David Bowkett

Good use of the Decision Maker Panel data to look at US tariff impacts on UK firms.
As expected - broadly limited, although obviously a huge deal for a relatively small number of firms.

cepr.org/voxeu/column...

Promoting economic growth Some thoughts on ESRC's role and ambitions

An important element of the new ESRC strategy we are working on is to make the promotion of economic growth an explicit goal of our work.

I've written a short piece about why we're doing this, and what that might involve.

magicsmoke.substack.com/p/promoting-...

Thanks to the @productivity.bsky.social team for a fascinating afternoon.

‪📣📣 Very happy to see our work on #regional #pay #disparities in the UK out.

#econsky📈📉
#geosky

@astonpress.bsky.social
@sheffielduni.bsky.social
@resfoundation.bsky.social

Have a look at the event and the report and stay tuned for more!

👀👇

www.resolutionfoundation.org/publications...

Interested in applying for our research internships programme for PhD students? Want to find out more about the scheme? We’ll be hosting an online Q&A on 30 June to answer your questions.

Register for the Q&A here: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/digital-go...

Great to see coverage of research funded through an ESRC sandpit I had the pleasure of helping to organise.

The inter-disciplinary researchers worked incredibly hard to bring together some high-quality research - making use of longitudinal data and qualitative methods - in a short amount of time.

Barriers and Enablers to Advanced Technology Adoption for UK Businesses A study to understand the ecosystem of factors influencing the business decision to adopt a new technology.

I am looking forward to reading it back-to-back at lunchtime with this report from yesterday, which also had great contributions from social science researchers.

www.gov.uk/government/p...

A great opportunity to work with @productivity.bsky.social to develop actionable insights on how businesses can improve productivity.

Andy Westwood Appointed to Skills England Board - The Productivity Institute Professor Andy Westwood, Policy Director at The Productivity Institute, has been appointed to the board of Skills England.

📢 We're proud to share that Professor Andy Westwood, Policy Director at The Productivity Institute, has been appointed to the board of Skills England - the new national agency shaping the future of post-16 education and skills in England.

🔗Read more here: www.productivity.ac.uk/news/andy-we...

🆕 📢 We are pleased to announce that our latest State of Small Business Britain report has been published today! The report is our annual review of trends and issues affecting small businesses in the UK, drawing together the range of research and analysis the ERC team completed during 2024...🧵

Still a long way to improve digital technology adoption in the UK - The Productivity Institute Advanced digital technologies show a wide variation in patterns of adoption and utilisation across regions and sectors in the UK.

How are UK businesses navigating digital transformation? A new blog by @alliancembs.bsky.social's Silvia Massini & Mabel Sanchez-Barrioluengo examines the data on adoption of advanced digital technologies and finds a wide variation across regions and sectors: www.productivity.ac.uk/news/still-a...

Reject the quiet life — there is no growth without competition The UK government should learn from the sorry history of cartels and monopolies

CAGE Research Associate Alexander Klein with @timleunig.bsky.social
writes in the FT on the lessons that history provides when determining a ‘what works’ approach to economic growth. 📰

A great thread on the challenges of measuring public sector productivity.

Kicking off #NationalProductivityWeek by partnering with @iofw.org on their closing event on the #PissaridesReview into the Future of Work and Wellbeing. With @productivity.bsky.social participation in #Shard London and AMBS in Manchester.

There are also lots of people who are doing great work on how we develop and use digital technologies @digitalgoodnet.bsky.social, @sociodigfutures.bsky.social, and @digitcentre.bsky.social who might know an ECR interested in this.

I can imagine that this is something the @productivity.bsky.social and @poid-lse.bsky.social might be interested in, as well researchers interested in how businesses use AI in R&D at @e-r-c.bsky.social.

This will likely be of particular interest to those working in STS and innovation studies, but the opportunity is open to researchers from all disciplines.

Pre-announcement: UKRI Metascience AI early career fellowships The UK Metascience Unit will fund a cohort of early career fellows to build our understanding of how the growing adoption of AI is changing the research landscape, including what metascientific, ethic...

Are you interested in how the use AI as a research tool is (and isn't) changing the practice of science?

If the answer is "yes!" and you also happen to be an early career researcher, then the following fellowship opportunity might be for you.

www.ukri.org/opportunity/...

Strategy, history and structure Some reflections at the start of ESRC's 60th anniversary year

One of my aims for the new year is to write more about our strategy and our funding decisions.

In the spirit of our anniversary, I'm starting with some reflections on what our history & structure implies for how we fund, and our role in the soc sci ecosystem.

open.substack.com/pub/magicsmo...

There is a great photo of the Clydach Gorge in this piece. This is home to the village of Clydach were I grew up - and where my family has lived for generations. The gorge was one of many incredible engineering challenges of building this new road.

A465: Work on Heads of the Valleys road to end after 23 years It has taken 23 years and cost almost £2bn, but the major road will be finished later in 2025.

Cannot recommend this BBC piece highly enough for anyone interested in productivity, growth, infrastructure and regional economics.

This is deeply personal for me as the road cuts right through my village. I learned to drive in these road works nearly 20 years ago!

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

I strongly recommend East West Street by Phillippe Sands. It's a brilliant book and it covers the origins of 'genocide' and 'crimes against humanity' as legal terms, as well as the live stories of the two men who came up with them.

This was a fascinating lunchtime read.

Firm #climate investment: A glass half-full | Read the latest CEPR @voxeu.org column by Nicholas Bloom, Philip Bunn, Paul Mizen, @prachisrivas.bsky.social, Gregory Thwaites and @iyotzov.bsky.social
poid.lse.ac.uk/PUBLI...