Productivity Puzzles

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

How do different leaders within a firm think about productivity? This can vary significantly between the Chief Financial Officer, the Chief Human Resources Officer, and the Chief Information Officer. How do they work with their teams on productivity-related issues? What are the opportunities and barriers they face? Host Professor Bart van Ark is joined by: Irena Teneva, Associate Director of Research & Development team at AICPA/CIMA, which amalgamates the American Institute of Certified Professional Accounts and the UK Chartered Institute of Management Accountants.Nina Jörden, Research Associate at the Bennett Institute for Public Policy at the University of Cambridge and a member of The Productivity Institute.Marion Devine, Principal Researcher in Human Capital at The Conference Board Europe. For more information on the topic: The Productivity Institute, (2024) Productivity Primer: Why productivity matters for the economy, business and places.Kate Penney and Jim Pendrill (2022), Strategic Productivity for the Leadership Team, The Productivity Institute.Bart van Ark and Marion Devine (2024) Productivity Through People: New Opportunities for CHROs, The Productivity Institute and The Conference Board.Nina Jörden, Wolé Adaramoye and Gerard Kuenning (2024), Navigating the Productivity Paradox: Strategic Insights from Chief Information Officers, Productivity Insights Paper No. 037, The Productivity Institute.Irena Teneva and Bart van Ark (2025), Unlocking Productivity: Collaborative Synergies for Chief Financial Officers, The Productivity Institute - available soon.AICPA & CIMA (2023), The role of finance professionals in driving productivity.Strategic Productivity – Short Business Course, Alliance Manchester Business School in collaboration with 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.

2024 has been quite a year. A new government, big plans, but a growth and productivity revival isn’t visible yet. These things take time. Is the UK still on track for a reset of policy to boost growth and productivity? Or is there something fundamentally wrong with how we're thinking about these subjects? Host Professor Bart van Ark is joined by: Diane Coyle, Bennett Professor of Public Policy, University of Cambridge & Director at The Productivity Institute.Richard Jones, Vice-President for Innovation and Regional Economic Development and Professor of Materials Physics and Innovation Policy, University of Manchester, and Policy Fellow at The Productivity Institute. For more information on the topic: Diane Coyle and Ayantola Alayande. Productivity and Industrial Policy by Design: The UK Experience, International Productivity Monitor, No. 47, Fall 2024.Richard Jones. Taking Anglofuturism Seriously, Soft Machines, 2024.Diane Coyle, Economic Progress and Adam Smith’s Dilemma. National Institute Economic Review, vol. 265, 2023, pp. 5-11.The Productivity Institute’s Response to the Industrial Strategy Green Paper, November 2024.Ayantola Alayande and Diane Coyle (2023) Investment in the UK: Longer Term Trends, Working Paper No. 040, The Productivity Institute.Dietrich Vollrath. Fully Grown: Why a Stagnant Economy Is a Sign of Success. University of Chicago Press, 2020.Charles Goodhart and Manoj Pradhan. The Great Demographic Reversal: Ageing Societies, Waning Inequality, and an Inflation Revival. Palgrave Macmillan, 2020.Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson. Power and Progress: Our Thousand-Year Struggle Over Technology and Prosperity. PublicAffairs, 2023. Diane Coyle. Cogs and Monsters: What Economics Is, and What It Should Be. Princeton University Press, 2021.Diane Coyle, The Measure of Progress: Counting What Really Matters, Princeton University Press, forthcoming, Spring 2025. 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.

With a new government in town, industrial strategy is back. Why now? How will it help growth and productivity? How do we get it right? And, perhaps equally important, how do we make sure we don’t get it wrong this time? Host Professor Bart van Ark is joined by: Dame Kate Barker, Chair of the Universities Superannuation Scheme and Chair of The Productivity Institute’s Governing Council.Giles Wilkes, Senior Fellow at the Institute for Government and Specialist partner at Flint Global.Andrew Westwood, Policy Director, The Productivity Institute and Professor of Public Policy, Government and Business at The University of Manchester. For more information on the topic: Andy Westwood and Giles Wilkes, Can an industrial strategy help drive productivity growth?, The Productivity Institute.“How can the new government’s industrial strategy help boost productivity?”, an event co-hosted by the Institute for Government and The Productivity institute, 18 September 2024.Giles Wiles, 10 lessons for successfully restarting an industrial strategy, Institute for Government, 24 June 2024.Bart van Ark, Anna Valero and Andy Westwood, Why the UK needs a new institution for growth and productivity: Could a revamped Industrial Strategy Council be the answer?, The Productivity Institute.Andy Westwood, The Return of Industrial Strategy: Why the US and Europe need to Renew Heartlland Communities?, Cogito, 27 January 2023.CIPD, An industrial Strategy for the Everyday Economy, Policy Papers, July 2023.“Levelling Up through industrial policy, institutions and fiscal mechanisms”, Productivity Puzzles, The Productivity Institute, January 2022. Diane Coyle and Adam Muhtar, UK’s Industrial Policy: Learning from the Past?, Productivity Insights Paper No. 002, The Productivity Institute. October 2021. 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.

Chander Velu, an expert in business model innovation and professor at Cambridge, and Sir Charlie Mayfield, former head of John Lewis, dive into how strategic business model shifts can enhance productivity. They discuss the four Vs of innovation, the importance of overcoming cognitive barriers in large firms, and share insights on John Lewis’s transition to online retail. The duo emphasizes that true returns come from deep business model transformations, especially for SMEs facing unique challenges. They also highlight the role of digital technology and sustainability in shaping the future of business.