Henry G Overman

Women in economics | Insights from the field 6.30pm Mon 8 Dec | Almudena Sevilla, Clare Lombardelli | Ticket Required | Free public event at LSE

Join Centre for Economic Performance UK Women in Economics Network (UK WEN) for Women in Economics: Progress, Challenges & Perspectives, exploring disparities and necessary changes.

📅 Mon 8 Dec 2025
🕡 18:30–20:00
📍 LSE Sheikh Zayed Theatre + online

👉 More info: https://ow.ly/tplv50XvVGo

A couple of upcoming @whatworksgrowth.bsky.social events on how to understand data around labour market skills and using it to assess local performance and policy whatworksgrowth.org/events/under... whatworksgrowth.org/events/under...

Understanding local skills performance requires more than just data - What Works Growth Skills are an important driver of local productivity.

Skills matter for productivity, yet the data landscape can feel overwhelming.

Our latest blog explains a simple framework to make sense of local skills demand and supply.

Read more 👉 buff.ly/F9y9OP3

Great piece here on the work of Philippe Aghion - winner of the Nobel prize, which was awarded jointly with Peter Howitt and Joel Mokyr. Written by John Van Reenen published by the European Economic Association.

www.eeassoc.org/news...

Women in economics | Insights from the field 6.30pm Mon 8 Dec | Almudena Sevilla, Clare Lombardelli | Ticket Required | Free public event at LSE

@cep-lse.bsky.social women in economics event - 8th December. Details here: www.lse.ac.uk/events/women...

What policies could kick-start economic growth in the UK? - Economics Observatory For two decades, the UK economy has seen weak growth, driven by low business investment, inadequate market dynamism and persistent policy instability. These failures shape the daily reality of…

🚨 JUST PUBLISHED – What policies could kick-start economic growth in the UK?
By @aadyabahl.bsky.social
(@cep-lse.bsky.social)

Out now! AI and the future of work. Nobel laureate Chris Pissarides and productivity expert Prof Mary O’Mahony on what’s changing and how to prepare.

In the redesigned CentrePiece magazine.

@helen-ward1.bsky.social @econromesh.bsky.social

Read: cep.lse.ac.uk/pubs/d...

How productive are the UK’s big cities? - Centre for Cities This briefing dives into the latest subregional productivity data to understand the trends over the past 20 years and what it can tell us about local and national economic performance

I don't understand what is going on with sub-national productivity data in the UK. @centreforcities.bsky.social doing their best here, but I'd be wary drawing any substantive conclusions: www.centreforcities.org/publication/...

Understanding the drivers of productivity: Enterprise and competition - What Works Growth This blog focuses on enterprise and competition, and complements the blogs on GVA and productivity published in summer 2024.

Competition is an important driver of productivity as it can push businesses to become more efficient, innovative and productive.

But local government should think carefully about how to intervene.

Check out the latest blog👇
buff.ly/v2UFZ3N

Local opportunities in the Defence Industrial Strategy - What Works Growth In September the government published the Defence Industrial Strategy 2025. This is the last of eight sector plans in the national Industrial Strategy, alongside Advanced Manufacturing, Clean Energy…

In September the government published the last of eight sector plans in the industrial strategy, covering defence.

Our new blog gives suggestions for how places can think through support to local businesses in responding to these plans👇
buff.ly/qR0b8yL

Congratulations to Andrea Herrera @aaherrerab.bsky.social (LSE) & Zane Kashner @zkashner.bsky.social (Stanford), who shared the student prize at our North American #UEA2025 meeting in Montréal.

urbaneconomics.org/meetings/awa...

Read their papers: aaherrerab.github.io & www.zanekashner.com

Our North American #UEA2025 meeting, hosted by Université du Québec à Montréal, featured keynotes by Cecile Gaubert & Keith Head and more than 60 paper sessions.

urbaneconomics.org/meetings/uea...

Thanks to local organizers Kristian Behrens, Julien Martin & Florian Mayneris.

Thanks to everyone who came to the @urbaneconomics.bsky.social North American Meetings in Montreal and to all those who worked behind the scenes to make it happen. Our next meeting will be in Barcelona, 8-9 May 2026. Call for papers coming soon.

Understanding the drivers of productivity: Skills  - What Works Growth This blog is the first in our new series on the drivers of productivity, including include skills, investment, innovatio and enterprise.

In the first blog in our new series we provide an overview of skills and local growth—looking at policy levers available, things to consider, and useful resources.

This is a great primer to understanding how skills affect local growth and productivity👇
buff.ly/A99kPQ3

Understanding the drivers of productivity: Capital - What Works Growth The drivers of productivity include skills, capital, innovation, enterprise and competition, and land. This blog focuses on capital.

Capital is an important driver of productivity 📈

If businesses want to improve productivity, they might invest in new machinery to speed up production, or new software to tackle more complex and higher value tasks 💰

Read in full 👇
buff.ly/R7oZVrz

Looking forward to our North American @urbaneconomics.bsky.social meeting. Program now online: urbaneconomics.org/meetings/uea....

The @cep-lse.bsky.social @warwickecon.bsky.social Junior Trade Workshop will take place on Sept 22 @cep-lse.bsky.social. Come meet and provide feedback to six promising JMCs! UK-based trade/urban/spatial aficionados are welcome to register here: cep.lse.ac.uk/_new/events/...

Housebuyers hate stamp duty. Why hasn’t it been reformed before now? Stamp duty has been around for centuries but it is bad in principle and poor in execution.

Paul Cheshire cautions against rushed, short-term changes to stamp duty when there is a overwhelming case for a fully thought-through reform of stamp duty and council tax in combination.

Town and gown: The role of universities in city economies - Centre for Cities This briefing sets out how local universities contribute to cities’ economic development as high-skilled employers, international exporters, catalysts for city-centre regeneration and innovators.

An important point from @centreforcities.bsky.social on the uneven impact of the university crisis. While bigger universities matter for the national impact, the local economic impact will be bigger where smaller universities dominate their local economy www.centreforcities.org/publication/...

Can expanding airports help local growth take off? - What Works Growth 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…

With more flights than ever taking off from the UK, airport expansion is a hot topic ✈️

But what might expansion mean for local growth in the areas around airports? Our new blog discusses some of the issues to consider👇
buff.ly/GSYeoO6

Group photo showing participants at the summer school

Three days of great lectures and student talks at the @urbaneconomics.bsky.social summer school. Thanks to students, faculty and organisers.

Multiplying the benefits of Local Growth Plans - What Works Growth 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 d...

Local Growth Plans are a key part of the government’s growth strategy.

Devolution will need to generate jobs, investment and economic activity more than the sum of their parts – multipliers can help assess these wider benefits.

Read how in our new blog👇
whatworksgrowth.org/insights/mul...

Call for papers for @cep-lse.bsky.social LSE / Warwick Junior Trade Seminar: cep.lse.ac.uk/_new/events/.... Deadline 27 July.

The IS-8 might not be right for your place - What Works Growth Local economies are not all the same, and economic strategy should never be a cookie cutter approach.

📍The IS-8 might not be right for your place

Local economies are not all the same, and economic strategy should never be a cookie cutter approach.

Read the blog 👇

Local multipliers - What Works Growth Local employment multipliers toolkit published on 20 May 2019. Local multiplier effects of changes in public spending rapid evidence review published on 1 July 2025. Multipliers are a concept used by ...

We added a new @whatworksgrowth.bsky.social review on the evidence on multipliers from public spending to our local multipliers page: whatworksgrowth.org/resource-lib... [in short - for local impacts, proceed with caution or use employment multipliers instead]

Call for papers for LSE Environment Week: www.lse-environment-week.com/environment-... [submission deadline 14th July] @poid-lse.bsky.social

Looking forward to this event tomorrow (Wednesday) on Skills in the Age of AI, with Mary O'Mahony and Chris Pissarides.

This new @resfoundation.bsky.social research on the effect of place on early career workers looks interesting. Suggests place may be particularly important for younger workers.

Out now! @gimpulli.bsky.social and Pontus Rendahl
explore the impact of declining competition on innovation and inequality in the United States.

In the new CentrePiece magazine.

@econromesh.bsky.social @helen-ward1.bsky.social

Read: cep.lse.ac.uk/pubs/d...

Putting wellbeing and mental health at the heart of progress 1.30pm Fri 20 Jun | Martin Knapp, Richard Layard, Laura Taylor | Free event at the LSE Festival: Visions for the Future | Ticket required

Tomorrow! Our #LSEFestival event will explore policy for wellbeing.

Speakers:
Richard Layard
Martin Knapp
Laura Taylor
Chair: Christian Krekel

📅 Fri 20 June
⏲️ 1.30-2.30pm

www.lse.ac.uk/Events...