Question 2: Which policies could best help reduce regional productivity disparities?
Answer:
Public or subsidized investment in lagging communities
Confidence level:
Confident
Comment:
In the short run, public investment in lagging communities is most likely to compensate the gap at least in part. In the medium/long run, supply side policies and structural reforms should become the main tool to address regional imbalances.
Question 1: What is the primary factor driving regional productivity disparities in the UK?
Answer:
Agglomeration Effects
Confidence level:
Not confident
Comment:
All effects mentioned in the background discussion sound reasonable. I'm not aware of a study that has systematically tried to quantify their relative importance.
Question 2: What is the most important contribution economic policymakers can make growth in the UK over the next decade?
Answer:
Improving trade relations with the EU and/or other countries
Confidence level:
Confident
Comment:
Measures to mitigate the negative impact of Brexit should help the UK economy regain some of the lost ground.
Question 1: How do you see prospects for future (per capita) GDP growth in the UK in the next decade?
Answer:
Low growth because of UK-specific structural challenges
Confidence level:
Confident
Comment:
I expect UK growth to be on average slightly below the average of other advanced economies because of Brexit-related factors.
About the CFM Surveys
The CFM surveys informs the public about the views held by prominent economists based in Europe on important macroeconomic and public policy questions. Some surveys focus specifically on the UK economy (as the CFM is a UK research centre), but surveys can in principle focus on any macroeconomic question for any region. The surveys shed light on the extent to which there is agreement or disagreement among these experts. An important motivation for the survey is to give a more comprehensive overview of the beliefs held by economists and in particular to include the views of those economists whose opinions are not frequently heard in public debates.
Questions mainly focus on macroeconomic and public policy topics. Although there are some questions that focus specifically on the UK economy, the setup of the survey is much broader and considers questions related to other countries/regions and also considers questions not tied to a specific economy.
The surveys are done in collaboration with the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR).
Levelling Up Productivity Gaps in the UK
Question 2: Which policies could best help reduce regional productivity disparities?
Question 1: What is the primary factor driving regional productivity disparities in the UK?
Prospects for UK Economic Growth
Question 2: What is the most important contribution economic policymakers can make growth in the UK over the next decade?
Question 1: How do you see prospects for future (per capita) GDP growth in the UK in the next decade?