About the economy 2030 Inquiry
the context
The UK is on the brink of a decisive decade of huge economic change, on a scale not seen in a generation. As well as restructuring after Covid-19, we are also exiting the EU, urgently transitioning towards a net zero future, and adapting to fundamental technological shifts amidst an ageing population.
These shifts will profoundly affect all of our lives and livelihoods, and will transform the context for economic policy in the UK. Big changes will confront people in the jobs they do, the places they live in, and the firms they work in. And though these changes present big new opportunities, failing to respond to them will also bring huge risks – to our individual living standards, our families, our communities, and to our planet.
This period of dramatic economic change that will take place over the next decade will help to redefine Britain, and its place in the world. But it does not take place in a vacuum. The context for Britain in the 2020s is a country that has, in many ways, become less dynamic over recent decades, and been struck by the interlinked challenges of weak productivity growth and stagnating living standards. The UK’s many strengths must be harnessed to manage this change well.
ENDING STAGNATION
The Inquiry, a three-year collaboration between the Resolution Foundation (RF) and the Centre for Economic Performance at the London School of Economics (LSE), funded by the Nuffield Foundation, addresses this question of economic change. Led by a Commission of leading thinkers and doers, it outlines the nature, scale, cumulative impact and policy context for this economic change, and, in its final report, sets out a plan to help the country (and its policy makers) better understand and navigate it.
Over the course of the project, the Resolution Foundation published over 90 reports, briefing notes and comment pieces, examining the change that the UK is living through, and setting out a plan for successfully navigating that change. In December 2023, this work culminated in the publication of the Inquiry’s final report, Ending Stagnation, and an all-day conference with leading UK politicians, economists and policy makers, as well as keynote speeches by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt, and the Leader of the Opposition, Keir Starmer.
The research and policy output of the Economy 2030 Inquiry has also been complemented by an ongoing series of nationwide public conferences and panel events, details of which can be found here.
Oversight of the inquiry
Throughout the duration of the project, a small Commission of seven high-profile thinkers and doers provided the Inquiry’s strategic leadership and direction for future work. Its membership was:
- Baroness Minouche Shafik, Director of London School of Economics and Political Science
- Sir Clive Cowdery, Founder of the Resolution Foundation and chairman of the Resolution Group
- Dani Rodrik, Ford Foundation Professor of International Political Economy at Harvard University
- Frances O’Grady, General Secretary of the British Trades Union Congress
- Dame Carolyn Fairbairn, Former Director-General of the Confederation of British Industry
- Lord Nicholas Stern, I G Patel Chair of Economics and Government, LSE
- Adam Tooze, Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Professor of History, Columbia University
The Inquiry was also overseen by a separate advisory group, who oversaw the workstream and outputs of the project. Its membership was:
- Alex Beer, Nuffield Foundation
- Alex Brazier, BlackRock
- Chiara Criscuolo, OECD
- Chris Colvin, Queen’s University, Belfast
- Darra Singh, Ernst & Young
- Deborah Cadman, Birmingham City Council
- Gary Gillespie, Scottish Government
- James Benford, HM Treasury
- Jane Green, Nuffield College, Oxford
- Jeromin Zettelmeyer, IMF and PIIE
- Kate Bell, TUC
- Kelly Beaver, Ipsos MORI
- Pat Richie, Newcastle City Council
- Rachel Ashworth, Cardiff Business School
- Rain Newton-Smith, CBI
- Rebecca Heaton, Lloyds Banking Group
- Sushil Wadhwani, PGIM Wadhwani
For all research queries about The Economy 2030 Inquiry, please contact Greg Thwaites or Emily Fry. For press queries, please contact the Resolution Foundation press office.
Greg Thwaites
Research Director,
Resolution Foundation
Email Greg
Emily Fry
Economist,
Resolution Foundation