Economics in business

 In this episode, we talk to our outgoing Chief Economist John Hawksworth, to mark his retirement after 34 years with the firm. John reflects on the development of the UK economy over the past four decades - the key trends, challenges and lessons learnt. We discuss the opportunities facing the UK economy and also touch upon the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Governments and other public sector bodies are under increasing scrutiny from taxpayers to demonstrate that investment of government resources represents good value for money for society. This means that it is no longer enough to look at the traditionally monetised economic benefits but it is also important to capture wider impacts on society. In this podcast, Hannah Audino talks to Ioanna Sikiaridi and Alisha Kapoor, strategy consultants at PwC, to understand how they use economics and strategy to help public sector organisations integrate wider impacts - economic, environmental, social - when developing their strategy and making investment decisions. 

Values in society are being reassessed, external stakeholders are gaining more influence and Government policy and regulation are changing. We are now seeing customers and employees wanting to engage with companies that share their values and are increasingly demanding companies to demonstrate their positive contribution to society. In this podcast, we talk to Ioanna Sikiaridi and Priya Ravidran, strategy consultants at PwC, to understand how they use economics and strategy to help companies understand their impact on consumers and wider society, communicate to their stakeholders and integrate impact within their strategy to sustain long-term growth. You can find out more at https://www.pwc.co.uk/services/economics-policy/total-impact-and-measurement.html.

In April of this year PwC published a groundbreaking report, commissioned by Microsoft, which estimated the potential economic and environmental benefits of using AI technology to address climate change and promote sustainability. The report found that using AI applications across four sectors (agriculture, water, energy and transport) could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 4% in 2030 and contribute up to $5.2 trillion to the global economy. In this episode we are joined by two of the economists behind this analysis, Saloni Goel and Edmond Lee, to discuss these results in more detail and the implications they have for businesses and policymakers globally. Follow the link below see the full report and explore the data further using Microsoft’s Power BI dashboard: https://www.pwc.co.uk/services/sustainability-climate-change/insights/how-ai-future-can-enable-sustainable-future.html

In this podcast, we discuss the potential impact of drones on the UK economy, drawing on findings from PwC's "Skies without limits" report. We discuss the benefits and the risks of increasing drone uptake across industries, and how governments and businesses can best utilise drones to increase productivity and realise net cost savings of a potential £16bn to the UK by 2030.

UK employment levels are at record highs, but is there more that we can do to encourage further participation in the workforce and what are the potential gains to be made? In this episode we talk to John Hawksworth, chief economist at PwC, about the UK's current labour market performance and what lessons we can learn from other OECD countries about harnessing the potential of three key demographic groups - women, under 25s and over 55s. The analysis discussed in this episode comes from article 4 of the July edition of PwC's UK Economic Outlook Report, which can be found here: https://www.pwc.co.uk/economic-services/ukeo/ukeo-july2019.pdf

We discuss the benefits for emerging capital markets becoming "Euroclearable" and the resulting economic impacts. If you'd like to read more, our full report is available at https://www.euroclear.com/newsandinsights/en/press/2019/2019_mr-04-PWCWhitepaper.html

Our economists discuss the key themes emerging for the year ahead and their impact on the global economy - including a slowdown in global economic growth, workers and wages, and trade conflicts.

What's ahead for the future of the UK economy? Looking in particular at GDP and debt, we consider historical and current trends to take a long-term view on the outlook for the UK economy.

After the financial crisis, banks were subjected to a global overhaul of the entire regulatory system. 10 years down the line, Nick Forrest, head of our Financial Economics team explains how this has actually affected banks, and the banking sector as a whole. Read more in our report with AFME.