Why Britain’s Economy Has Been Stuck For 20 Years

What you'll learn

• 1 (02:06) **Episode Introduction & Market Vitals** - Ed Elson opens the show with a market recap: S&P 500 and NASDAQ fell, Google shares dropped 5%, and the Russell 2000 hit a new high.
• 2 (02:47) **The UK’s Political Turmoil: Seventh PM in 10 Years** - Keir Starmer steps down after losing his party’s confidence; Andy Burnham is the likely successor.
• 3 (03:39) **Interview Begins: Paul Johnson, Economist at Oxford** - Guest introduction and first question: what went wrong for Starmer and the UK?
• 4 (05:53) **Systemic vs. Leadership Failures** - Johnson argues the problem is both poor leaders and deep structural issues.
• 5 (08:06) **Core Economic Diagnosis: The Growth Crisis** - The biggest problem is a lack of productivity growth, worsened by the financial crisis, Brexit, and poor policy.
• 6 (09:06) **Who Is Andy Burnham? The Next PM’s Unknown Agenda** - Burnham is likely to become PM quickly, but his economic plans are unclear.
• 7 (11:29) **Is There a Technocratic Consensus for Recovery?** - Johnson says economists agree on solutions, but politicians avoid them because they’re electorally unpopular.

+ Full timestamped outline available in the app