If one in five working‑age people are inactive, what does that say about the UK’s productivity problem? Why does ill health push so many people out of work in the UK, but not in peer countries?

Rising economic inactivity linked to health has become a major challenge for the UK economy. In this discussion, Charlie Mayfield draws on insights from the Keep Britain Working review to explore the role employers can play in supporting people to remain in work. The conversation examines how workplace practices, health support and collaboration between employers, government and communities can help strengthen workforce participation and productivity.

Host Professor Bart van Ark is joined by:

• Charlie Mayfield, Chair, Keep Britain Working Review, and Former Chair, John Lewis Partnership

For more information on the topic:

• Keep Britain Working: final report, independent report for the UK Government. 
• George Williams, How to keep Britain working: Making the Vanguard Phase a success, Lancaster University, (05/03/2026).
• Sam Atwell, How to Keep Britain Working, Health Foundation (28/10/2025).
• CIPD, Keep Britain Working review makes employee wellbeing impossible for business to ignore, says CIPD (11/11/2025).
• Productivity Puzzles podcast, Business model innovation and strategic productivity.
• The Productivity Institute, Working ‘on’ the business not just in it (21/06/2021).

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.

If universities are engines of growth, why isn’t productivity accelerating? What’s the point of educating graduates if regions can’t keep or use them?

Skills are central to regional economic performance, but translating the supply of graduates into broader workforce productivity remains a challenge. In this session, Duncan Ivison discusses the relationship between higher education, further education and place-based development. Using Greater Manchester as an illustration and drawing on international examples, the conversation explores how policy can strengthen skills systems, support graduate retention and migration, and better connect education with regional economic growth.

Host Professor Bart van Ark is joined by:

• Duncan Ivison, President and Vice-Chancellor, The University of Manchester

For more information on the topic:

• Duncan Ivison: higher education is a system, not a market, Times Higher Educational Supplement (17/10/2024).
• Aadya Bahl and Henry G. Overman (2026) Hive of talent: what would it take to raise skills and productivity in Greater Manchester? Centre for Economic Performance.
• Recording of Skills, Talent and Productivity in Greater Manchester event, The Productivity Institute YouTube channel (29/04/26).
• Redouane Sarrakh, Jason Heyes (2026) Training Practices and Skills Needs in Yorkshire, the Humber and the North East, Yorkshire, Humber and North East Productivity Forum Paper 2026, The Productivity Institute.
• Damian Grimshaw, Mary O’Mahony, Anthony Rafferty (2026) Skills, Organisations and Worker Engagement: Summary of People Research Programme, Productivity Insights Paper No. 083, The Productivity Institute.
• Athene Donald, Joe Peck and Andy Westwood (2025), Prioritising Skills for Regional and National Growth, in Bart van Ark et al, eds., Joining Up Pro-Productivity Policies in the UK, The Productivity Institute and National Institute of Economic and Social Research, pp. 91-101.
• Lessons for UK universities from the Australian experience by Duncan Ivison, Financial Times (23/09/24).
• Free speech, the Fallowfield Redevelopment, and catching the 142: An interview with Duncan Ivison, by Ella Logan-Wilson and Miles Davenport, the Mancunion (09/10/24).
• University of Manchester launches Unit M to supercharge inclusive growth, The University of Manchester (08/10/24).
• Unit M launches first deep tech accelerator cohort to fast-track innovation across Greater Manchester (2026) The University of Manchester.

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.

Do we need to rethink how we measure productivity in the age of digital technologies and AI?

Productivity is a fundamental measure of how effectively people, firms and places transform resources into improved living standards. Diane Coyle talks about why understanding productivity depends on improved economic measurement, including more accurate valuation of intangible, natural and digital capital. She also explains why the effects of technologies such as digitalisation and AI remain difficult to capture in traditional statistics, with significant implications for policy and how we judge economic progress.

Host Professor Bart van Ark is joined by:

• Diane Coyle, Bennett Professor of Public Policy, University of Cambridge

For more information on the topic:

• Diane Coyle (2025) The Measure of Progress: Counting What Really Matters, Princeton University Press.
• Diane Coyle (2025), Old Wine in New Digital Bottles: The Challenges of Measuring the Digital Economy. Review of Income and Wealth, 71.
• Stephen Roper and Chander Velu (2026) Adoption, implementation, alignment – maximising the performance benefits of digital investment, Productivity Insights Paper No. 084, The Productivity Institute.
• Productivity Puzzles podcast, Will hybrid and flexible work help or hurt productivity and wellbeing?
• Productivity Puzzles podcast, Industrial policy, institutions and fiscal mechanisms.
• Productivity Puzzles podcast, Productivity and well-being.
• Productivity Puzzles podcast, Science and Innovation Policy for Hard Times.
• Productivity Puzzles podcast, Books Festival: Diane Coyle & Jan Mischke.

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.

Why doesn’t digital technology always translate into productivity growth? What if the technology and your business model don’t quite fit?

Despite unprecedented advances in digital technologies, productivity growth has stalled, revealing a striking paradox: innovation is abundant, but its benefits are not. We discuss with Chander Velu why the issue lies not in the technologies themselves but in the failure to redesign how organisations create and capture value when adopting automation, digital fabrication, or quantum technologies.

Host Professor Bart van Ark is joined by:

• Chander Velu, Professor in Innovation and Economics, University of Cambridge

For more information on the topic:

• Stephen Roper, Chander Velu (2026) Adoption, implementation, alignment – maximising the performance benefits of digital investment, Productivity Insights Paper No. 084, The Productivity Institute.
• Silvia Massini, Mabel Sanchez-Barrioluengo, Xiaoxiao Yu, Myungun Kim, Philip Chen, Chander Velu (2025) Adoption of Advanced Digital Technologies and Platforms: Insights from a UK national survey, Working Paper No. 049, The Productivity Institute.
• Chander Velu (2026) The business of quantum technologies and the future of productivity.
• Productivity Puzzles podcast, Business model innovation and strategic productivity.
• Productivity Puzzles podcast, The Productivity Puzzle: Lessons Learned and What’s Next?.

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.

Why do places matter for productivity? If productivity is local, why is policy still so centralised in the UK?

Productivity varies widely across regions, shaping economic opportunity and growth. Drawing on international evidence and Philip McCann’s extensive research on regional development, the discussion considers how cities and regions can strengthen their economic performance and contribute to national productivity growth. 

Host Professor Bart van Ark is joined by:

• Philip McCann, Sir Terry Leahy Chair in Urban and Regional Economics, Alliance Manchester Business School, The University of Manchester

For more information on the topic:

• Philip McCann (2026) Regional Access to Capital and Investment Finance: Summary of results from TPI Research Programme. Productivity Insights Paper No. 086, The Productivity Institute.
• Raquel Ortega-Argilés, Philip McCann (2026) Knowledge Diffusion and Regional Productivity Growth: Summary of TPI Research Programme 2023-2026. Productivity Insights Paper No. 087, The Productivity Institute.
• Raquel Ortega-Argilés, Pei-Yu Yuan (2024) Do UK Research and Collaborations in R&I Promote Economic Prosperity and Levelling-up? An analysis of UKRI funding between 2004-2021, Working Paper No. 046, The Productivity Institute.
• Productivity Puzzles podcast, Turnaround Cities: Lessons learned for the UK.
• Productivity Puzzles podcast, Industrial policy, institutions and fiscal mechanisms.
• Productivity Puzzles podcast, Levelling up and the Northern Powerhouse.
• Unlocking Wales' Productivity Potential podcast, Understanding Productivity in Wales.

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.

Why does productivity vary so widely between NHS organisations? Can new technologies like AI and remote monitoring help the health service seize the opportunity to redesign care for the long term? 

This episode of Productivity Puzzles explores the critical challenges and opportunities facing the UK’s health service, with a discussion centring on the NHS Productivity Commission’s major new report, From Diagnosis to Delivery: A Framework for Accelerating NHS Productivity Growth.

Host Professor Bart van Ark is joined by:

• Anita Charlesworth, Senior Economic Adviser at the Health Foundation and co-chair of the NHS Productivity Commission.
• Tera Allas, Honorary Professor at Alliance Manchester Business School and co-chair of the NHS Productivity Commission.
• Mark Britnell, Professor at the Global Business School for Health at University College London and Chair of Health Innovation Manchester.

For more information on the topic:

• Tera Allas, Anita Charlesworth, Hannah Chhoa-Howard, Katie Fozzard, Alison Moulds and Stephen Rocks (2025) From Diagnosis to Delivery: A Framework for Accelerating NHS Productivity Growth, The Health Foundation.
• Mark Britnell (2019) Human: Solving the global workforce crisis in healthcare, Oxford Academic.
• Joel Hoskins and Bart van Ark (2025) Productivity and Responsible AI in Adult Social Care, The Productivity Institute.
• World Economic Forum (2016) Misaligned Stakeholders and Health System Underperformance, World Economic Forum White Paper.

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.

What does it really mean to grow a place? This episode unpacks the concept of place-based productivity and explores how it differs from traditional regional development. The discussion examines real-world examples and whether this approach works everywhere, from rural towns to major metropolitan areas.

The episode also looks at how the world is changing around place-based strategies, diving into the big shifts shaping the landscape: deglobalisation, digitalisation, and political upheaval. Should policy stay technocratic, or embrace politics to make place-based growth stick?

Host Professor Bart van Ark is joined by:

• Jeff Anderson, Professor at the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service and Department of Government at Georgetown University.
• Andy Westwood, Professor of Public Policy, Government and Business at The University of Manchester and Policy Director at The Productivity Institute.

For more information on the topic:

• Jeff Anderson and Andy Westwood (2026) The New Political Economy of Place-Based Policymaking, The Productivity Institute.
• Joe Peck, Huw Spencer, Samuel Thorpe and Andy Westwood (2025) Place-Based Industrial Policy: Six Lessons for the UK, The Productivity Institute.
• The Productivity Institute, Investment in Places campaign.
• Jack Shaw (2025) The role of place and the ‘zonification’ of growth, The Productivity Institute.
• Andy Westwood (2025) Regional growth, Labour and the biggest decisions still to come, The Productivity Institute.
• Tony Pipa and Natalie Geismar (2020) Reimagining rural policy, Brookings.
• The Guardian (2025) ‘Deeply demoralizing’: how Trump derailed coal country’s clean-energy revival.
• Andrés Rodríguez-Pose, The revenge of the places that don’t matter (and what to do about it), Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, Volume 11, Issue 1, March 2018, Pages 189–209.
• Bennett School of Public Policy (2019) Measuring wealth, delivering prosperity.
• UK Government (2022) Levelling Up the United Kingdom.

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.

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 School
• Louise Hellem, Chief Economist at the Confederation of British Industry
• Stephen 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 Strategy
• Office 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