Festival of Economics

Festival of Economics 2022 presented in partnership with Bristol Ideas

Monday 14 to Thursday 17 November 2022, Watershed, Arnolfini and SS Great Britain

In the annual Festival of Economics, economists and experts from around the world debate with each other – and their audiences – some of the key economic questions of our time.

Audio recordings from this year's festival are available here.

Festival directors: Diane Coyle and Richard Davies

How is the Cost of Living Squeeze Impacting You? Monday 14 November

18:00-20:30. Bank of England Citizens' Panel hosted by Romesh Vaitilingam

The pound in your pocket, Tuesday 15 November

10:45-12:00. Prices and wages. Chris Giles with Vicky Pryce, Sarah Smith, Imogen Waite & Stian Westlake
12:30-13:45. Geopolitics and the global economy. Anu Anand with John Kampfner, George Magnus, Clara Mattei & Adnan Vatansever
14:15-15:00. Growth for Good. Andrew Kelly with Alessio Terzi
15:30-16:45. Cost pressures: generational pains. Bethan Staton with Oona Goldsworthy, Stephen Machin, Claire Ralph & Vicky Spratt
19:00-20:30. Reflections on economics. Diane Coyle with Andy Haldane

Robots and our future, Wednesday 16 November

10:45-12:00. Big tech under control. Rory Cellan-Jones with Kate Bevan, Harry Destecroix, Kimberley Long & Tommaso Valletti
12:30-13:30. Wage Controversies: The British Academy Lecture, Sarah Smith with Stephen Machin
14:00-15:00. Boom and Bust: A global history of financial bubbles. Diane Coyle with John Turner & Will Quinn
15:30-16:45. Big data. James Fransham with Tiziana Alocci, Denes Csala, Anna Powell Smith & Arthur Turrell
19:30-20:30. Cryptocurrencies and the future of money. Maria Farrell with Dinis Guarda, John Turner, Will Quinn & Jillian C York

Our turbulent world, Thursday 17 November

10:45-12:00. Britain’s decisive decade. Gavin Kelly with Lorenzo Codogno, Sophie Hale, Rainer Kattel & Anna Valero
12:30-13:30. What next for central banks with Jagjit Chadha & Huw Pill
14:00-15:00. Can’t We Just Print More Money. Kimberley Long with Jack Meaning and Rupal Patel
19:00-20:30. Cautionary tales. Live with Tim Harford

Writers in residence

Bethan Staton (Financial Times). How might UK policy-makers overcome the polycrisis?

The UK faces a host of economic challenges: from the cost of living crisis and intergenerational housing inequality to geopolitical tensions and climate change. These issues were addressed and potential policy solutions debated on day one of this year’s festival.

James Fransham (The Economist). What future for big data and regulation of the tech giants?

With the collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX and troubles at Twitter, discussions on day two of the festival were particularly timely. Big data, social media and behemoth technology firms are here to stay – but calls for their regulation grow louder.

Festival of Economics 2021

Audio highlights from the Talking Economics sessions.

The Covid-19 shock and response

A one-two punch: health and economics. Chris Giles with Melanie Cockroft, Paula Lorgelly, Ben Moll and Flavio Toxvaerd. Listen here.
WFH or not working at all? Phil Aldrick with Kudsia Batool, Huw Dixon, Graeme Roy and Helen Simpson. Listen here.
Finance in flux. Ed Conway with Alexandra Frean, Dawn Holland, Michael McMahon and John Turner. Listen here.

Assessing the damage

An unfair crisis. Bethan Staton with Abi Adams-Prassl, Richard Blundell, Jagjit Chadha, Sarah Smith and Jane van Zyl. Listen here.
The ongoing toll. Richard Davies with Stuart McIntyre, Fabien Postel-Vinay, Carol Propper and Dominique Thompson. Listen here.
Global virus, global impact. Lizzy Burden with Lotanna Emediegwu, Bethan Staton, Vyoma Dhar Sharma and Zsoka Koczan. Listen here.

What are the legacies of the Covid-19 crisis? by Bethan Staton

Prospects and policies for the recovery

The next crisis? Eshe Nelson with Diane Coyle, Karis McIntyre, Anna Valero and Dimitri Zenghelis. Listen here.
The Covid-19 generation Diane Coyle with Andrea Arlidge, Simon Burgess, Gill Wyness and Alice Towle. Listen here.
Doing central bank economics. Soumaya Keynes with Huw Pill and Jagjit Chadha. Listen here.
A new world? Philip Inman with Meredith Crowley, Henry Overman and Helen Tanner. Listen here.