Productivity Puzzles

Why does productivity vary so widely between NHS organisations? Can new technologies like AI and remote monitoring help the health service seize the opportunity to redesign care for the long term? 

This episode of Productivity Puzzles explores the critical challenges and opportunities facing the UK’s health service, with a discussion centring on the NHS Productivity Commission’s major new report, From Diagnosis to Delivery: A Framework for Accelerating NHS Productivity Growth.

Host Professor Bart van Ark is joined by:

Anita Charlesworth, Senior Economic Adviser at the Health Foundation and co-chair of the NHS Productivity Commission.
Tera Allas, Honorary Professor at Alliance Manchester Business School and co-chair of the NHS Productivity Commission.
Mark Britnell, Professor at the Global Business School for Health at University College London and Chair of Health Innovation Manchester.

For more information on the topic:

Tera Allas, Anita Charlesworth, Hannah Chhoa-Howard, Katie Fozzard, Alison Moulds and Stephen Rocks (2025) From Diagnosis to Delivery: A Framework for Accelerating NHS Productivity Growth, The Health Foundation.
Mark Britnell (2019) Human: Solving the global workforce crisis in healthcare, Oxford Academic.
Joel Hoskins and Bart van Ark (2025) Productivity and Responsible AI in Adult Social Care, The Productivity Institute.
World Economic Forum (2016) Misaligned Stakeholders and Health System Underperformance, World Economic Forum White Paper.

About Productivity Puzzles:

Productivity Puzzles is brought to you by The Productivity Institute, a research body involving nine academic institutions across the UK, nine Productivity Forums throughout the nation, and a national independent Productivity Commission to advise policy makers at all levels of government. It is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council.

What does it really mean to grow a place? This episode unpacks the concept of place-based productivity and explores how it differs from traditional regional development. The discussion examines real-world examples and whether this approach works everywhere, from rural towns to major metropolitan areas.

The episode also looks at how the world is changing around place-based strategies, diving into the big shifts shaping the landscape: deglobalisation, digitalisation, and political upheaval. Should policy stay technocratic, or embrace politics to make place-based growth stick?

Host Professor Bart van Ark is joined by:

Jeff Anderson, Professor at the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service and Department of Government at Georgetown University.
Andy Westwood, Professor of Public Policy, Government and Business at The University of Manchester and Policy Director at The Productivity Institute.

For more information on the topic:

Jeff Anderson and Andy Westwood (2026) The New Political Economy of Place-Based Policymaking, The Productivity Institute.
Joe Peck, Huw Spencer, Samuel Thorpe and Andy Westwood (2025) Place-Based Industrial Policy: Six Lessons for the UK, The Productivity Institute.
The Productivity Institute, Investment in Places campaign.
Jack Shaw (2025) The role of place and the ‘zonification’ of growth, The Productivity Institute.
Andy Westwood (2025) Regional growth, Labour and the biggest decisions still to come, The Productivity Institute.
Tony Pipa and Natalie Geismar (2020) Reimagining rural policy, Brookings.
The Guardian (2025) ‘Deeply demoralizing’: how Trump derailed coal country’s clean-energy revival.
Andrés Rodríguez-Pose, The revenge of the places that don’t matter (and what to do about it), Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, Volume 11, Issue 1, March 2018, Pages 189–209.
Bennett School of Public Policy (2019) Measuring wealth, delivering prosperity.
UK Government (2022) Levelling Up the United Kingdom.

About Productivity Puzzles:

Productivity Puzzles is brought to you by The Productivity Institute, a research body involving nine academic institutions across the UK, nine Productivity Forums throughout the nation, and a national independent Productivity Commission to advise policy makers at all levels of government. It is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council.

The Chancellor’s Budget is on the horizon. Will it bring higher taxes, deeper cuts, or more borrowing? Does the Budget really matter for productivity? And how does productivity shape the Budget? This episode of Productivity Puzzles looks into these big questions for this important fiscal event, as well as examining where public spending and investment should go to help boost productivity.

Host Professor Bart van Ark is joined by:

Tera Allas, Honorary Professor at Alliance Manchester Business School
Louise Hellem, Chief Economist at the Confederation of British Industry
Stephen Millard, Deputy Director of the National Institute of Economic and Social Research

For more information on the topic:

The Productivity Institute (2025) Joining up Pro-Productivity Policies.
Confederation of British Industry (2025) Autumn Budget Submission.
National Institute of Economic and Social Research (2025) Economic Outlook: Stability First.
Health Foundation (2025) From diagnosis to delivery: A framework for accelerating NHS productivity growth.
UK Government (2025) UK Infrastructure: A 10 Year Strategy
Office for Budget Responsibility (2025) Economic and fiscal outlook – March 2025.

About Productivity Puzzles:

Productivity Puzzles is brought to you by The Productivity Institute, a research body involving nine academic institutions across the UK, nine Productivity Forums throughout the nation, and a national independent Productivity Commission to advise policy makers at all levels of government. It is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council.

Productivity is the key to economic growth and living standards. But has the productivity puzzle been solved yet? Have we been asking the right questions? And what’s next? After five years of research at The Productivity Institute, we’re kicking off season 4 of the podcast with reflections from our recent international research conference on productivity, held at the University of Manchester on the 4-5 September 2025. Five big themes. And still, big questions ahead.

Host Professor Bart van Ark is joined by:

Josh Martin, Economic Advisor at the Bank of England and Research Associate with the Economic Statistics Centre of Excellence.
Mary O’Mahony, TPI Research Director and Professor of Applied Economics at King’s Business School.
Catherine Mann, External member of the Monetary Policy Committee at the Bank of England and Honorary Professor at Alliance Manchester Business School and The Productivity Institute.
Chander Velu, Professor of Innovation and Economics at The University of Cambridge.
Kate Penney, Research Fellow at The Productivity Institute.

For more information on the topic:

Bart van Ark, Jim Pendrill, Kate Penney, James Wilson and Raquel Ortega-Argilés (2025), Regional Productivity Agenda, The Productivity Institute.
Bart van Ark, Stephen Millard, Adrian Pabst, Andy Westwood et al. (2025) Joining Up Pro-Productivity Policies in the UK, The Productivity Institute and National Institute of Economic and Social Research.
Diane Coyle, Bart van Ark, Jim Pendrill (2023), The Productivity Agenda, The Productivity Institute.
Josh Martin (2025), The UK Productivity Slowdown: A Review of Timing, Magnitude, and Drivers, International Productivity Monitor Number 48, Spring 2025.
Institute for the Future of Work (2025), Final Report of the Pissarides Review into the Future of Work and Wellbeing, Institute for the Future of Work.
Chander Velu (2024), Business Model Innovation: A Blueprint for Strategic Change, Cambridge University Press.
The Productivity Institute, Productivity Research Conference 2025 programme.
TPI Productivity Lab website.

About Productivity Puzzles:

Productivity Puzzles is brought to you by The Productivity Institute, a research body involving nine academic institutions across the UK, nine Productivity Forums throughout the nation, and a national independent Productivity Commission to advise policy makers at all levels of government. It is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council.

This episode explores the vital link between international trade and the UK's productivity challenges. Host Bart van Ark is joined by three experts as they discuss why trade matters for productivity, the current state of UK trade post-Brexit and COVID and the structural issues impacting trade and productivity. The conversation also looks at potential trade policies and agreements to strengthen the UK’s position and boost productivity.

Host Professor Bart van Ark is joined by:

Jun Du, Professor of Economics at Aston Business School & Director of the Centre for Business Prosperity.
Emily Fry, Senior Economist, the Resolution Foundation.
Alan Lowry, CEO, Environmental Street Furniture, Newtownabbey.

For more information on the topic:

J. Du., Shepotylo, O., & Yuan, X. (2025). How did the Brexit uncertainty impact services exports of UK firms? Journal of International Business Policy.
Emily Fry, James Smith and Gregory Thwaites (2025), Trump Tariff turmoil: The impact of higher US tariffs and the risk of a global recession, Spotlight, The Resolution Foundation, 14 April.
Emily Fry and Sophie Hale (2024), Trading blows. How should Britain buy and sell in a turbulent world?, The Resolution Foundation.
Anton Spisak (2025), A perfect storm: Britain’s trade malaise, weak growth and a new geopolitical moment, Centre for European Reform, 21 May.
Matthew Ward (2020), UK trade, 1948-2019: statistics, House of Commons Library, Number CBP 8261, 10 December.
Halima Jabril and Stephen Roper (2022), Of chickens and eggs: Exporting, innovation novelty and productivity, The Productivity Institute, Working Paper No.027.
Holger Breinlich and Martina Magli, Changes to firms’ service delivery post-Brexit, 7 November 2024. VoxEU.

About Productivity Puzzles:

Productivity Puzzles is brought to you by The Productivity Institute, a research body involving nine academic institutions across the UK, eight Regional Productivity Forums throughout the nation, and a national independent Productivity Commission to advise policy makers at all levels of government. It is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council.