Festival of Economics

Discover Economics with Bank of England economists Rupal Patel and Jack Leslie
2026-11-13 15:30 - 17:30 (Europe/London) | Central Bristol Location, Bristol, United Kingdom
This is a special event targeted at current GCSE and A-Level students only.
Bank of England economists, Jack Leslie and Rupal Patel will discuss their new book, Money, the inside story. This explores what causes inflation – and what lies behind the current cost of living crisis. They will also discuss the meaning of money – and what new technologies like crypto mean for its future.
Students will then take part in discussions, facilitated by academics and by Jack and Rupal, on a selection of the topics that will feature at the Festival of Economics, including: the state of the UK economy, the future for energy, the implications of global demographic transition, what AI means for jobs and the value of a degree. The outcome of these facilitated sessions will be a set of issues and questions that will be taken forward and used to frame our festival panel discussions.
This event is free to attend, but bookings need to be made in advance by emailing info@economicsfestival.co.uk. Students are welcome to attend individually, or bring along parents, guardians or teachers to this workshop. Group bookings for schools and colleges are also available.
The location and schedule will be shared at a later date with individuals who have booked onto the event. Please note that the start time for this event has been adjusted to 15:30.
Presented as part of the University of Bristol’s Thinking Futures contribution to the 2026 ESRC Festival of Social Science.

Bank of England Citizens' Panel
2026-11-16 17:45 - 20:00 | Central Bristol Location, Bristol, United Kingdom
The Bank of England is interested in hearing from people in the Bristol area about the impact of the cost of living on their finances and their experiences of the local labour market, as part of their Citizens’ Forum Programme which has been running across the UK since 2018. The event is designed to gather information from local people, which will complement existing data and analysis, and help inform the Bank’s policy decisions.
The event in Bristol on Monday 16 November (5.30pm-8pm) will give attendees the opportunity to share their views with Bank officials, including Catherine Mann, external member of the Monetary Policy Committee. She will be joined by staff from the Bank’s Agency for the South West. The event will be chaired by Romesh Vaitilingam, Editor-in-Chief of the Economics Observatory.
Registration for this year’s Citizens’ Panel is now open via the Bank of England website.
Entry is via pre-registration for forum members only, but anyone aged over 18 is eligible to join the Bank of England Citizens’ Forum community and register their interest in attending the Bristol panel session. The exact location of the event will be shared after registration closes on Friday 23 October.
For more information about the Citizens’ Forum programme or if you would like to attend the event, please contact Ann Whittaker on BankofEnglandOutreach@bankofengland.co.uk

The UK economy, inflation and monetary policy: a conversation with Catherine Mann (Bank of England)
2026-11-17 09:00 - 09:45 | Cinema 1, Watershed, 1 Canon’s Rd, Bristol, BS1 5TX, United Kingdom
At this Festival of Economics breakfast session, Catherine Mann, a member of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), will discuss the current state of the UK economy, what’s been happening with inflation in recent months and the response of monetary policy. The event will be taking place shortly after the MPC’s November 2026 decision on interest rates, and there will plenty of time for Q&A.
–
Catherine Mann is an external member of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Bank of England. Catherine’s academic and research affiliations include professor of the practice at Brandeis University in Massachusetts, and honorary professor at the University of Manchester and the Productivity Institute. Catherine’s research has focused on international economic relationships and outcomes, covering trade, finance, climate, productivity and inequality. She has authored or co-authored seven books, more than 60 articles and several shorter pieces and testimony. Before her appointment to the MPC, Catherine held roles at Citibank, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the Peterson Institute for International Economics and the Federal Reserve Board. She has also worked at the World Bank and the Council of Economic Advisers at the White House.
Catherine is a member of the Society of Professional Economists in the UK, as well as the Council on Foreign Relations and the American Economic Association in the US, among others. Previously, she was chair of the Economic Advisory Committee of the American Bankers Association, a member of the executive board of the Committee on the Status of Women in the Economics Profession, on the board of the National Association for Business Economics and of the advisory committees of the Federal Reserve Banks of Chicago, Boston and New York.
Tickets are available upon request. If you are interested in attending this session, contact us here and we will be in touch nearer to the event.
–
Artwork by Alys Jones Illustration.

Economics Questions: Where is Britain’s economy headed?
2026-11-17 10:15 - 11:15 | Cinema 1, Watershed, 1 Canon’s Rd, Bristol, BS1 5TX, United Kingdom
Economic uncertainty has defined 2026 – from the Iran war and the impact of higher oil prices, to the future of devolution given seismic developments in Scotland and Wales, questions both global and closer to home loom large. In this opening session Chaired by Ed Conway (Sky News), panellists will respond to the latest events, attempting to distil clearer stories from the noise. Our new interactive Q&A feature will allow you to give your views and pose your questions too.
Speakers:

Chair: Ed Conway (Sky News)
Richard Davies (London School of Economics)
Helen Miller (Institute for Fiscal Studies)
Ruth Curtice (Resolution Foundation)

–
Ed Conway is a writer and broadcaster. He is the Economics and Data Editor of Sky News and a regular columnist for The Times and Sunday Times. He has won numerous awards for his journalism and his book Material World was a Sunday Times bestseller and nominated for multiple prizes and books-of-the-year lists.
Richard Davies is an economist and author. He is a Professor in Practice at the London School of Economics and director of the Economics Observatory. He has been Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers at HM Treasury, an economist and speechwriter at the Bank of England, and economics editor of The Economist. He has previously published work on money, banking and financial crises. His current research uses micro data to study economy-wide questions including prices and inflation, wages and productivity.
Helen Miller is Director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS). She joined the IFS in 2007 and has almost two decades of experience analysing UK fiscal policy and providing trusted advice to policymakers. Her work has been published in top peer reviewed journals and covered across all main media outlets. She is an excellent and experienced media commentator. She has also served as a trustee to the Royal Economic Society.

Ruth Curtice is the Chief Executive of the Resolution Foundation. She was previously Director of fiscal policy at HM Treasury (HMT) where she worked for over 15 years. Her career has focused on domestic economic policy including labour markets, tax, fiscal policy and financial regulation. Ruth has held a wide range of roles in HMT, including working in the Chancellor’s private office, supporting the Independent Commission on Banking, and leading the Treasury’s distributional analysis.

–
Tickets are now available via Eventbrite. Discounts are available for groups (10+ people) and school bookings – get in touch here.
Artwork by Alys Jones Illustration.

Trade: Ten years since Brexit
2026-11-17 11:45 - 12:45 | Cinema 1, Watershed, 1 Canon’s Rd, Bristol, BS1 5TX, United Kingdom
It is a decade since the Britain voted to leave the EU. What have economists learned—about trade and inflation, about tariffs and about industrial strategy—during this time? Is Brexit a dividend, or just a disaster? In this session, Soumaya Keynes and Ed Conway, both who have new books out that delve deep into trade will be joined by Mats Persson, who had a front row seat in Downing St during the Brexit negotiations.
Speakers:

Ed Conway (Sky News)
Soumaya Keynes (Financial Times)
Mats Persson (EY Parthenon)

–
Ed Conway is a writer and broadcaster. He is the Economics and Data Editor of Sky News and a regular columnist for The Times and Sunday Times. He has won numerous awards for his journalism and his book Material World was a Sunday Times bestseller and nominated for multiple prizes and books-of-the-year lists.
Soumaya Keynes is Economics Columnist at the Financial Times (FT) and author of ‘How To Win A Trade War’. Prior to her role at the FT, she was the Britain Economics Editor at The Economist, where she shaped global understanding of complex economic issues. Drawing on firsthand experience as a Treasury policy advisor and research economist at the Institute for Fiscal Studies, she brings a practitioner’s perspective to how governments actually design and implement economic policy. She has also hosted the Money Talks and Trade Talks podcasts.

Mats Persson is a senior Partner in EY Parthenon, specialising in demand and scenario planning, macro and business economics, policy, energy transition, global supply chain disruption and growth strategies. He was Special Advisor to UK Prime Minister David Cameron (2015-16) and a senior member of the PM’s EU negotiation team. Mats was also Chief Executive of Open Europe, a think-tank focussed on EU, eurozone, economic and trade policy with offices in London, Brussels and Berlin.

–
Tickets are now available via Eventbrite. Discounts are available for groups (10+ people) and school bookings – get in touch here.
Artwork by Alys Jones Illustration.

The new demographics
2026-11-17 13:30 - 14:30 | Cinema 1, Watershed, 1 Canon’s Rd, Bristol, BS1 5TX, United Kingdom
Countries like the UK are facing falling birth rates and rising life expectancy, while Africa and India continue to grow. What will it mean when many countries rapidly age, while others stay young?
Speakers:

Chair: Tom Clark (Resolution Foundation)
James Banks (University of Manchester & IFS)
Jane Falkingham (University of Southampton)
David Miles (Office for Budget Responsibility)
Joe Studwell (Overseas Development Institute)

–

Tom Clark is Principal Editor at the Resolution Foundation and a Contributing Editor at Prospect, the magazine he edited for five years. He previously spent a decade at The Guardian where he rose to be chief leader writer, and has previously worked in two Whitehall departments, the Institute for Fiscal Studies, and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. He has written and edited a number of books on different aspects of inequality, including most recently “Broke: Fixing Britain’s poverty crisis”.
James Banks is Professor of Economics at the University of Manchester, Senior Research Fellow at IFS where he is Co-Director of the Centre for the Microeconomic Analysis of Public Policy (CPP), and a founding Co-Principal Investigator of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing. His research focuses on empirical modelling of individual economic behaviour over the life-cycle. His early work focused on consumption and spending patterns, asset accumulation and pension choices. Subsequently he has worked on broader issues in the economics of ageing, such as health, physical and cognitive functioning and their association with labour market and broader socioeconomic status, and the dynamics of work disability.
Jane Falkingham is Professor of Demography and International Social Policy at the University of Southampton and Director of the ESRC Centre for Population Change, exploring the drivers and consequences of a changing population. Much of her research over the past 20 years has focused on the social policy implications of population ageing and the wellbeing of older people, with her research taking an explicitly life-course approach.
David Miles is a member of the OBR’s Budget Responsibility Committee and a member of the Commission of the Central Bank of Ireland. He was previously a member of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee and Chief UK Economist at Morgan Stanley. As an economist he has focused on the interaction between financial markets and the wider economy. He has worked on issues of demographics, government debt financing, housing markets and monetary policy.
Joe Studwell is a researcher and consultant. He is the Senior Visiting Fellow at the Overseas Development Institute in London, and holds a PhD in global business and development from the University of Cambridge. His recent book How Africa Works follows previous titles How Asia Works and The China Dream.

–
Tickets are now available via Eventbrite. Discounts are available for groups (10+ people) and school bookings – get in touch here.
Artwork by Alys Jones Illustration.

The geopolitics of energy
2026-11-17 15:00 - 16:00 | Cinema 1, Watershed, 1 Canon’s Rd, Bristol, BS1 5TX, United Kingdom
Global events – whether in the Arctic, the Middle East, Ukraine or Venezuela – have highlighted the enduring role of energy security in geopolitics. This panel will explore these recent events, addressing how energy supply chains, prices and sanctions affect international conflicts, as well as the implications for the transition to net zero.
Speakers:

Chair: Eshe Nelson (The New York Times)
Ahmet Kaya (ISI Markets)
Yixian Sun (University of Bath)

–

Eshe Nelson is a business and economics reporter for The New York Times in London. Before joining The New York Times, she was a global economics and markets reporter for Quartz and a currency and bond markets reporter for Bloomberg News. In 2020, she completed the Knight-Bagehot Fellowship in Economics and Business Journalism at Columbia University.

Dr Ahmet Kaya is Global Macro Strategist at ISI Markets. He holds a PhD from Hacettepe University and an MSc from the University of Groningen. Over his career, he has held senior economist and advisory roles at the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR), the British Embassy in Turkey and the Turkish Treasury. He has also held research positions at the Groningen Growth and Development Centre (GGDC) and UNU-WIDER. His research focuses on global macroeconomics, international trade and finance, capital flows, geopolitics and productivity growth.

Yixian Sun is Professor of Sustainability Governance at the University of Bath. He studies transnational governance, environmental politics and sustainable development, with a focus on emerging economies. His work explains the changing role of China in global environmental governance. He is the author of Certifying China (MIT Press, 2022) and has published over 25 articles in high-impact scientific journals. He is currently leading the SGAIN project – a £1.8 million research project studying sustainability governance of China’s global infrastructure investments. He is also an associate editor of Global Environmental Politics and World Development Perspectives and a member of the Expert Peer Review Group for the UN-supported Race to Zero campaign.

–
Tickets are now available via Eventbrite. Discounts are available for groups (10+ people) and school bookings – get in touch here.
Artwork by Alys Jones Illustration.

Marshall Paley Lecture with Alan Manning: 'Why Immigration Policy Is Hard: And How to Make It Better'
2026-11-17 18:30 - 20:00 | Bill Brown Forum (Lecture Theatre), Temple Quarter Enterprise Campus, Cattle Market Road, Bristol, BS1 5NL
This year’s Marshall Paley lecture is kindly sponsored by the School of Economics, University of Bristol.
Join us for the 2026 Marshall Paley Lecture which will be delivered by Alan Manning. This lecture is based on the newly published book, Why Immigration Policy Is Hard. In this lecture Professor Manning examines why immigration policy is hard and why we make such a mess of it. This session will be hosted by Toman Barsbai (University of Bristol).
–
Alan Manning is Professor of Economics at LSE and is director of the Centre for Economic Performance’s labour programme. From 2009-2012 he was Head of the Economics Department at LSE; from 2004 to 2011 he was a member of the NHS Pay Review Body and from 2016-2020 the Chair of the Migration Advisory Committee.
Toman Barsbai is a Professor of Economics at the University of Bristol. His research focuses on the causes and consequences of international migration, with a particular emphasis on migrants and their countries of origin. His research has informed migration policies in the Philippines, and he is currently evaluating the use of income share agreements for international educational migration
–
Registration for this event will open in the autumn, check back here for updates. Tickets will be free of charge.
Artwork by Alys Jones Illustration.

Have we been here before? Lessons from history
2026-11-18 10:00 - 11:00 | Cinema 1, Watershed, 1 Canon’s Rd, Bristol, BS1 5TX, United Kingdom
This event is part of the Economic History Society’s centenary year celebration.
What has improved or got worse in the UK economy since 1926? What has the impact of these changes been on the lives of British citizens? Some policies have helped to advance the UK economy over the last 100 years, while others have held it back – here we draw lessons from the past to inform how to seize the opportunities and address the challenges of today.
Speakers:

Chair: Anu Anand (Bath Spa University)
Judy Stephenson (Economic History Society)
More to be announced shortly.

Anu Anand is Programme Leader for Journalism at Bath Spa University and founder of The Bath Bee, an online publication producing hyperlocal journalism in Bath. Anu has over 25 years of experience in international news and current affairs as a journalist and correspondent for the BBC World Service, APTN, the Guardian, the Christian Science Monitor and Al Jazeera English. Anu has reported on major stories from all around the world including the death of Mother Theresa, the 2003 US invasion of Iraq, the 2004 Asian Tsunami, Nepal’s devastating earthquakes in 2014 and several Indian elections.
Dr Judy Z Stephenson is an economic historian of London 1600–1800. Her research examines labour markets, finance and the construction industry in particular. She is Lecturer in Economics and Finance of the Built Environment at the Bartlett School of Construction and Project Management at University College London. She was previously the first David Richards Junior Research Fellow in Economic History at Wadham College, Oxford.
–
Tickets are now available via Eventbrite. Discounts are available for groups (10+ people) and school bookings – get in touch here.
Artwork by Alys Jones Illustration.

Degrees, debt and disruption: the future of higher education in the age of AI
2026-11-18 11:30 - 12:30 | Cinema 1, Watershed, 1 Canon’s Rd, Bristol, BS1 5TX, United Kingdom
The value of a higher education degree has increasingly been under the spotlight since undergraduate tuition fees were first introduced in 1998 and particularly since they were trebled in 2006 and again in 2013. Throughout this time participation in higher education has increased, such that around one in two young people now go to university by age 25, and the Government estimate than just under one-third of the costs in tuition fee and maintenance loans will be picked up by the taxpayer. With the educational and labour market disruption caused by the rapid expansion of AI, and increasing disquiet over mounting student debt, we will be asking who will pay for higher education in the future? What is the role of undergraduate study in the age of AI? And is it still worth getting a degree?
Speakers:

Gill Wyness (UCL / LSE)
Glen O’Hara (Oxford Brookes University)
Debbie McVitty (Wonkhe)

–
Gill Wyness is a Professor of Economics, and Deputy Director of the Centre for Education Policy and Equalising Opportunities (CEPEO) at the University College London Institute of Education. She is also a Research Associate at the Centre for Economic Performance at the London School of Economics. Gill’s main research area is the economics of higher education, with a particular focus on inequalities in university participation and attainment, and the drivers of it – including higher education finance, information advice and guidance, and school factors.

Glen O’Hara is Professor of Modern and Contemporary History at Oxford Brookes University. His research examines British central governments’ economic and social policies, focusing especially on the period since the First World War and he has written and edited a number of books on this subject. Glen’s most recent book, published in February 2026, is New Labour, New Britain? How the Blair Governments Reshaped the Country.
Dr Debbie McVitty is Editor of Wonkhe, where she curates Wonkhe’s output of higher education news, commentary and analysis across multiple platforms. Debbie is a former chief of staff at Universities UK, director of policy at the University of Bedfordshire, and head of policy at the National Union of Students, and is a founding member of Wonkhe’s editorial group.  Debbie is interested in the social impact of HE, learning, teaching and curriculum, and change and innovation in higher education.
–
Tickets are now available via Eventbrite. Discounts are available for groups (10+ people) and school bookings – get in touch here.
Artwork by Alys Jones Illustration.

Are we heading for a labour market AI-pocalypse?
2026-11-18 13:30 - 14:30 | Cinema 1, Watershed, 1 Canon’s Rd, Bristol, BS1 5TX, United Kingdom
A tsunami of change is sweeping the economy as robots and AI threaten to take over tasks done by humans. In her new book We Are Not Machines, Financial Times journalist Sarah O’Connor investigates what is happening on the front lines of technological change. People are not losing their jobs to machines, she found, but losing something else instead: work becoming lonelier, less creative, less human. But she also found hopeful stories of jobs being made better, safer and more enjoyable – where workers haven’t rejected the new tools but have learned to control them. O’Connor, in discussion with Heather Stewart, Guardian and Sue Turner OBE, Professor in Practice in AI and Digital Technologies at the University of Bristol, explores questions of power, design, institutions and ideas in this new world.
Speakers:

Sarah O’Connor (Financial Times)
Heather Stewart (The Guardian)
Sue Turner (University of Bristol)

–
Sarah O’Connor is a columnist, reporter and associate editor at the Financial Times. She writes a weekly column focused on the world of work, as well as longer features and investigations. She has won the Orwell Prize for Exposing Britain’s Social Evils, the Wincott Award for financial journalism, Business Commentator of the Year at the Comment Awards, Financial/Economic story of the year at the Foreign Press Awards and Business and Finance Journalist of the year at the British Press Awards. Her new book is We Are Not Machines: The Fight for the Future of Work.
Heather Stewart is the economics editor of the Guardian. She was formerly the Guardian’s political editor. She has written about AI and employment, welfare, alternative economic approaches, ‘Manchesterism’, the living wage, borrowing, among many other issues. She has chaired many events in Festival of Economics, Bristol Festival of Ideas and Festival of the Future City.
Sue Turner OBE is Professor in Practice in AI and Digital Technologies at the University of Bristol Business School. She is a globally respected authority on artificial intelligence, data governance, and ethics, recognised as one of the world’s Top 100 Women in AI Ethics. Turner works at the intersection of technology, law, and leadership, helping organisations move beyond experimentation to adopt AI with confidence, accountability, and purpose. Turner has worked previously as Regional Director of the CBI and was CEO of the Quartet Community Foundation.
–
Tickets are now available via Eventbrite. Discounts are available for groups (10+ people) and school bookings – get in touch here.
Artwork by Alys Jones Illustration.

Levelling up or falling short? The politics and economics of English devolution
2026-11-18 15:00 - 16:00 | Cinema 1, Watershed, 1 Canon’s Rd, Bristol, BS1 5TX, United Kingdom
The Government’s plan for devolution in England promises a major shift not only in the geographic coverage but also in the depth of devolved powers, with elected mayors and their strategic authorities having greater control over transport, skills and employment policy, housing and planning, and economic development funding. In her recent Mais lecture, Rachel Reeves also signalled plans for fiscal devolution, allowing mayors greater control over tax revenues raised in their strategic authority. The direction of travel seems clear: from administrative devolution to economic, but is England really moving towards meaningful economic devolution – or just decentralised delivery of national policy? What does this mean for regional growth and inequality? And what do the experiences of Scottish and Welsh devolution tell us about England’s future prospects?
Speakers:

Chair: Chris Giles (Financial Times)
Helen Godwin (Mayor of the West of England)
Graeme Roy (University of Glasgow & Scottish Fiscal Commission)
Lucy Martin (The Brunel Centre)
Akash Paun (Institute for Government)

–
Chris Giles is the economics commentator at the Financial Times. He writes a fortnightly column and the weekly newsletter, ‘Chris Giles on Central Banks’. Previously, he was economics editor and served as a leader writer. Chris is also an Honorary Professor of Practice at the University College London Policy Lab. Before joining the FT, he worked for the BBC, Ofcom and the Institute for Fiscal Studies.
Helen Godwin is the current Mayor of the West of England (2025-present). Helen’s has publicly stated her Mayoral commitments as: “reliable buses and trains that connect communities, affordable homes in the right places with essential services, and pathways to green jobs that power the region’s future economy.” Helen has significant experience across business and local government, including serving as a local councillor for the Southmead ward of Bristol (2016-2021).
Graeme Roy is Professor of Economics, Head of the College of Social Sciences and Vice-Principal at the University of Glasgow. Graeme is also Chair of the Scottish Fiscal Commission, Scotland’s official independent economic and fiscal forecaster. Prior to joining Glasgow in March 2021, he was Director of the Fraser of Allander Institute at the University of Strathclyde. Graeme is also a former Senior Civil Servant in the Scottish Government, where he was Head of the First Minister’s Policy Unit.
Dr. Lucy Martin is Director of The Brunel Centre, an impact-focused research hub based at the University of Bath. Lucy leads the Centre’s mission to bridge academic research, policy, and business insight, by delivering open-access data and economic intelligence that helps to drive sustainable, inclusive growth across the West of England. In previous roles within the UKRI’s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, Lucy was responsible for research strategy across a range of technological domains including quantum computing, big data and robotics.
Akash Paun s Programme Director for Devolution at the Institute for Government (IfG) n London. He leads work on the state of devolution in all parts of the United Kingdom, and has a particular focus on the powers, performance and policy choices of mayoral strategic authorities in England. Akash has previously worked at the UCL Constitution Unit, the British Academy, the London School of Economics, and as an expert adviser to the Independent Commission on the Constitutional Future of Wales.
–
Tickets are now available via Eventbrite. Discounts are available for groups (10+ people) and school bookings – get in touch here.
Artwork by Alys Jones Illustration.

The new economics of the left
2026-11-18 18:30 - 20:00 | Bill Brown Forum (Lecture Theatre), Temple Quarter Enterprise Campus, Cattle Market Road, Bristol, BS1 5NL
The election in 2024 of the first Labour government in a generation was followed by higher spending, increases in taxation and a loosening of fiscal rules. Workers rights were strengthened, parts of the rail system were nationalised and a state-owned energy company, GB Energy, created. Despite this, the government has lost support on the left while the Greens have surged under the leadership of Zack Polanski. Politicians, commentators and thinktanks on the left have made proposals for how a social democratic government could go further on economic policy, despite the constraints imposed by high interest rates and public debt. This panel brings together leading commentators to discuss whether a coherent economic strategy of the left is possible, the barriers to implementing such a strategy, and the likely economic consequences — for growth, living standards and inequality — of the choices the government has made and those it has yet to face.
Speakers:

Adrienne Buller (The BREAK-DOWN)
David Klemperer (RENEWAL)
James Meadway (Verdant Thinking)

–
Adrienne Buller is the Founding Editor of The BREAK—DOWN, a new media initiative focused on the political economy of climate and ecological crisis. She is the author, with Mathew Lawrence, of Owning the Future (Verso, 2022) and The Value of a Whale(Manchester University Press, 2022), which won the 2024 Eric Zencey Prize in Ecological Economics. She is an Associate Fellow at Common Wealth.
David Klemperer is co-editor of RENEWAL: A Journal of Social Democracy, and a researcher within the Institute for Policy Research at the University of Bath. He specialises in political economy, the history of social democracy and constitutional reform, and has held previous research roles at the Constitution Society and Institute for Government (IfG).

James Meadway is Director of Verdant Thinking, a progressive think tank. He was formerly a political advisor to Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell, and Chief Economist at the New Economics Foundation. He has taught in economics at SOAS, Cambridge, Sussex and City Universities, and has published widely on economic policy and theory in the New Statesman, Guardian, Jacobin, Tribune, and Novara.

–
Tickets are now available via Eventbrite. Discounts are available for groups (10+ people) and school bookings – get in touch here.
Artwork by Alys Jones Illustration.

Should the UK have a wealth tax?
2026-11-20 12:30 - 13:30 | Central Bristol Location, Bristol, United Kingdom
Opinion polls suggest considerable public support for higher taxes on the rich. But would a wealth tax really be an effective way to improve the UK’s public finances? If so, would it be best implemented as an annual charge on the value of assets or a one-off? And how should its implementation be aligned with existing taxes on wealth, such as income tax, council tax, capital gains tax amend inheritance tax. This panel will bring together public finance experts and politicians to discuss the potential impact of this economic policy idea.
Speakers will be announced soon.
–
Tickets are available upon request. If you are interested in attending this session, contact us here and we will be in touch nearer to the event.
Artwork by Alys Jones Illustration.
