Podcasts

In the midst of the second COVID-related national lockdown for England, this episode of Policy Matters sees hosts Franz Buscha and Matt Dickson revisit some of the questions that were being asked in the first episode recorded under lockdown restrictions back in April. They start with some personal reflections on what life has been like juggling working-from-home and home-schooling over the months since the pandemic began, and thinking about the impact that the disruptions to education will have on school-aged children and inequality. Franz and Matt then discuss some of the academic research related to the pandemic; highlighting in particular the unintended consequences of policies like the “Eat out to help out” scheme, and considering the different ways in which the pandemic has affected the self-employed. The programme ends with a look ahead at some of the longer-term effects this experience might have on birth-rates and the implications these may have, and also considers what positive policy lessons could be taken forward and acted upon in the future.

Professor Tim Evans of Middlesex University considers whether there is light at the end of the Covid-19 tunnel or whether there's another - economic - tunnel just ahead that we're about to plunge into. He also asks if a new, cultural, Iron Curtain is descending on Europe, splitting the grouping into east and west. And he ponders whether the World's Central Banks' policies have set us up for a catastrophic fall.