Productivity Puzzles

Join Bart van Ark, Professor of Productivity Studies at the University of Manchester, and the managing director of The Productivity Institute as he brings you discussions with leading minds from the UK and abroad about how to improve productivity for almost everything: from health care to car manufacturing, at national and regional levels, for business and for your own personal productivity.

This podcast series investigates why UK productivity is lower than in many other countries and why are there such large differences in productivity across and within the regions and devolved nations. We’ll also get the best insights from research on smart policies and effective business practices to increase productivity and find out how this will drive prosperity, wellbeing and inclusive sustainable growth.

Productivity Puzzles is brought to you by The Productivity Institute, a research project involving nine academic institutions across the UK, eight regional productivity forums throughout the nation, and a national independent Productivity Commission to advise policymakers at all levels of government. 

Find out more about at www.productivity.ac.uk

The Productivity Institute is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council.

Recent Episodes
  • Books Festival: Diane Coyle & Jan Mischke
    May 29, 2025 – 00:57:21
  • A Regional Productivity Agenda for England
    Apr 16, 2025 – 00:58:18
  • A Productivity Agenda for the Devolved Nations
    Jan 30, 2025 – 01:01:37
  • Strategic Productivity: Unlocking the UK’s Productivity Potential
    Jan 23, 2025 – 00:54:59
  • Wrapping Up 2024: Is there a productive growth path forward?
    Dec 19, 2024 – 00:50:07
  • Industrial Strategy: What To Do and What Not To Do?
    Oct 3, 2024 – 00:53:07
  • Business model innovation and strategic productivity
    Jul 18, 2024 – 00:52:18
  • UK Election 2024: A Productivity Plan
    Jun 27, 2024 – 00:52:20
  • How do business leaders think about productivity?
    May 30, 2024 – 00:53:33
  • Government policy and business productivity: does it help or harm?
    Apr 11, 2024 – 00:59:31
  • Business Dynamism: is turbulence good for productivity?
    Mar 14, 2024 – 00:53:23
  • Wrapping up Productivity Puzzles 2023: brief interviews with productivity experts
    Dec 20, 2023 – 00:43:05
  • Revisiting the UK productivity puzzle: national and regional perspectives
    Nov 30, 2023 – 01:14:06
  • Why does the UK do so well on the Global Innovation Index?
    Nov 9, 2023 – 00:54:34
  • What makes firms productive? Lessons learned from across G7 economies
    Oct 12, 2023 – 00:51:05
  • Science, Technology, Innovation and Pro-Productivity Policies
    Aug 31, 2023 – 00:47:50
  • Turnaround Cities: Lessons learned for the UK
    Jul 27, 2023 – 00:50:37
  • Artificial Intelligence and Productivity
    Jun 29, 2023 – 00:53:24
  • Greening Productivity
    May 25, 2023 – 00:52:53
  • Can We Make the Four-Day Week Work?
    Apr 27, 2023 – 00:52:36
  • Skills, Innovation, and Productivity: Further Education Colleges and Place
    Mar 16, 2023 – 00:53:54
  • Science and Innovation Policy for Hard Times
    Feb 16, 2023 – 00:54:32
  • Global and European Productivity Outlook 2023-2030
    Jan 19, 2023 – 00:53:31
  • The Productivity Policy Agenda: Short-Term Priorities and Long-Term Commitments
    Sep 1, 2022 – 01:00:47
  • Making Public Sector Productivity Practical
    Jul 20, 2022 – 00:49:37
  • Productivity and well-being
    Jul 6, 2022 – 00:50:08
  • The Wales Productivity Challenge
    Jun 15, 2022 – 00:52:22
  • Can productivity rescue the global economic recovery?
    May 11, 2022 – 00:29:50
  • Restarting the Future: How Intangibles Can Fuel Productivity
    Apr 27, 2022 – 00:54:01
  • Staying productive in uncertain times
    Apr 13, 2022 – 00:55:19
  • New business formation and productivity
    Mar 23, 2022 – 00:50:02
  • The Links Between Productivity and Pay
    Mar 9, 2022 – 00:52:06
  • Levelling Up and Productivity: The Role of Industrial Policy, Institutions and Fiscal Mechanisms
    Jan 12, 2022 – 00:54:24
  • Health and Productivity in the Workplace
    Dec 1, 2021 – 00:50:43
  • Can labour shortages help raise productivity?
    Nov 17, 2021 – 00:42:51
  • Practical Productivity: How to Transform Performance?
    Oct 13, 2021 – 00:47:59
  • Can we still measure productivity in the modern economy?
    Sep 9, 2021 – 00:52:54
  • How can productivity create sustained growth in Northern Ireland?
    Aug 18, 2021 – 00:45:23
  • Will hybrid and flexible work help or hurt productivity and well-being?
    Jul 14, 2021 – 00:44:18
  • Can levelling up raise productivity in the Northern Powerhouse?
    Jun 23, 2021 – 00:42:29
  • Productivity in UK health care during and after the COVID-19 pandemic
    Jun 9, 2021 – 00:39:41
  • Productivity in the post-COVID 19 era
    Jun 2, 2021 – 00:43:06
  • Why Does Productivity Matter?
    May 26, 2021 – 00:39:41
  • Welcome to Productivity Puzzles
    May 12, 2021 – 00:01:56
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