{"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":"Why is the UK so geographically unequal?","slug":"why-is-the-uk-so-geographically-unequal","published_at":"2026-06-18T14:33:44+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/ifs-zooms-in-the-economy-638796/why-is-the-uk-so-geographically-unequal","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/ifs-zooms-in-the-economy-638796","url":"https://ifs.org.uk/podcasts-explainers-and-calculators","audio_url":"https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/5ea004d9fbcc383829c71657/e/6a32b2bf883f9289e91d4c81/media.mp3","summary":"The UK is one of the most geographically unequal countries in the developed world. People living in London and the South East tend to have higher incomes, higher levels of education and better health outcomes than people elsewhere in the country. But why did Britain become so regionally unequal? How much of the divide is driven by the shift away from industry and towards services? What role has public investment, infrastructure and decades of regional policy played? And what can policymakers realistically do to change things? In this episode, part of our mini-series on inequalities, we look at the scale of the UK’s regional divides, why London has become so dominant, and whether stronger cities, devolution, better coordination and more stable policy could help narrow the gap. Helen speaks with IFS economists Jonathan Cribb and Xiaowei Xu to ask what “levelling up” should mean in practice, whether improving opportunities outside London could boost national productivity, and how politicians should think about places that may not benefit directly from big-city growth. This episode draws on work done as part of the IFS-Deaton Review, funded by the Nuffield Foundation. 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":"The UK is one of the most geographically unequal countries in the developed world. People living in London and the South East tend to have higher incomes,…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2257,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/ifs-zooms-in-the-economy-638796/episodes/why-is-the-uk-so-geographically-unequal/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/why-is-the-uk-so-geographically-unequal.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}