The Open University

Chancellor’s plans for growth will be slow to emerge: academic opinion

31 January 2025

The UK’s Chancellor’s plans for growth and ambitious industrial policies will only work if she can reset European trade, says Alan Shipman, Senior Lecturer in Economics at The Open University. When the Labour government returned to power last year it chose not to act rapidly against one of the biggest growth constraints, Britain’s isolation from […]

Economists have urged Rachel Reeves to loosen the purse strings – here’s why it’s not that easy

20 September 2024

Alan Shipman, Senior Lecturer in Economics at The Open University points out that Chancellor Rachel Reeves may struggle to change her stance on spending – as argued by economist. Here’s why: A group of economists has publicly urged chancellor Rachel Reeves to reverse her stance on public investment, and relax the Treasury rules that constrain […]

Curious Kids: why don’t poorer countries just print more money?

17 December 2018

Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages, where The Conversation asks experts to answer questions from kids. All questions are welcome: find out how to enter at the bottom of this article. In this piece, Economist Alan Shipman explains why poorer countries don’t just print more money. Why don’t poorer countries just […]

No-deal Brexit: experts on what the UK government’s advice means

24 August 2018

The UK government is releasing a series of “technical notices” outlining what might happen if the country leaves the European Union without striking a deal for its future relationship with the bloc. While Dominic Raab,Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, stressed that this scenario was far from the preferred option, he added that […]

A hard Brexit is looking increasingly likely – according to behavioural economics

25 June 2018

Gloomy forecasts for the post-Brexit economy, and a psychological tendency to gamble rather than accept certain losses, may boost public support for a giant leap away from the EU – despite the fact that most experts are advising a cautious small step. Parliamentary rebels have tempered their demands for a vote on the final Brexit […]

House prices in 2018: steady despite the hints of demolition

18 December 2017

Lecturer in Economics, Alan Shipman, offers his view on what the next year has in store for the UK housing market… Judged by what they announced, UK policymakers moved decisively in 2017 to arrest the long rise in house prices , as part of a broader strategy to cut living costs and assist first-time buyers. But […]

How vanishing debt costs helped the UK forget about a never-ending deficit

1 September 2017

When the UK government found £1 billion for Northern Ireland to secure Democratic Unionist parliamentary support, critics accused it of turning to the same “magic money tree” it had previously mocked others for believing in. But it may just be that the tree is flourishing in plain sight. UK national debt is currently issued at […]

Saving and Investing for your child’s university education

23 August 2017

Open University economist, Alan Shipman, gives his observations on what parents might consider when looking at saving or investing for university education. Should parents save or invest for university education? Not everyone agrees that parents need to save or invest for their children’s university education, or will gain anything from doing so. As the […]

Higher inflation’s hidden, but hazardous, boost to Britain’s economic recovery plans

22 March 2017

Inflation in the UK has surged, with the consumer price index jumping to 2.3% in the year to February – up from 1.8% in January. This is far better news for the government than it likes to admit. The early-year price rise can largely be traced to a passing-through of higher import costs following the […]

Aerial view of housing estate. Image: Thinkstock

Housing White Paper: affordability problem will not change, says OU expert

7 February 2017

Lecturer in Economics, Alan Shipman, comments on the Government’s Housing White Paper, published on Tuesday 7 February 2017: Earnings have risen too slowly “The Housing White Paper pinpoints the main problem – that average house prices have risen to eight times earnings, this ratio doubling in some areas since 1997 – then addresses the wrong […]

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