NIESR Podcast: Recent Episodes
National Institute of Economic and Social Reseach
The National Institute of Economic and Social Research is Britain's longest established independent research institute, founded in 1938. The vision of our founders was to carry out research to improve understanding of the economic and social forces that affect people’s lives, and the ways in which policy can bring about change. Over eighty years later, this remains central to NIESR’s ethos. We continue to apply our expertise in both quantitative and qualitative methods and our understanding of economic and social issues to current debates and to influence policy.
An AI generated short summary of the main points of the our Director's blog, originally published on 6 February 2026 on NIESR website: https://niesr.ac.uk/blog/how-should-we-pay-increased-defence-spending
In this episode Social Researcher Marley Williams is joined by three Community Researchers who have conducted interviews to people in receipt of Universal Credit (UC) and/or housing benefit as part of NIESR's UKRI funded Living Standard Review 2025, sharing their insights into the main issues of the current welfare system in the UK.
In this episode, Freya Thomas is joined by NIESR Associate Research Director Edoardo Masset to discuss the effectiveness of the so called 'WASH' interventions, and what next in the implementations of these important packages to try to reduce mortality in the countries analyzed.
In this episode, Freya Thomas is joined by NIESR Associate Economist Hailey Low, NIESR Senior Economist Ben Caswell, and NIESR Research Lead for Regional Modelling and Microsimulation Arnab Bhattacharjee. They discuss the economic inheritance of the new UK Government, and outline the main priorities for the economy as a new parliamentary cycle begins.
In this episode, Freya Thomas is joined by NIESR Deputy Director for Macroeconomic Modelling, Professor Stephen Millard. They discuss the recently published Bernanke Review on the Bank of England's forecasting processes, talk about what's next for Central Banks and the UK economy (including inflation and interest rates), and give a preview on what to expect from the forthcoming NIESR UK Outlook, to be published next week.
This podcast discusses the progress that has been made for women in economics and the barriers that still remain, proposing solutions to overcome these inequalities and inspire inclusion.In this episode, to mark International Women’s Day 2024, Freya Thomas is joined by NIESR Postdoctoral Research Associate Dr Margarida Bandeira Morais, NIESR Principal Economist Dr Larissa Marioni, NIESR Economist Patricia Sánchez Juanino, NIESR Assistant Economist Robyn Smith, and Kingston University - and NIESR Fellow - Professor Michela Vecchi.
This podcast discusses migrant community organising in crisis situations, focusing on the case of Latin Americans in London during the COVID-19 pandemic.In this episode Luca Pieri is joined by NIESR Senior Social Researcher Dr Domiziana Turcatti and Associate Social Researcher Jasmin Rostron, and three leaders in the Latin American community in London: Ms Claudia Lopez, a Colombian English as Additional Language teacher at the Saint Gabriel’s College, a secondary school in London; Bruna Boscaini, Director of IRMO, The Indoamerican Refugee Migrant Organisation, and and Lucia Filinich, The Health and Wellbeing Project Lead at IRMO.
The recent #AutumnStatement has been delivered against a backdrop of low economic growth, high inflation, and falling living standards for nearly half of the UK population.Luca Pieri is joined by NIESR Senior Economist Max Mosley to discuss the latest on the UK economy and analyse some of the measures announced in the recent Autumn Statement.
UK GDP is currently (2023 Q1) 0.5 per cent below the level of GDP before the pandemic. Our forecast does not have it passing this level until the third quarter of 2024. Luca Pieri is joined by Hailey Low to discuss the current state of the UK economy
Deputy Director for Social and Political Economy at NIESR Professor Adrian Pabst joins Luca Pieri for a health check up on how levelling up is faring in the UK. Are the current measures working and are the benefits being felt around the UK? Or is the regional divide becoming deeper still?
NIESR Associate Social Researcher Jasmin Rostron explains the findings from a research project analysing the experiences of older women in the labour market in Scotland - and outlines the role Older Workers can play in the UK Labour Market
NIESR Associate Economist Paula Bejarano Carbo goes through the latest figures for the UK GDP, and outlines the main challenges for the UK economy in 2023
Our Summer UK Economic Outlook, published in August 2021, suggest that – while headline growth and business optimism are strong – the recovery is not yet broad-based, being principally driven by the re-opening of a few sectors. Cyrille Lenoel, Principal Economist at NIESR, discusses the short-term outlook with Luca Pieri (Senior Communications Manager). You can read the Summer UK Outlook here: https://www.niesr.ac.uk/publications/uk-economic-outlook-summer-2021-emerging-shadow-covid-19
In this special post Election podcast, Jagjit Chadha talks with Garry Young and Arno Hantzsche about the policy decisions and fiscal plans that lay ahead for the new government.
NIESR's Director Jagjit Chadha talks with our Ana Rincon-Aznar and David Nguyen about some of the main regional disparities in the UK and what could be done to address them. This podcast is part of the 'NIESR Talks General Election 2019' series, aimed at better informing the public ahead of the General Election. We would like to thank the Nuffield Foundation for their support.
NIESR's Director Jagjit Chadha talks with our Stefan Speckesser and Elena Lisauskaite about what makes an effective education policy and which areas should the incoming government focuses on. This podcast is part of the 'NIESR Talks General Election 2019' series, aimed at better informing the public ahead of the General Election. We would like to thank the Nuffield Foundation for their support.
NIESR's Director Jagjit Chadha talks with Director of Macroeconomic Modelling & Forecasting Garry Young and Head of Global Themes Amit Kara about the effects of the Brexit vote on the UK economy and how the developments of the global economy might affect the UK. This podcast is part of the 'NIESR Talks General Election 2019' series, aimed at better informing the public ahead of the General Election. We would like to thank the Nuffield Foundation for their support.
NIESR's Director Jagjit Chadha talks with Senior Economist Andrew Aitken and Senior Social Researcher Johnny Runge about the economics of Minimum Wages as part of our research to better inform the public ahead of the General Election. We would like to thank the Nuffield Foundation for their support.
At the margins of a recent conference organised by OMFIF and the Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis , NIESR's Principal Economist Arno Hantzsche discussed short and long term risks and opportunities for the global economy with some of the speakers: Bart van Ark, Executive Vice-President and Chief Economist, The Conference Board Javier Perez, Director, Economic Developments Department, Banco de España Catherine Saget, Chief of the Work, Income and Equity Unit, International Labour Organization
NIESR's Associate Research Director Heather Rolfe talks to Paola Buonadonna about the findings in her evaluation of Growth Mindset interventions in English schools, published on 12/7/19
Paola Buonadonna discusses NIESR's most recent data releases with Senior Economist Arno Hantzsche. Three years after the vote to leave the EU and in the midst of a Brexit related Conservative Leadership election uncertainty still dominates,
Paola Buonadonna and senior NIESR economist Arno Hantzsche discuss what can be done to mitigate the immediate economic damage of a no-deal Brexit, You can find more information on NIESR's last quarterly forecasts before the UK is due to exit the EU on our website here: https://www.niesr.ac.uk/media/press-release-prospects-uk-economy-13637
Heather Rolfe and David Nguyen discuss the findings of NIESR's latest report on the effects of Brexit-related labour shortages in the UK health and social care sector. You can find the full report here https://www.niesr.ac.uk/publications/brexit-and-health-social-care-workforce-uk and Heather's blog here: https://www.niesr.ac.uk/blog/brexit-risks-putting-social-care-critical-list
As NIESR published its November 2018 Economic Review- an issue devoted to the Institute's 80th birthday - Paola Buonadonna talks to NIESR Research Director Peter Dolton about the changing trends in labour economics. Peter's article on the same theme is outside the paywall and available for all to read here: http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/002795011824600112 Peter's blog explaining the main ten trends of the last few years is here: https://www.niesr.ac.uk/blog/ten-important-facts-about-uk-labour-market-today
Associate Research Director Heather Rolfe talks to Gary Gibbon, Political Editor of Channel 4 News about what role broadcast media plays in framing people's negative perceptions of immigration. They talked after the public launch of a new in-depth report by NIESR entitled "Post-Brexit Immigration Policy: Reconciling Public Perceptions with Economic Evidence", funded by the Leverhulme Trust. You can find the report on NIESR's website on www.niesr.ac.uk
Nathan Hudson-Sharp tells Paola Buonadonna that his latest research shows the majority of child and family social workers have very little education and training on gender variance and transgender issues. His report, "Transgender awareness in child and family social work education", was published today by the Department for Education.
The Commentary of the May 2018 NIESR Economic Review argues the time has come to ease fiscal austerity. Paola Buonadonna discusses what options are open to the Government with Arno Hantzsche, a Senior Economist at the Institute.
UK wages have not yet returned to pre-recession levels, despite a very low unemployment rate. Why are UK workers finding it so difficult to negotiate a pay rise? Prof David Bell of Sterling University discusses his latest research - co-authored with Danny Blanchflower - for the February 2018 issue of the NIESR Economic Review.
Paola Buonadonna talks to Lucy Stokes about new research on school performance for the National Institute Economic Review. This special issue of the Review, out on 7 February 2018, was produced in collaboration with UCL Institute of Education as part of work funded by the Nuffield Foundation.
In the fourth and final episode of a series of podcasts looking ahead to 2018 Paola Buonadonna talks to NIESR's Director, Prof Jagjit Chadha, about the price of the exit deal and the economic cost of Brexit.
Paola Buonadonna talks to Dr Monique Ebell about the difficult trade-offs the UK is faced with in the coming year as it negotiates a new relationship with the EU. This is the third of series of podcasts looking ahead to economic and social developments to keep an eye on in 2018,
In the second of a series of podcasts looking ahead to economic and social developments to keep an eye on in 2018 Paola Buonadonna and NIESR Associate Research Director Heather Rolfe discuss the latest agreement on EU citizens rights post-Brexit and the future of EU immigration.
In the first of a series of podcasts looking ahead to economic and developments to keep an eye on in 2018 Paola Buonadonna and senior NIESR economist Arno Hantzsche discuss what to expect from the ECB in and the likelihood of reform in the Euro area.
Britain's productivity puzzle is turning into a nightmare, with a further decade of slow growth predicted by some. Paola Buonadonna speaks to NIESR Associate Research Director Monique Ebell about a report she recently co-authored, which could provide a piece of the jigsaw.
Is the West doomed to a 'new normal' of low growth? And what is the role played by skills and other intangible assets in driving productivity performance? Paola Buonadonna meets Jakob Madsen, Rebecca Riley and Geoff Mason who presented their latest ESRC-backed research at at the recent LLAKES conference in Assisi.
Dr Monique Ebell, an experts on international trade at NIESR welcomes the Government's suggestion of an interim period during which Britain would remain in the EU Customs Union post-Brexit, but asks : what then?
Paola Buonadonna talks to NIESR Senior Economist Rebecca Piggott about the complex, and somewhat contradictory trends she is witnessing in the UK labour market.
In the run-up to the General Election of June 2017 Paola Buonadonna talks to NIESR Research Director Peter Dolton about the state of NHS financing and what the three main parties aim to do about it.
In the run-up to the General Election of June 2017 Paola Buonadonna talks to Amit Kara, Head of UK Macroeconomic Forecasting about the state of infrastructure in the UK: is it time to build?
In the run-up to the General Election of June 2017 Paola Buonadonna talks to NIESR Associate Reserach Director Heather Rolfe about perceptions and reality in the debate about immigration.
Paola Buonadonna talks to NIESR economist James Warren about the UK economic landscape, based on NIESR's latest quarterly forecast published in the May Economic Review - the last one ahead of the UK General Election.
NIESR forecaster James Warren tells Paola Buonadonna how the Institute the UK economy to perform as Brexit negotiations get underway.
Rebecca Riley, Director of the newly created Economic Statistics Centre of Excellence (ESCoE), tells Paola Buonadonna about its origin, mission and busy research programme
Five NIESR researchers discuss the triggering of Art 50 with Paola Buonadonna : our economic outlook as we enter the negotiations, its repercussions on trade, the economic dilemmas facing the PM, the issue of immigration and the questions of our ongoing relationship with Europe.
Martin Weale, former NIESR Director, former member of the Monetary Policy and now Professor of Economics at King's College London explains why Brexit negotiations are the biggest challenge the UK economy currently faces.
Dr Monique Ebell, who has been researching the effects of different types of trade agreements have on the volumes of trade explains the advantages and disadvantages of Britain remaining part of the Customs Union with the EU.
With Britain set to trigger the start of the negotiations to exit the EU, and the Single Market, by the end of the month Paola Buonadonna talks to NIESR Fellow Dr Monique Ebell about her research on the effects that different types of trade agreements have on the volume of trade.
Paola Buonadonna explores the challenges facing economic statisticians attempting to capture the modern economy in a digital age in five conversations, recorded behind the scenes at the recent ONS conference. Featuring John Pullinger, UK National Statistician, Joe Grice, former Chief Economist and Chairman of the ONS Economic Experts, Prof Martin Weale, King's College London, Prof Diane Coyle, Manchester University and NIESR's Rebecca Riley, Director of the newly created Economic Statistics Centre of Excellence (ESCoE).
Paola Buonadonna talks to NIESR researcher Nathan Hudson-Sharp about the his latest research into the use of agency workers in the public sector, the most comprehensive analysis to date. The report, co-authored with NIESR's Heather Rolfe and Johnny Runge, concludes that the staffing crisis pushes NHS staff into agency working.
Paola Buonadonna talks to NIESR Research Fellow Lucy Stokes about a recent report she co-authored on "Older Workers and the Workplace", for the Department of Work and Pensions. In what was the first UK study which used national representative data for private sector workplaces Lucy looked at prevalence of older workers, their satisfaction levels and their impact on productivity with interesting results ...
Behind the scenes at NIESR's Conference in honour of Martin Weale Paola Buonadonna talks to a veritable 'assumption of economists', including Jagjit Chadha, David Vines, Andrew Harvey, Mary O'Mahoney and Martin Weale. Between them, they tackle the challenges facing economic modelling, understanding financial markets and the influence of extreme events, the productivity puzzle and the problems facing the UK economy in 2017.
NIESR's Director, Prof Jagjit Chadha discusses economic forecasting with Paola Buonadonna. "Behind the numbers is a story. Our job is to understand which story did happen amongst all the alternatives"
Dr Angus Armstrong, NIESR's Director of Macroeconomics and Senior Fellow at the ESRC's 'UK in a changing Europe' Programme talks to Paola Buonadonna about the challenges and opportunities raised by the UK exit negotiations with the EU in 2017.
Heather Rolfe, NIESR's Associate Research Director talks to Paola Buonadonna about the role EU migrants play in the British economy and how British employers would cope with a reduction in their number.
Doyne Farmer, Professor of Mathematics at Oxford University, moderated a session on computing technology and macroeconomics at NIESR's recent "Rethinking Macroeconomics Conference". Here is a taster of what emerged in the session.
David Tuckett, Director of the Centre for Decision-Making Uncertainty at UCL, discusses the themes explored in the session covering perspectives from psychology, sociology and anthropology at NIESR's recent "Rethinking Macroeconomics Conference".
Roger Farmer, Distinguished Economics Professor at UCLA and NIESR Research Director, discusses why macroeconomics is no longer fit for purpose at the recent NIESR's "Rethinking Macroeconomic Conference".
Angus Armstrong, NIESR's Director of Macroeconomics, looks back at the issues raised by NIESR's recent Rethinking Macroeconomics Conference.
The Economist's Soumaya Keynes talks to Paola Buonadonna about the three big questions facing the world of macroeconomics, after moderating a session at our "Rethinking Macroecnomics Conference" on 29th November 2016
Journalist and author Paul Mason, was one of the keynote speakers at NIESR's recent Rethinking Macroeconomics Conference. Here he sums up what the "big questions" are.
Look Ahead 2017 is a new series of podcasts by the National Institute of Economic and Social Research, discussing the events, trends and processes to watch out for in the coming year. In episode one Paola Buonadonna talks to Roger Farmer, Distinguished Professor of Macroeconomics at UCLA, recently appointed Research Director NIESR, about what is going to happen to globalisation.
On 29/11/16 the National Institute held a conference entitled: "Rethinking Macroeconomics" to start a discussion about what needs to be done to transform macroeconomics back into a useful policy science. Twelve panellists, divided in four sessions, explored the big questions on the horizons with the help of a very engaged audience. For this podcast NIESR's Paola Buonadonna spoke to journalist and author Paul Mason, Soumaya Keynes (The Economist), Doyne Farmer (Professor of mathematics, Oxford), David Tuckett(Director of the Centre for Decision-Making Uncertainty, UCL), macroeconomist Roger Farmer (UCL, Warwick and NIESR) and Angus Armstrong, Director of Macroeconomics at NIESR.
Scott Sumner is the Ralph G. Hawtrey Chair of Monetary Policy at the Mercatus Center and a prominent blogger (TheMoneyIllusion.com, Econlog). His research is in the field of monetary economics, particularly the role of the gold standard in the Great Depression, which he explored in a book entitled “The Midas Paradox” published in 2015.
He has also published in the Journal of Political Economy, the Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, and Economic Inquiry. His policy work has focused on the importance of expectations, particularly the idea of using futures markets to guide monetary policy.
In this seminar Sumner will argue that the Great Recession has been widely misdiagnosed, and was primarily caused by an excessively tight monetary policy by the Fed, the ECB and most other major central banks.