Economics Observatory | Questions and answers about coronavirus and the UK economy

How could the UK’s education system be reformed to equalise opportunities?

Reforms to the admissions procedures for UK schools and universities would make a big difference to many young people’s life chances.

Banks & financial markets

How do bond markets react to election results?

The outcome of the UK general election did not come as a surprise. Labour’s win seems to have already been ‘priced in’ to bond and stock markets, which means there has been little reaction on either. The same cannot be said for recent parliamentary elections elsewhere in Europe.

Nations, regions & cities

The 2024 Olympics: will home advantage boost France’s medal count?

The 2024 Olympics begins soon in Paris, the third time that the summer event has taken place in the French capital. The last time the city hosted was in 1924, when France finished third in the medal table. Home advantage won’t guarantee success this time around – but history is on their side.

DATA HUB

Child poverty

Amid pressure to remove the two-child cap on benefits, the government has launched a new Child Poverty Unit. The cap, introduced by the Conservative government in 2017, means that families do not receive additional child tax credit or universal credit for third or fourth children born after April 2017.

Over the last two decades, relative child poverty - the proportion of children in households with equivalised incomes below 60% of the median - has fallen slightly, though there has been a mild upward trend since 2013. Increases in the poverty rate for households with three or more children have been offset by a reduction for those with one or two children.

To find out more about child poverty in the UK, read this Economics Observatory article detailing its history over the last 30 years.

Business, big & small

Why are there so few women leading the UK’s biggest companies?

Only one in ten of the UK’s top businesses have a woman as chief executive. Several factors explain this imbalance: from discrimination and a lack of networks to low confidence and the ‘motherhood penalty’. Investment in childcare and more diverse boards could help to close the corporate gender gap.

MAGAZINE

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Every year, large sums of money are paid to the leaders of the UK’s biggest companies. Some commentators describe these pay packages as being exorbitant, while others believe that today’s levels of executive remuneration are fit-for-purpose or should be even higher.

Business, big & small

Why have so many UK companies been badly managed for so long?

A long-run perspective confirms that the generally low quality of UK management helps to explain the poor performance of companies and the wider economy. Improvement could come from better dissemination of modern management practices, alongside high-quality training and development programmes.

Productivity & growth

Twenty-five years of devolution: what progress on productivity and skills?

Northern Ireland has poorer productivity than the other two devolved nations. At a recent event in Belfast, researchers, politicians and policy officials discussed the roles of skills, training, childcare and apprenticeships in boosting the nation’s economic performance.

Nations, regions & cities

What is devolution, how is it changing and where might it go next?

Recent UK governments have ‘devolved’ power to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. This is a simple idea, but the UK brand of devolution is complex. Its stability has been threatened by both the Covid-19 pandemic and Brexit.

Nations, regions & cities

How have the institutions of UK devolution affected economic performance?

It is sometimes argued that the experience of devolution for Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales implies that the regions of England need greater decentralisation to improve policy delivery and economic outcomes. But the evidence from the devolved nations after 25 years is much more ambiguous.

Attitudes, media & governance

What happened in the 2024 UK general election?

Ten charts tell the story of Labour’s landslide victory in the UK’s 2024 general election, putting it in historical perspective and, in the data on turnout, revealing the disengagement of many voters.

Business, big & small

Do managers matter?

The productivity of UK firms depends on them being well managed. This makes improving management practices a critically important issue both for business leaders and for policy-makers seeking to boost the country’s overall economic performance.

Pensions, savings & investment

How do elections affect the stock market?

Uncertainty around elections – and the potential policy decisions of new governments – can lead to fluctuations in the stock market. Over the longer term, the party in power seems to make limited difference to the performance of shares in publicly listed companies.

Data stories

Euro 2024 update: is football coming home?

The second round of matches in the group stage of the Euros kicks off today. So far, there have been a couple of surprise results – and we can expect a few more that may affect some teams’ routes to the last 16. England’s probability of winning the tournament remains at 10%.

All Answers