Macro Minds – Details, episodes & analysis

Kallum Pickering welcomes Ben Southwood, founder and editor of Works in Progress, to discuss why Britain’s infrastructure is slow, costly, and unattractive. From nimbyism to gold-plating, they dissect the politics, economics, and aesthetics of construction. Can the situation be fixed? Yes, if Britain can learn from other countries and remember the reasons it used to build well in the past.

Before founding Works in Progress, Ben worked as head of research at Create Streets; head of housing, transport and urban space at Policy Exchange; a consultant at KPMG; head of research at the Adam Smith Institute, and as an economics correspondent for City A.M.

Martin is Chief Economist at WPI Strategy. He has over 20 years’ experience covering the UK economy, including as Chief Economic Adviser to the EY ITEM Club, UK economist at Oxford Economics and Capital Economics, and various economics roles during his 10 years at HM Treasury.

Martin and Kallum discuss the outlook for the upcoming 26November Budget, the structural and policy factors holding back UK potential growth, why energy production matters for productivity, and the lessons from Labour’s first year in office.

Note: The podcast was recorded prior to the government’sdecision to abandon its plan to raise income tax rates at the upcoming Budget.

Kallum Pickering welcomes Sam Bowman, co-author of 'Foundations - why Britain has stagnated'. They discuss the causes of Britain's economic malaise, how the fixes are mostly obvious and why price signals hold the key to guiding the necessary policy solutions.

Sam Bowman is a founding editor of Works in Progress. Previously, he was director of competition policy at the International Center for Law & Economics, a principal at Fingleton, and executive director of the Adam Smith Institute.

Kallum Pickering welcomes Claudia Sahm to discuss the current state of the US economy, why this time is different for her ‘Sahm Rule’, policy challenges facing the US Federal Reserve, positive technology shocks, and the economic implications of the US election.

Claudia Sahm is Chief Economist at New Century Advisors and a former Federal Reserve economist. She is the creator of the Sahm Rule, a key recession indicator for the US economy.

Kallum Pickering welcomes Anna Leach, IoD Chief Economist, to discuss the economic and policy outlook for the UK. They deep-dive into the causes of the UK’s potential growth decline, why the mood around the UK economy is so pessimistic, the challenges facing the government at the upcoming budget, as well as policy options for improving economic performance.

Before joining the IoD Anna was Deputy Chief Economist at the CBI. She has also worked in the Government Economic Service, at HM Treasury and the DWP.

Kallum Pickering welcomes Dr. Gerard Lyons, veteran cityeconomist, to discuss the economic and policy outlook for China. They cover the impact of rising trade uncertainties, how policymakers are managing domestic structural challenges and the longer-run prospects for China and its ever-growing role in the world economy.The Times has described Dr. Gerard Lyons as ‘one of the mostinfluential analysts of the global economy’. He advised Boris Johnson when Mayor of London, was a candidate for governor of the Bank of England in 2019 and has a portfolio of roles. He is: on the board and chairs the risk committee of BGC, the inter-dealer brokers BGC; the senior independent directoron the board of Bank of China (UK);  is a shareholder and strategist at the discretionary wealth manager Netwealth. Gerard also sits on the advisory board of the Grantham Research Institute on climate change and the environment.

Kallum Pickering once again welcomes Dr. Mickey Levy, Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution, long-standingmember of the Shadow Open Market Committee and Wall Street Journal contributor. They discuss the economic and financial market impact of US tariff policy, the risk of crisis in the US Treasuries market, and the outlook for the Federal Reserve.

Dr. Levy started his career at the Congressional Budget Office and American Enterprise Institute, and for many years was Chief Economist at Bank of America, followed by Berenberg Capital Markets. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Economic Club of New York and has previously served on the Panel of Economic Advisors to the Federal Reserve of New York, as well as the Advisory Panel of the Office of Financial Research.

Kallum Pickering welcomes Douglas McNeill to discuss the current state of the UK economy, the factors that will shape its long run economic performance - including demographics and AI, and why the post-war 20th century period of rapid productivity growth may not be the right benchmark for shaping future growth hopes.

Douglas McNeill was Chief Economic Advisor to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak from 2022 until 2024 as well as Sunak’s Special Advisor during his time as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2020 to 2022. From 2016 to 2020, Douglas was Special Economic Advisor to Prime Ministers Theresa May and Boris Johnson.

Kallum Pickering welcomes Giles Wilkes to discuss the current state of the UK economy, whether so-called ‘orthodoxy’ at HM Treasury helps or hinders pro-growth policymaking and the government’s industrial strategy

Giles is a senior fellow at the Institute for Government and specialist partner at Flint Global. From 2017 to 2019 Giles was special adviser to UK Prime Minister Theresa May and from 2010 to 2014 he worked in a similar role to Vince Cable in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.

 He has also been a writer of editorials for the Financial Times and Chief Economist at the think tank CentreForum.

Kallum Pickering welcomes Chris Watling, global chief economist and chief market strategist at Longview Economics, to discuss the distortive role of financial liberalisation on housing markets, growth and productivity in advanced economies such as the UK. Their conversation ends with a discussion about the sustainability of the US economic boom and the risks associated with the potential bubble in the US stock market.

Before founding Longview Economics, Chris started his career at Cazenove in 1994. Prior to that, he trained at KPMG in London.