One reads that "the economy has turned a corner", and it's true that there was positive growth in the first quarter GDP per capita. Probably worth putting this upturn in the context of long-run trends in GDP capita growth, however

Good to see this discussion of Baumol's mis-named "cost disease" - the vital mechanism by which benefits of necessarily highly uneven technological progress are spread across the whole economy. A simple toy model is helpful for illustrating some paradoxes: softmachines.org/wordpress/?p=2…

What's the relationship between innovation & social mobility? V interesting essay from Social Mobility Commission on why you need an innovative economy to create opportunities for individuals to flourish, nicely set in context by forward from The B&FC Principal …ialmobility.independent-commission.uk/reports/innova…

"Has the UK settled into a ‘bad’ equilibrium, with greater inequality & lower social mobility, but also lower aggregate productivity, than might result from a lower level of spatial agglomeration?" How regional economic inequality reduces social mobility …ialmobility.independent-commission.uk/reports/spatia…

"A chronicle of wasted time." My long blogpost in a series about UK's civil nuclear programme. This final post asks why the post-2010 nuclear new build programme largely failed, & considers prospects for small modular & advanced modular reactors softmachines.org/wordpress/?p=3…

V good Financial Times Tim Leunig piece, with hard truths about UK economy & what needs to be done about it, relevant to both parties This para is striking - small firms are lionised, but it's big firms that drive productivity & R&D, & we don't have enough of them ft.com/content/72c273…

Among many highlights this week I spent the day w The University of Manchester colleagues (including Richard Jones )touring major regeneration projects being led by Manchester City Council Bev Craig & learning how we can collaborate & help drive the inclusive growth agenda in Manchester. V exciting!

This was a great day, really impressive to see the ambition of Manchester City Council to get stuff built, the scale of the social challenges, & their record of delivery of regeneration. From Airport & Wythenshawe to N Manc General Hospital, via Ardwick, E Manc & Collyhurst

Richard Jones John Womersley Simon Edmonds 🇺🇦 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 🇪🇺 Worse in my view, is that the UkRI is bogged down by inertia, vetoes, & perceived small p politics. Any large strategic shift, eg neutrons, photons, colliders, FEL, exascale seems impossible.

Richard Jones John Womersley Simon Edmonds 🇺🇦 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 🇪🇺 (Cont) because any such radical change would be opposed vocally and therefore rise to ministers. IMHO the power of the voices here are why applied research was sacrificed to keep blue sky, we need both.

Richard Jones John Womersley Simon Edmonds 🇺🇦 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 🇪🇺 Every meeting I went to, prioritisation was the mantra but spreading the jam the outcome.

What are the links between R&D, innovation & productivity? This blog looks at insights from Richard Jones' chapter of the #productivityagenda, as well as Productivity Puzzles eps. w/ Dirk Pilat, Programme on Innovation and Diffusion's Anna Valero & Global Innovation Index's Sacha Wunsch Vincent. productivity.ac.uk/news/the-links…