EVENT: The role of education in levelling up the North

Episode 2 of the ‘Inclusive Growth Podcast: Post-COP26: how to ensure a fair transition to a green economy?

From the Industrial Revolution to the internet, capitalism has been a great engine of human progress. But, according to the Spectator business editor it now stands accused of allowing the greedy few to run riot over the rest of society, exploiting workers and suppliers and recklessly damaging the planet in pursuit of profit. Where did these accusations come from – and are they true?

For the last decade, stagnant real wages have squeezed living standards, wealth has become increasingly concentrated and having a job has been no guarantee of stable, secure or sufficient income. The economy is no longer producing the quality of jobs people need to support their families and opportunities vary depending on where people live and what their background is. The pandemic has exacerbated the UK’s longstanding regional inequality and the questions of how to ensure the transition to a green economy - is gaining prominence.

One of the 100 most influential people in the world according to TIME Magazine, Dr. Dambisa Moyo is a best-selling author and economist. Her work is focussed on the future of economic growth and placing living standards at the backbone of human progress. According to Moyo, the world is facing threatening economic headwinds including income inequality, the growing risk of a jobless underclass as digitalisation takes hold, unsustainable global debt and demographics shifts. All of these challenges require tackling the economic structures of work, health and education. In her recent book ‘How Boards Work’, Moyo addresses the levers and limitations boards have to create change across the business landscape. She poses questions around their purpose, around how they should balance profit motives with growing broader expectations of society and how they should approach quotas as they look to address diversity.

If the Trump era was about America First, President Joe Biden has made his administration about ‘jobs first’ – both in recovering from the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression and in responding to climate change. Similarly, Prime Minster Boris Johnson – invigorated by a swathe of Conservative party victories in recent elections – has promised that the UK will go ‘from jab, jab, jab to jobs, jobs, jobs’. The US and the UK face the same conjuncture. The economics and politics of both countries have been driven increasingly by the salience of division and inequality – whether regional, racial, health, wealth or income related. Upon assuming the presidency, Joe Biden set out a vision for unity to rebuild in the devastating wake of Covid-19, but it would be no mean feat against a backdrop of historic uprising in the Washington State Capitol and the Black Lives Matter protests that had swept the nation – and the world – over the previous summer. With long term stagnant to falling middle class wages, an ever-polarising city vs rural divide and Covid pushing over 2 million women out of the US workforce, the question of how to build back better, and what this could mean for different people and places will define the future of the country in decades to come. In the UK, the challenges of shaping new, post-Brexit trade links are as much about responding to the grievances of the former red wall as an exercise in foreign diplomacy. The result in the recent Hartlepool by-election typifies the scale of political dislocation from ‘traditional’ values and voting patterns, all while our very constitutional existence is under question as a United Kingdom. Much hope on both sides of the Atlantic has been pinned on the creation of new, green jobs – simultaneously driving prosperity and reducing climate emissions. Trillions of dollars have been committed by the US President for investment in physical and – notably – social infrastructure. This investment-led approach to more sustainable, inclusive growth has been heralded by some as the timely and long overdue introduction of a firmer social safety net. Others fear the impact of this approach, overheating the economy with the sheer scale of federal financial intervention and shifting the US towards a model directly opposed to its founding 'small State’ principles. Meanwhile Boris Johnson’s Conservative Party is leading a seismic shift in UK politics in its mission to level up by tackling ingrained regional inequalities across the UK - territory previously the reserve of the Left. Investment in physical infrastructure and the quality of local high streets are high on the agenda, with the promise of a ‘skills and training revolution’ also in the offing. What do UK and US leaders – national and local – need to do to deliver on the hope of building back better? What are the key barriers to success? What can the UK learn from its US counterparts, and vice versa? How do we prevent this moment being a missed opportunity for systemic change? Are we witnessing a more fundamental shift in the Anglo-Saxon model that has shaped the development of modern capitalism in the UK, US and beyond? What might the results of this shift be in the medium – longer term?