending stagnation

Presentation by Resolution Foundation Chief Executive, Torsten Bell, at the final report conference for The Economy 2030 Inquiry.
The UK has great strengths, but is a decade and a half into a period of stagnation. The combination of slow growth and high inequality is proving toxic for low- and middle-income Britain. The result is a country falling behind its peers, where taxes, rather than wages, are rising, and living standards were under strain long before the cost of living crisis struck. The task facing the UK is to embark on a new path.
A new economic strategy for Britain must leverage rather than downplay its strengths, confront rather than ignore its weaknesses, face-up to rather than wish-away trade-offs, and align rather than silo agendas stretching from industrial policy to tax reform and the net zero transition.
Over the past three years, the Resolution Foundation has been collaborating with the Centre for Economic Performance at the LSE on The Economy 2030 Inquiry, funded by the Nuffield Foundation, to investigate, understand and confront these economic challenges. The project culminated in a major new book and conference – Ending Stagnation – where we set out and discussed Britain’s path to a fairer and more prosperous future.
Read the report: https://economy2030.resolutionfoundation.org/reports/ending-stagnation/ 
View the event slides: https://www.resolutionfoundation.org/events/ending-stagnation/