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Productivity Puzzles

The Productivity Institute

  • 1 hour 1 minute
    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:


    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.



    30 January 2025, 6:00 am
  • 54 minutes 59 seconds
    Strategic Productivity: Unlocking the UK’s Productivity Potential

    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:

    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.

    23 January 2025, 6:00 am
  • 50 minutes 7 seconds
    Wrapping Up 2024: Is there a productive growth path forward?

    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:

    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.

    19 December 2024, 6:00 am
  • 53 minutes 7 seconds
    Industrial Strategy: What To Do and What Not To Do?

    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:

    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.

    3 October 2024, 5:00 am
  • 52 minutes 18 seconds
    Business model innovation and strategic productivity

    Why is business model innovation the key to an organisation’s productivity? What does it take to do it right? New technologies and new business practices don’t just come out of the blue. They happen because firms embed them in their processes so they can create a valuable proposition for their customers. This episode explores the challenges and opportunities for both large incumbents and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in adopting new business models, particularly in the context of digital transformation and the transition to a net-zero economy.

    Host Professor Bart van Ark is joined by:

    • Sir Charlie Mayfield, former executive chair of John Lewis. Chair of QA Limited and founder and chair of Be the Business.
    • Chander Velu, Professor of Innovation and Economics at the Institute for Manufacturing in the Engineering Department at Cambridge University.

    For more information on the topic:

    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.

    18 July 2024, 5:00 am
  • 52 minutes 20 seconds
    UK Election 2024: A Productivity Plan

    The election manifestos published in the second week of June 2024 sparsely recognise the importance of productivity. This is perhaps because it's not the most glamorous topic for voters to be excited about being canvassed on their doorstep. But for any incoming government, productivity will need to run through the core of the policy agenda in the coming years.

    Host Professor Bart van Ark is joined by:

    • Sir Anton Muscatelli, Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Glasgow.
    • Dame Diane Coyle, Co-Director of the Bennett Institute for Public Policy at the University of Cambridge, and Co-Director of The Productivity Institute.
    • Andy Westwood, Policy Director at The Productivity Institute and Professor of Government Practice at The University of Manchester.

    For more information on the topic:

    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.

    27 June 2024, 5:27 am
  • 53 minutes 33 seconds
    How do business leaders think about productivity?

    Why should firms care about productivity? How does it add to the bottom line? What exactly drives productivity? And how can you get better at it? This episode is a conversation with three current and former business leaders talking about how they think about productivity, what it means to them, and what practical productivity measures their firms use.


    Host Professor Bart van Ark is joined by:


    • Katy Davies, Managing Director of Evolve Your Future.
    • Lou Cordwell, Special Advisor to the Office of the President and Vice-Chancellor at The University of Manchester and Professor of Innovation at the Alliance Manchester Business School.
    • Greg McDonald, Founder and Executive Chair of Goodfish.


    For more information on the topic:


    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. 


    30 May 2024, 5:00 am
  • 59 minutes 31 seconds
    Government policy and business productivity: does it help or harm?

    What is the best thing government can do to help improve business productivity? Provide more business support? Create better conditions for doing business? Or simply, get out of the way. In other words, can government policy and business growth ever become a happy marriage?

    Host Professor Bart van Ark is joined by a co-host:

    Bart and Rebecca are joined by two guest speakers:

    • Jane Galsworthy, Managing Director of Oxford Innovation Advice and Steering Group Chair at the Enterprise Research Centre.
    • Tera Allas, Director of Research and Economics at McKinsey & Company, UK, and Chair of the Advisory Committee at The Productivity Institute.

    For more information on the topic:

    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. 

    11 April 2024, 5:00 am
  • 53 minutes 23 seconds
    Business Dynamism: is turbulence good for productivity?

    What is business dynamism? Do we need a bit more turbulence in business creation, growth and change to get productivity up again? This episode, the first of three on the productivity of firms, looks at the mechanism between productivity and business dynamism, whether there are big differences between countries, and whether and how we can get a bit more turbulence.

    Host Professor Bart van Ark is joined by a co-host:

    • Rebecca Riley, Professor of Practice at King’s College London; Director of the Economics Statistics Centre of Excellence; Lead on Measurement and Methods theme at The Productivity Institute

    Bart and Rebecca are joined by two guest speakers:

    • John Van Reenen, Ronald Coase Chair in Economics at the London School of Economics Professor, where was also the Director of Centre for Economic Performance. Currently John is Director of the Programme on Innovation and Diffusion (POID)
    • Javier Miranda, Professor of Economics, Productivity Research at Friedrich-Schiller University (Jena), and Head of Center for Factor Market Transformation and Productivity Growth at the Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH). Co-director of The Competitiveness Research Network (CompNet)

    For more information on the topic:

    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.

    14 March 2024, 6:00 am
  • 43 minutes 5 seconds
    Wrapping up Productivity Puzzles 2023: brief interviews with productivity experts

    The final episode of Productivity Puzzles Season 2 examines whether 2023 has brought us closer to putting the productivity puzzle together. What are some of the most important insights from this season of the podcast? And what can we learn from The Productivity Institute's Productivity Agenda? The conversation covers the challenges in institutional decision-making, the diffusion of technology and skills, and diversity in firm performance, investment and the adoption of good practices, as well as possible pro-productivity policies for the future.


    Host Professor Bart van Ark is joined by:


    • Diane Coyle - Bennett Professor of Public Policy at the University of Cambridge.
    • Adrian Pabst - Deputy Director at the National Institute of Economic and Social Research.
    • Mary O’Mahony - Professor of Economics at King's College Business School in London.
    • Stephen Roper - Professor of Enterprise at Warwick Business School and Director of the Enterprise Research Centre.


    For more information on the topic:



    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. 

    20 December 2023, 5:42 am
  • 1 hour 14 minutes
    Revisiting the UK productivity puzzle: national and regional perspectives

    Is the UK Productivity Puzzle anywhere closer to being solved? Where do we see progress? And what are the pieces of the jigsaw that still need to be found? This episode of Productivity Puzzles, released during National Productivity Week, examines the outlook for productivity growth and the best policies that will lead to better outcomes.


    Host Professor Bart van Ark is joined by:

    • Ed Balls, Former Secretary of State and Shadow Chancellor; Professor of Political Economy at King’s College, London, a Research Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School.
    • Andy Haldane, CEO of the Royal Society of Arts; Chair of Levelling Up Advisory Council.
    • Rachel Wolf, Founding Partner at Public First; Former education and innovation adviser to the Prime Minister.


    For more information on the topic:



    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. 

    30 November 2023, 5:00 am
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