{"podcast":{"title":"IFS Zooms In: The Economy","slug":"ifs-zooms-in-the-economy-638796","podcast_index_feed_id":638796,"rss_url":"https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/ifs-zooms-in-coronavirus-and-the-economy","website_url":"https://www.ifs.org.uk/podcast","image_url":"https://assets.pippa.io/shows/5ea004d9fbcc383829c71657/1611670691757-acb69bdbfa16df8b84d3357b86921a11.jpeg","author":"Institute for Fiscal Studies","episode_count":197,"summary":"The IFS podcast about the UK economy, tax, public spending and living standards. Each week, IFS Director Helen Miller speaks to leading economists and researchers to explain the economic issues shaping the UK. Step beyond the headlines with in-depth, independent analysis from the experts at the Institute for Fiscal Studies. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.","last_synced_at":"2026-09-25T06:21:58.046264+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/ifs-zooms-in-the-economy-638796"},"episode":{"title":"What really matters for the UK economy in 2026","slug":"what-really-matters-for-the-uk-economy-in-2026","published_at":"2026-01-09T14:25:18+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/ifs-zooms-in-the-economy-638796/what-really-matters-for-the-uk-economy-in-2026","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/ifs-zooms-in-the-economy-638796","url":"https://ifs.org.uk/podcasts-explainers-and-calculators/podcasts","audio_url":"https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/5ea004d9fbcc383829c71657/e/69610fcfd413dfe238c9d7ba/media.mp3","summary":"Moving into 2026, the government faces a critical period of delivery. After 18 months in power and several major fiscal events behind them, the focus is shifting from setting policy to seeing it through. However, with unemployment reaching 5.1% and a series of high-stakes reviews underway, the road ahead remains complex. In this episode, we are joined by Christine Farquharson and Tom Waters to examine the economic landscape for the year ahead. We look at the rising pressures on the public purse, from health-related benefits to the \"national conversation\" on SEND, and ask what the upcoming fiscal events might reveal about the government’s long-term strategy. We also look at what could shift the outlook, for better or worse, from public sector productivity to the economic impact of new technologies like AI and GLP-1 drugs. Become a member: https://ifs.org.uk/individual-membership Find out more: https://ifs.org.uk/podcasts-explainers-and-calculators/podcasts Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.","meta_description":"Moving into 2026, the government faces a critical period of delivery. After 18 months in power and several major fiscal events behind them, the focus is s…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2565,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/ifs-zooms-in-the-economy-638796/episodes/what-really-matters-for-the-uk-economy-in-2026/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/ifs-zooms-in-the-economy-638796/what-really-matters-for-the-uk-economy-in-2026.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}