Recent international news has been dominated by a huge Turkey-Syria earthquake and by mounting tension between the USA and China regarding the shooting down of a balloon and unidentified flying objects in US airspace. In the UK the Bank of England raised interest rates once again in early February. Inflation is decreasing slightly but remains … Continue reading “West Midlands Economic Impact Monitor – 17 February 2023”
Tag: Rebecca Riley
What is Gross Value Added (GVA) and What Does it Tell Us About the Economy of the West Midlands and the UK?
Associate Professor Rebecca Riley and Professor Delma Dwight discuss GVA or Gross Value Added. What are its strengths and weaknesses as an economic measure, what does it tell us about the current state of the economy of the West Midlands and the UK and how can we improve our GVA? This podcast was inspired by … Continue reading “What is Gross Value Added (GVA) and What Does it Tell Us About the Economy of the West Midlands and the UK?”
Shedding Light on Productivity in the West Midlands
Rebecca Riley discusses a new report examining productivity in the West Midlands. The report is written by Melisa Wickham and is in collaboration with the West Midlands Combined Authority. This report focuses on labour productivity – which measures how much output is produced per unit of labour input. There are varying measures of labour input, … Continue reading “Shedding Light on Productivity in the West Midlands”
Why are the Over-50s Leaving the Workforce? – Labour Market Flows and Future Participation Flows
Rebecca Riley takes a look at some of the factors behind the over-50s leaving work and what this means for the UK labour market. This blog is part of a series looking at the UK Labour Market. See also: – How do Fertility Rates and Childcare Costs Play out in the UK Labour Market? – … Continue reading “Why are the Over-50s Leaving the Workforce? – Labour Market Flows and Future Participation Flows”
Does the Computer say yes to Levelling Up? Will ChatGPT Replace the Policy Wonk?
Rebecca Riley goes head to head with a chatbot to see if it can answer any of the big questions about regional inequality in the UK. ChatGPT is the latest and potentially impressive artificially intelligent chatbot yet. It was released at the beginning of December, and in just five days hit a million users. I narrowly … Continue reading “Does the Computer say yes to Levelling Up? Will ChatGPT Replace the Policy Wonk?”
West Midlands Economic Impact Monitor – 9 December 2022
In this edition we look at the price of the UK’s 12 favourite Christmas dinner trimmings, the price of a traditional Christmas dinner (for a family of 4 or 5) has increased 17.6% from £32.93 in November 2021 to £38.72 in November 2022. However, despite the general gloom of cost-of-living an Ipsos report found that … Continue reading “West Midlands Economic Impact Monitor – 9 December 2022”
Birmingham: Future Prospects – Short Term Pain, Long Term Potential
With the release of more economic data on the period impacted by the pandemic, Rebecca Riley looks at the forecasts being built from this data, and what they say about Birmingham. This blog post was produced for inclusion in the Birmingham Economic Review for 2022. The annual Birmingham Economic Review is produced by the University … Continue reading “Birmingham: Future Prospects – Short Term Pain, Long Term Potential”
Linking Research to Localities – The City-Region Economic Development Institute
Simon Collinson, Rebecca Riley, and Anne Green reflect on the experience of developing City-REDI and the factors that have enabled it to produce research tailored to the needs of regional stakeholders. An invitation to write a chapter for a book titled ‘How to Engage PolicyRe Makers with Your Research: The Art of Informing and Impacting Policy’ provided a … Continue reading “Linking Research to Localities – The City-Region Economic Development Institute”
REDI Updates 3: Lessons from City-REDI / WMREDI Research on Levelling Up
Welcome to REDI-Updates. REDI-Updates aims to get behind the data and translate it into understandable terms. In this edition, WMREDI staff look at the government’s flagship policy – Levelling Up. We look at the challenge of implementing, understanding and measuring levelling up. Rebecca Riley summarises some of the key points to come out of our … Continue reading “REDI Updates 3: Lessons from City-REDI / WMREDI Research on Levelling Up”
Haldane’s Dog – The Complexity of Government and the Lack of Spatial Awareness
Rebecca Riley discusses how Andy Haldane’s use of a dog analogy highlights one of the key issues with levelling up. Andy Haldane spoke at the RSA on levelling up, and said “Whitehall has a resemblance to my dog, both have a lack of spatial awareness”. Departments don’t have a clear understanding of their footprint locally. … Continue reading “Haldane’s Dog – The Complexity of Government and the Lack of Spatial Awareness”