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Andy Burnham recently acknowledged that UK universities are capable of driving innovation and economic growth. But their ability to do so is being undermined by a higher education funding crisis. Manchesterism, with its ...Read more...
Aadya Bahl
14 July 2026
In this guest blog, Aadya Bahl talks about the analysis done for the CEP report Hive of talent: what would it take to raise skills and productivity in Greater Manchester? published last week. For more information on avai...Read more...
5 May 2026
Finding enough highly-skilled workers to enable Greater Manchester to make a serious dent in its productivity gap with London will require action that goes beyond skills policy alone, a new report from the Centre for Eco...Read more...
Aadya Bahl and Henry G. Overman
29 April 2026
The economics of greenfield urban planning...Read more...
J. Vernon Henderson, Francisco Libano-Monteiro, Martina Manara, Guy Michaels and Tanner Regan
21 October 2025
Why the city centre re-emerged from destruction....Read more...
Kohei Takeda and Atsushi Yamagishi
This blog is the first in our new series on the drivers of productivity. The drivers of productivity include skills, investment, innovation, enterprise and competition, and land. This blog focuses on skills, and compleme...Read more...
Anamaria Tibocha-Nino
1 September 2025
August means airports, and now that air travel has rebounded from the lows during the Covid-19 pandemic to reach levels where globally there are more flights than ever, airports face bigger and bigger tests on their capa...Read more...
Will Brett-Harding
28 August 2025
Last month the government published new guidance for Mayoral Strategic Authorities on Local Growth Plans. These are a key foundation of the new Industrial Strategy and the government's ambitions for devolution, as well a...Read more...
14 July 2025
People like to live in certain places, even when higher wages are on offer elsewhere. Gabriel Ahlfeldt, Fabian Bald, Duncan Roth and Tobias Seidel show that once people?s preferences are considered, big cities offer a hi...Read more...
Gabriel M. Ahlfeldt, Fabian Bald, Duncan Roth and Tobias Seidel
20 June 2025
Moving public agencies out of London was a major plank of the levelling-up agenda. The effects on local economies seem smaller than hoped - and it's important to compare them with those of other tools of regional policy:...Read more...
Max Nathan, Henry G. Overman, Capucine Riom and Maria Sanchez-Vidal
19 December 2024
Can 'Economics 101' and radical incrementalism reshape local economic development? David and Mike explore this and more with Professor Henry Overman. Tune in for a deep dive into practical economic strategies and their i...Read more...
Henry G. Overman
24 October 2024
This briefing looks at the causes and consequences of UK spatial disparities and what, if anything, policy can do to address them....Read more...
Will Brett-Harding and Henry G. Overman
20 June 2024
Anamaria Tibocha-Nino outlines how a new evidence briefing published by the What Works Centre for Local Economic Growth provides guidance for local policymakers on how to think through some of the local economic impacts ...Read more...
16 April 2024
In February, the government announced the new Local Transport Fund, a package of #4.7bn of spending. Places will be able to spend funds on a range of transport investments, with the aim of improving connectivity within a...Read more...
28 March 2024
Spatial inequality in economic outcomes is increasingly seen as a problem for national economies. This paper considers spatial inequality in the UK labour market, its causes, and potential policy solutions. Relative to o...Read more...
Pawel Bukowski, Mark Fransham and Neil Lee
1 March 2024
Will Brett-Harding explains why we should assess the local economic impacts of fair employment policies and why it is important to think carefully about the economic logic and the evidence before pursuing them as a polic...Read more...
11 December 2023
Planning - largely because of the cruel growth in the unaffordability of housing - has risen up the political agenda. Reforms are urgently needed to allow more homes to be built, but change is notoriously difficult. Ahea...Read more...
Paul Cheshire
15 November 2023
This blog series, aimed primarily at those working in local and central government, provides deep-dives into various components of economic growth, and some key concepts that affect the impact of economic growth policies...Read more...
2 November 2023
Anamaria Tibocha-Nino discusses key concepts to consider when thinking about capitalisation for local economic growth policies....Read more...
23 October 2023
Helene Donnat discusses what to consider when thinking about tradable and non-tradables in policymaking....Read more...
Helene Donnat
19 October 2023
Will Brett-Harding discusses what to consider regarding crowding out, displacement and leakage, when thinking about local economic growth policies....Read more...
10 October 2023
Will Brett-Harding discusses additionality and deadweight, the twin concepts which are essential to assessing policy effectiveness....Read more...
3 October 2023
The UK has a significant productivity problem and the poor performance of the nation's largest cities outside the capital contribute to this problem. Expert economists set out what change would be needed to set Greater M...Read more...
Paul Brandily, Mike Brewer, Nye Cominetti, Matt Coombes, Adam Corlett, Lindsay Judge, Felicia Odamtten, Henry G. Overman, Cara Pacitti, Gui Rodrigues, Krishan Shah, Paul Swinney and Lalitha Try
2 October 2023
Anamaria Tibocha-Nino discusses why we need to consider multipliers when thinking about local economic growth policies....Read more...
26 September 2023
Henry Overman explains why we need to consider efficiency and equity when thinking about local economic growth policies....Read more...
20 September 2023
