How Can the UK Improve Productivity and Still Build the Workforce?

Contributor(s): Vince Cable, Professor Diane Coyle, Bronwyn Curtis, Anna Leach | This event marks the official launch of the LSE Business Review blog bringing together a panel of prominent economists to discuss productivity, the UK’s economic future and the road ahead. Vince Cable (@vincecable) was MP for Twickenham from 1997-2015. He was the Liberal Democrat's chief economic spokesperson from 2003-2010, having previously served as Chief Economist for Shell from 1995-1997. He was Business Secretary under the Coalition Government from 2010-2015. He is the author of The Storm and his latest publication After The Storm. Diane Coyle, OBE (@diane1859), is a Professor of Economics at the University of Manchester. Until April 2015 she was vice-chairman of the BBC Trust, the BBC's governing body, and was previously a member of the Migration Advisory Committee and the Competition Commission. She began her career at the UK Treasury. Bronwyn Curtis is a global financial markets economist and a member of the LSE’s Court of Governors. She is a non-executive director of JP Morgan Asian Investment Trust and Scottish American Investment Trust. She was Head of Global Research at HSBC and Managing Editor of European Broadcast at Bloomberg LP. Anna Leach is head of the economic analysis team at CBI, overseeing the quarterly global macroeconomic forecast and the business surveys of economic conditions across the UK economy. Previously she worked in macroeconomic analysis at the Treasury and as a labour market economist at DWP, as well as undertaking a secondment to the Treasury Select Committee. John Van Reenan (@johnvanreenen) is a professor in the Department of Economics at LSE and director of LSE's Centre for Economic Performance. LSE Business Review (@LSEforBusiness) is an LSE-wide initiative to improve knowledge-exchange activities connecting social science researchers with business professionals in firms, enterprises and markets. The cross-disciplinary blog draws on contributions from LSE and other universities, business executives, consultants, think tanks and not-for-profit organisations.