Our director, Jagjit S. Chadha, was delighted to deliver the 2023 Ronald Tress Memorial Lecture. This is an annual event held at Birkbeck University, in remembrance of Professor Ronald Tress, a former Master of Birkbeck and founder of the Department of Economics, Mathematics, and Statistics. A recording of the lecture is available below:
About the Lecture
In 2000, inflation was low and stable, economic growth was consistently strong, public debt was low, income and wealth inequality had improved and income per head suggested we were a leading economy. As we survey the economic landscape today with inflation hovering around double digits, anaemic economic growth, burgeoning public and household debt we seem to be in a low growth trap, which means that for example our average income per head is some 50-60% of that in the United States. This lecture draws out the main factors in this relative decline and suggest some ways that we may be able to recover lost ground, should we wish to do so.