Podcasts

Political commentator Mike Indian asks if the Government's regional strategy to cop with the revival of cases of Covid-19 is working. Looking at what's happening in France, he asks if there be a regional or national response. He discusses the EHRC report on Labour and antisemitism, with the former leader Jeremy Corbyn suspended from the party. And he looks at the imminent American Presidential election, wondering if there will be a clear-cut result, given the extraordinary number of advance ballots.

In this episode of Policy Matters, hosts Matt Dickson and Franz Buscha talk to Martha Bloom, a researcher at the Science Policy Research Institute at the University of Sussex. Martha recently wrote a report examining the economic returns to creative arts degrees, the types of employment these graduates go on to and the motivations of those who undertake higher level creative education. Franz, Matt and Martha begin by discussing the difficulties facing the creative industries in the post-pandemic world, yet how the crisis has also highlighted the importance of these industries for the wellbeing of the nation. Martha then explains the ways in which creative arts graduates contribute to the economy both within the creative industries and more broadly, what her report reveals about their motivations and the benefits that they enjoy across a range of measures. The discussion then goes on to consider a related report co-authored by Franz and Matt, which examines the earnings and employment returns to different postgraduate degrees. This conversation again highlights the importance of skills and vocations that might not be highly paid but provide vital inputs into the economy and public life, and the danger of judging the value of education purely in terms of earnings.