The Department of Economics is delighted to welcome Jon Franklin as our second 360 Guest Lecture for 2021/22 academic year.

Counting What Counts – the Quiet Wellbeing Revolution in Public Economics

Date: Wednesday 24 November, 5.15pm-6.15pm
Location: Microsoft Teams Meeting

Dr Andrew Harkins will introduce the speaker and chair the Q&A session at the end of the lecture.

This event is for staff and students only and registration is required in order to attend.

About the talk

When the theory of public economics meets the real world of policy making there are many compromises. Limitations on available data, evidence, time and capabilities of government economists will all impact on what gets considered in a policy making process, and this is before we consider what a real world political decision-making process actually looks like. This often results in economic analysis of policies that is partial and incomplete, favouring certain types of policies that deliver “traditional economic benefits” over others. However, a quiet revolution relating to how we measure, quantify and value improvements in people’s quality of life, or wellbeing, has been gaining ground in public policy circles that has the potential to transform the way economists do their work in government.

In this talk we’ll explore the skills and knowledge most commonly used by practising public policy economists, what that looks like in practice and why an obscure new piece of supplementary guidance from HM Treasury could pave the way for the active use of wellbeing economics in day-to-day decision making in government and the social sector.

About the speaker

Jon Franklin is Chief Economist at Pro Bono Economics – a charity founded by the former Chief Economist of the Bank of England, Andy Haldane, that uses economics to empower the social sector by helping organisations to measure their social impact and delivering research to influence government policy. Prior to working in the charity sector, Jon worked for the Government Economic Service for 13 years, producing appraisals, evaluations and forecasts for policies relating to taxation, property and aviation sectors.

This included leading the team responsible for analytical work for the independent Airports Commission that reviewed the case for expanding aviation capacity and Head of Data Strategy for the Valuation Office Agency – a department responsible for valuing more than 28 million properties in the UK to generate £50bn of revenue for local government. Jon is a Warwick Economics alumnus – he graduated with a BSc Hons Industrial Economics in 2005.

Registration

Please register below and we will email you nearer to the time with the link to join the event. Registration will close at 12 noon on the day.

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