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Brought to you by Oxera. Welcome to the Top of the Agenda Podcast, where industry experts and senior executives delve into the most pressing topics of our time. By using the combination of economics, data science and finance, we can shape and improve the business, legal and regulatory landscape and inspire new solutions from the everyday, to ever-evolving global issues. Oxera is a consultancy that uses the expertise of economics, data science and finance to help its clients make well-informed and data-backed decisions. How is the green transition funded? Should sport be regulated, and if so, how? How are our urban transport needs changing and how should we pay for this? What is the impact of AI on jobs? These are just a few of the questions that we help to answer every day, in countries around the world, and ‘Top of the Agenda’ shares the insights from experts at the heart of these questions. Our skills apply to any industry and help to provide new and impartial solutions. You can find out more about Oxera, and how our work with our clients makes a difference, by visiting our website. www.oxera.com.
Episodes
Wednesday Aug 21, 2024
Episode 4: How can economics help governments decide how to spend scarce public funds
Wednesday Aug 21, 2024
Wednesday Aug 21, 2024
In the UK, and across Europe, there are many public-funded areas crying out for more investment. However, the context of low growth, high levels of public debt and public interest payments, mean that tough decisions on spending priorities across public services, infrastructure and social security have to be made.
In this episode of Top of the Agenda, Helen Jenkins is joined by Sir Philip Rutnam, Chair of the Council of the National Institute for Economic and Social Research, and former Permanent Secretary at the UK Department for Transport and Home Office, and Andy Meaney, a Partner and Head of Transport at Oxera. Together they discuss how governments can use economic analysis to decide how to spend scarce public funds. How should we allocate funds to health, transport, education or social support? And then once those decisions are made, do we opt for fewer potholes or more bus services; more or better-paid doctors, or more MRI machines?