The ongoing pandemic is both an economic and a health crisis. Fear and lockdowns have had a devastating impact on economic activity. Meanwhile, the novel coronavirus has resulted in at least two million fatalities. When it comes to the epidemiological response, political leaders often say that they are following the science. Who would argue with that? However, when it comes to the economic response, few would claim to be doing the same. Cynics out there might argue that economics is

A survey by Pew Research Centre last October, just one month before US voters headed to the polls, found that 89% of President Trump’s supporters and 90% of Joe Biden’s thought the election of the other candidate “would lead to lasting harm to the US”. In the end the result was fairly close, especially in terms of the electoral college ‒ as it usually is in US presidential elections. But that closeness does not mean that the preferences of the

2020 was a remarkably revealing year. With what seemed like endless lockdowns, unprecedented uncertainty, and relentless family board games, by mid-December I found myself in a state of continuous thought I couldn’t escape. Like many people my age, coronavirus ejected me from an independent (and exciting) life at university to the all-too-familiar family home, in what seemed like the space of three weeks. As the months passed, I learnt a lot about myself and learnt even more about the power

Sometimes my morning run takes me from my house in Oxford to the canal towpath that runs north to south through the town. It’s very quiet and beautiful, mist rising off the jade water, the sun appearing through the mist. As you get closer to town, the canal is lined with narrowboats, some of which are visitors from the further reaches of the canal network. Others are permanent fixtures: homes alongside the towpath. The visiting boats are wonderful. They fill

I'd been looking forward to it so much — experiencing the hustle and bustle of London, as I took up my highly sought-after role with Fathom Consulting during my placement year from the University of Bath. Bright lights, big city, and all that! But COVID-19 has taken the sheen off my hopes and obliged me to work from my family living room in Belfast. No window-shopping on Regent Street for me this year, unfortunately. On the other hand, there are

In the middle of November, when the 24-hour news cycle was resolutely focused on whether Donald Trump would concede the US election, and debates were raging over whether it was safe to invite your relatives over for Christmas dinner, you’d be forgiven for having missed the Prime Minister’s Green Industrial Revolution announcement. Setting out an “ambitious ten-point plan”, Boris Johnson said he aimed to create up to a quarter of a million jobs in “clean energy, transport, nature and innovative technologies”,

It's certainly been an eventful year; and as I wrote in a piece to clients earlier this week, the past few months have been no exception. First came despair. As we moved through autumn towards winter in the Northern Hemisphere, COVID-19 returned with a vengeance to parts of Europe already hit hard in the spring, causing many countries to reimpose nationwide lockdowns, with hospitals working close to full capacity or beyond. But then came hope, with news that a number

I count myself extremely lucky. Not only am I one month into an excellent new job as an economist at Fathom Consulting, but — drumroll, please — last week I secured a launch day PlayStation 5. The rollout of the next generation of games consoles from Sony and Microsoft has not passed off entirely smoothly and has provoked plenty of controversy. With reports of scalpers pushing up prices to exorbitant levels on the secondary market,[1] and some customers receiving deliveries

Ahead of last season, the Premier League (the top division of English football) announced the introduction of the VAR system. Sadly for us economists, this acronym had little to do with vector autoregressions. No, for football fans those three letters have a very different meaning — Video Assistant Referees. Much to the annoyance of supporters, VARs like to preserve an aura of mystery in their decision-making, and, safely immured in their headquarters at the Stockley Park VAR Hub, they may