This event marks the official launch of the LSE Business Review blog bringing together a panel of prominent economists to discuss productivity, the UK’s economic future and the road ahead.

The evening will end with a networking drinks reception with speakers and the LSE Business Review team.

Vince Cable (@vincecable) was MP for Twickenham from 1997-2015. He was the Liberal Democrat's chief economic spokesperson from 2003-2010, having previously served as Chief Economist for Shell from 1995-1997. He was Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (2010 to 2015).  Vince is the UK’s longest-serving business minister in the post-war period, and author of After the Storm : The World Economy and Britain's Economic Future(2015).

Diane Coyle, OBE (@diane1859), is a Professor of Economics at the University of Manchester. Until April 2015 she was vice-chairman of the BBC Trust, the BBC's governing body, and was previously a member of the Migration Advisory Committee and the Competition Commission. She began her career at the UK Treasury.

Bronwyn Curtis is a global financial markets economist and a member of the LSE’s Court of Governors. She is a Non-Executive Director of JP Morgan Asian Investment Trust and Scottish American Investment Trust. She was Head of Global Research at HSBC and Managing Editor of European Broadcast at Bloomberg LP.

Anna Leach is Head of the economic analysis team at Confederation of British Industry, overseeing the quarterly global macroeconomic forecast and the business surveys of economic conditions across the UK economy. Previously Anna worked in macroeconomic analysis at the Treasury and as a labour market economist at DWP, as well as undertaking a secondment to the Treasury Select Committee.

John Van Reenan (@johnvanreenen) is a professor in the Department of Economics at LSE and director of LSE's Centre for Economic Performance.

LSE Business Review (@LSEforBusiness) is an LSE-wide initiative to improve knowledge-exchange activities connecting social science researchers with business professionals in firms, enterprises and markets. The cross-disciplinary blog draws on contributions from LSE and other universities, business executives, consultants, think tanks and not-for-profit organisations. The blog’s Managing Editor is Helena Vieira, who sits in LSE Public Policy Group (PPG). 

Suggested hashtag for this event for Twitter users: #LSEbusiness

Podcast & Video

A podcast and video of this event is available to download from How Can the UK Improve Productivity and Still Build the Workforce?

Podcasts and videos of many LSE events can be found at the LSE Public Lectures and Events: podcasts and videos channel.