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Torsten Bell

Torsten Bell

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Hidden gems from the world of research When royals marry among themselves, it brings an unexpected peace dividend

An interesting history lesson this week. We’re all used to stories about the inbreeding of monarchies across early modern Europe. Austria’s...

20.04.2024 6

The Guardian

Torsten Bell

Hidden gems from the world of research We don’t do our best work just before lunch, and it’s not much better afterwards

We’re not very productive. Stagnant productivity is the reason wages have flatlined since 2008, leaving our pay packets £14,000 lighter than if...

13.04.2024 5

The Guardian

Torsten Bell

Hidden gems from the world of research Making people better, not demonising them, will solve Britain’s sickness problem

In policy making, as in life, the goal is to recognise when you have a problem, without getting it out of perspective. Otherwise nothing gets done....

07.04.2024 6

The Guardian

Torsten Bell

Hidden gems from the world of research Austerity doesn’t just damage public services, it destroys faith in the future

As the dust settles on the budget, it’s time to reflect on the real task facing anyone trying to govern Britain. The tax cuts announced are paid for...

17.03.2024 10

The Guardian

Torsten Bell

Hidden gems from the world of research Spring budget: how Jeremy Hunt’s tax freeze is leaving pensioners out in the cold

The budget hasn’t moved the polls. They never do. But it may mark a change in politics. Why? Because it didn’t prioritise pensioners. The...

10.03.2024 7

The Guardian

Torsten Bell

Hidden gems from the world of research Consumer debt in the UK is down 10%. The bad news? Utility bill arrears are up

It’s important to worry about the right things. Interest rates are up, sparking worries about our debts – in my case, the mortgage. Consumer debt...

03.03.2024 9

The Guardian

Torsten Bell

Hidden gems from the world of research Sorry, Suella Braverman, your bleak picture of a ‘ghettoised’ Britain doesn’t stack up

That was a grim week for British politics. Making an unspeakable tragedy in the Middle East about ourselves takes some doing, but the Commons managed...

25.02.2024 20

The Guardian

Torsten Bell

Hidden gems from the world of research Want to come up with a winning election ad campaign? Just be honest

There are so many elections this year but how to go about winning them? Labour has a sub-optimal, but impressively consistent strategy: waiting...

18.02.2024 20

The Guardian

Torsten Bell

Hidden gems from the world of research How the working from home boom has left slim pickings for burglars

Almost none of the long-term changes people said the pandemic would bring have turned out to be true. The gratitude and respect for carers and lower...

11.02.2024 10

The Guardian

Torsten Bell

Hidden gems from the world of research The sting of losing an election hurts worse when it comes as a big surprise

What makes us happy? I don’t mean in general – this isn’t a column about the good life, your plans to escape to the country or the latest...

03.02.2024 9

The Guardian

Torsten Bell

Hidden gems from the world of research Healthy competition is good for keeping wages up, as well as prices down

Competition policy normally focuses on the dangers of big companies exploiting consumers. Thus, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) announced...

28.01.2024 20

The Guardian

Torsten Bell

Hidden gems from the world of research Healthy politics needs activists – just don’t mention the door-knocking on your CV

There’s an election coming and you should vote, but a healthy democracy requires more of its citizens than rocking up to the polling booth. Ideally,...

21.01.2024 4

The Guardian

Torsten Bell

Hidden gems from the world of research We’re happy as children, but it’s all downhill from there until we’re pushing 60

The meaning of life? Famously 42, according to a supercomputer asked “the ultimate question of life, the universe and everything” in Douglas...

14.01.2024 7

The Guardian

Torsten Bell

Hidden gems from the world of research The good news: wages are rising for Britons. The bad news: so is the cost of housing

Inflation is down. The rate of annual price rises fell to 4.6% in October, from double digits back in March. As Rishi Sunak reminds us, inflation has...

17.12.2023 9

The Guardian

Torsten Bell

Hidden gems from the world of research A nice cup of tea is always welcome, but centuries ago it truly was a lifesaver

I have a tea problem, drinking far too much since my teens. The addiction is bad, though cheap as addictions go. My justification is that there are so...

10.12.2023 10

The Guardian

Torsten Bell

Britain has been in a 15-year economic slump. This is our route out of it

Britain has huge strengths, but it is now impossible to miss that we’re in a phase of relative decline. A year or two of poor productivity growth...

04.12.2023 1

The Guardian

Torsten Bell

Hidden gems from the world of research Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption drive worked wonders on his bureaucrats’ waistlines

There’s lots of chat about slimming down the UK’s civil service – it’s grown by 25% since the Brexit referendum (albeit only back to its...

03.12.2023 7

The Guardian

Torsten Bell

Hidden gems from the world of research If we want lower taxes in the UK, we should get serious about becoming healthier

The biggest tax cuts since the 1980s were announced last week, but also published were official forecasts confirming that the tax burden was rising to...

26.11.2023 20

The Guardian

Torsten Bell

Hidden gems from the world of research Earnings for millennials in the US will make their UK counterparts jealous

Should we envy Americans? There are the wonderful national parks, but also the widely available firearms. Purely on the economics, though, millennials...

19.11.2023 10

The Guardian

Torsten Bell

Hidden gems from the world of research From São Paulo to Old Oak Common: why being at the end of the railway line matters

If TikTok is to be believed, all the cool kids are trainspotters these days. Luckily, economists can get in on the act, because transport connections...

12.11.2023 6

The Guardian

Torsten Bell

Hidden gems from the world of research Why are women far more likely than men to praise their colleagues’ work?

We got the official data on UK earnings last week. It included the joyful reminder that last year our pay didn’t keep up with rising prices, for the...

05.11.2023 10

The Guardian

Torsten Bell

Hidden gems from the world of research School ‘requires improvement’? Hire a good headteacher and get an Ofsted inspector on board

Good schools are good, for the children and for the parents’ blood pressure. But what gets us good schools? An effective headteacher helps....

29.10.2023 10

The Guardian

Torsten Bell

Hidden gems from the world of research Looking for that plum job? Choose your boss carefully and know your strengths

Are you in the right job? We spend so much of our life working that this is a question people ask themselves a lot. But what actually helps match...

22.10.2023 6

The Guardian

Torsten Bell

Hidden gems from the world of research Revenge of the nerds is a fantasy, it’s the jocks who have more successful careers

We tell the kids not to worry if they’re not “cool” at school. A common reassurance is that the nerds shall inherit, if not the Earth, then at...

15.10.2023 10

The Guardian

Torsten Bell

Hidden gems from the world of research The robots are coming, but older workers have less to fear than they might think

W e need to talk about economic change – how fast it’s happening and what it looks like when it does. Everyone says technology means economic...

08.10.2023 7

The Guardian

Torsten Bell

Hidden gems from the world of research HS2, Raac, potholes: the symptoms of a lack of investment are everywhere

T here’s a lot more wrong with UK public investment than HS2. I see that as a governor of a small primary school relying on parents to support new...

01.10.2023 5

The Guardian

Torsten Bell

Hidden gems from the world of research It’s a lie promoted by the right that state help saps people of their drive

L iz Truss is back in the news, but a small state is out of fashion – or at least with the punters. The new British social attitudes survey finds...

24.09.2023 80

The Guardian

Torsten Bell

Hidden gems from the world of research Populists are bad for our economic health, yet they’re still a hard habit to break

G lobal politics might not feel quite as grim as it did a few years back, but there’s still a lot of populism around: about a quarter of countries...

17.09.2023 30

The Guardian

Torsten Bell

Hidden gems from the world of research Promotions aplenty in Sunak and Starmer’s reshuffles, but who will be up to the job?

Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer have reshuffled their top teams. The Labour leader has probably done so for the last time before asking the country if...

10.09.2023 6

The Guardian

Torsten Bell

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