A Level Economics Conference in London

Last week, 10 U6 Economics students travelled to London to attend an inspirational Politics/Economics conference entitled “Post Pandemic Post Brexit guide to the UK Economy”.

Students listened to several interesting lectures from key economists, namely Gbemi Babalola (NHS Health Economist), Vicky Pryce (Centre for Economics and Business Research), Mark Littlewood (Institute of Economic Affairs), Carl Emmerson (Institute of Fiscal Studies) and Kate Raworth (author of ‘Doughnut Economics’).

By far our favourite speaker was Kate Raworth, who highlighted the importance for economies to be mindful of their environmental impact rather than prioritising endless economic growth. She reminded us of the importance of sustainable development using the Earth’s limited resources. She also challenged the use of economic models taught in our curriculum and encouraged us to modernise them if we are to find more effective solutions to the real-world problems we face today.

Below are some quotes from our students about their learning experience:

“One of the most interesting lectures at the conference was “is UK addicted to cheap credit & government spending?” Mark Littlewood drew attention to the increasing healthcare expenditure, and he also discussed the political decisions made by Liz Truss which cut her political career so short, including the energy price guarantee and tax cuts. Moreover, he highlighted a significant issue that the younger generations are facing in terms of pension liability. He predicted that we may be facing higher tax rates in the future amidst the higher government borrowing levels due to the fall in taxation revenue.” - Qinzi

“The Economics conference helped me to understand both the UK and the world economy’s economic issues in depth. It encouraged me to listen to in depth analysis of future economic issues from our generation’s perspective. The talk given by Kate Raworth left a strong impression. When she introduced the country with the most sustainable development, Costa Rica was a complete surprise to me. She pointed out that most developed countries are all facing economic issues such as income inequality, as 99% of wealth is owned by 1% of the global population. Meanwhile, she also discussed some successful cases of how government intervention makes societies more distributive, as seen in Vienna’s ‘affordable housing policy’. Her lecture made me re-evaluate current government policies. She encouraged our generation to have the courage and wit to act now before we reach planetary breakdown, which will spell the end of life as we know it”. - Xinning