Adam Brown
@adamlbrown.bsky.social
Economist, formerly a physicist. Head of UK Economic Policy & Modelling @ Cambridge Econometrics, Visiting Researcher in Innovation Systems @ Oxford Brookes, & Associate @ CityREDI. Also interested in cricket, baseball and metal. Displaced Salopian. Vmo
Pinned
Adam Brown
@adamlbrown.bsky.social
· Jul 2
The British Academy and @sciencecampaign.bsky.social commissioned Cambridge Econometrics to conduct a systems-based analysis of the strengths and weaknesses within the UK’s innovation system.
Read the full report: www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/publications...
Read the full report: www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/publications...
The UK needs many industrial strategies.
Smarter growth begins with understanding value chains in innovation, say Daniel Rathbone and Eleanor Hopkins.
www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-v...
Smarter growth begins with understanding value chains in innovation, say Daniel Rathbone and Eleanor Hopkins.
www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-v...
A major new report published for anyone interested in #innovation, #productivity, #industrialstrategy, #econsky. I'll now do a short thread that pulls out the main findings and recommendations...
Reposted by Adam Brown
Celebrating Our New City-REDI Associates
We are pleased to announce our new City-REDI Associates, who will join a vibrant community of researchers and policy experts working on some of the most pressing challenges facing cities and regions today.
Meet our new associates - https://ow.ly/a86l50XuzJa
We are pleased to announce our new City-REDI Associates, who will join a vibrant community of researchers and policy experts working on some of the most pressing challenges facing cities and regions today.
Meet our new associates - https://ow.ly/a86l50XuzJa
November 20, 2025 at 12:01 PM
Celebrating Our New City-REDI Associates
We are pleased to announce our new City-REDI Associates, who will join a vibrant community of researchers and policy experts working on some of the most pressing challenges facing cities and regions today.
Meet our new associates - https://ow.ly/a86l50XuzJa
We are pleased to announce our new City-REDI Associates, who will join a vibrant community of researchers and policy experts working on some of the most pressing challenges facing cities and regions today.
Meet our new associates - https://ow.ly/a86l50XuzJa
Tbh id have thought the motivation of old rich men to socialise with a man who specialised in arranging for old rich men to rape children doesn't take a lot of second guessing.
i have said this before but i think that the people who were “charmed” by epstein wanted to be charmed
honestly one of the most striking things about epstein's emails is the fact that the man, described in many places as "a genius," is essentially subliterate
November 13, 2025 at 9:19 AM
Tbh id have thought the motivation of old rich men to socialise with a man who specialised in arranging for old rich men to rape children doesn't take a lot of second guessing.
One of the best conferences of the year, looking around and everyone who is anyone in UK regional policy and thinking seems to be here #rsa
November 13, 2025 at 9:02 AM
One of the best conferences of the year, looking around and everyone who is anyone in UK regional policy and thinking seems to be here #rsa
Incentivising the middle classes to save less and spend more is incredibly stupid and counterproductive short term fiscal policy AND undermines the entire 'economic rebalancing from consumption to investment' project labour were elected to implement AND their desire to see more money in UK stocks
Please Rachel, don’t sacrifice workers’ pensions on.ft.com/4oG53Vu | opinion
Please Rachel, don’t sacrifice workers’ pensions
Dismembering salary sacrifice is a short-sighted tax grab that will accelerate the UK’s retirement savings crisis
on.ft.com
November 12, 2025 at 7:22 AM
Incentivising the middle classes to save less and spend more is incredibly stupid and counterproductive short term fiscal policy AND undermines the entire 'economic rebalancing from consumption to investment' project labour were elected to implement AND their desire to see more money in UK stocks
Robbie Gibb is such a national disgrace that *even if I were a devout partisan right winger* I'd still want to see him immediately summarily sacked, all his honours stripped, and an enquiry opened into his conduct and his role in this debacle and many others.
In 1996 I did a little in internship at BBC Westminster. At the time, Robbie Gibb was one of the producers there. Even in that period, he was self evidently a pro-Tory apparatchik, who made no attempt to hide his agenda from his colleagues or even from the little work experience kid.
November 11, 2025 at 5:51 PM
Robbie Gibb is such a national disgrace that *even if I were a devout partisan right winger* I'd still want to see him immediately summarily sacked, all his honours stripped, and an enquiry opened into his conduct and his role in this debacle and many others.
Reposted by Adam Brown
This is the US but the UK figures are not far off. Unless you honestly believe the top 10% create 50% of all economic value then †by definition† this group is massively undertaxed. Tax them!
November 2, 2025 at 1:09 PM
This is the US but the UK figures are not far off. Unless you honestly believe the top 10% create 50% of all economic value then †by definition† this group is massively undertaxed. Tax them!
This is the US but the UK figures are not far off. Unless you honestly believe the top 10% create 50% of all economic value then †by definition† this group is massively undertaxed. Tax them!
November 2, 2025 at 1:09 PM
This is the US but the UK figures are not far off. Unless you honestly believe the top 10% create 50% of all economic value then †by definition† this group is massively undertaxed. Tax them!
Anyone else find this bizarrely confused and incoherent? Amongst other things confuses supply with demand a number of times, and even conflates 'competitive sectors' with 'high wage sectors', a pretty alarming error
To boost UK productivity, ordinary workers must bear more of the tax burden on.ft.com/4hGEZqD | opinion
To boost UK productivity, ordinary workers must bear more of the tax burden
The key to restoring both fiscal sustainability and productivity growth is to expand Britain’s most competitive businesses
on.ft.com
November 1, 2025 at 6:26 AM
Anyone else find this bizarrely confused and incoherent? Amongst other things confuses supply with demand a number of times, and even conflates 'competitive sectors' with 'high wage sectors', a pretty alarming error
My other contrarian thought about LLMs is that yes they're clearly useful for some stuff but they're perhaps not going to get much more useful than this. They're also already widely used for the things they're useful for, so perhaps their productivity impact has... already happened?
October 31, 2025 at 4:46 PM
My other contrarian thought about LLMs is that yes they're clearly useful for some stuff but they're perhaps not going to get much more useful than this. They're also already widely used for the things they're useful for, so perhaps their productivity impact has... already happened?
Seems to be as clear a case of false attribution as you're likely to see. Wealth is not the causal factor, green space and vegetation is. Lower income areas don't *have* to lack green space, it's a choice
The luxury effect: why you’ll find more wildlife in wealthy areas – and what it means for your health
The luxury effect: why you’ll find more wildlife in wealthy areas – and what it means for your health
The discovery that affluent neighbourhoods have more diversity of nature has implications for human wellbeing – and sheds light on the structural injustices in cities
www.theguardian.com
October 30, 2025 at 3:09 PM
Seems to be as clear a case of false attribution as you're likely to see. Wealth is not the causal factor, green space and vegetation is. Lower income areas don't *have* to lack green space, it's a choice
Reposted by Adam Brown
According to Berlin, "a fox knows many things, but a hedgehog knows one big thing". I've always thought this was BS, but people seem to like it & make the case for the importance of foxes, essentially as generalists who can see the big picture. But in a world with chatgpt, what do we need foxes for?
October 21, 2025 at 1:33 PM
According to Berlin, "a fox knows many things, but a hedgehog knows one big thing". I've always thought this was BS, but people seem to like it & make the case for the importance of foxes, essentially as generalists who can see the big picture. But in a world with chatgpt, what do we need foxes for?
Reposted by Adam Brown
Can anyone explain why we can't tax share awards to employees/partners as income at the point of award?
October 21, 2025 at 7:42 AM
Can anyone explain why we can't tax share awards to employees/partners as income at the point of award?
Can anyone explain why we can't tax share awards to employees/partners as income at the point of award?
October 21, 2025 at 7:42 AM
Can anyone explain why we can't tax share awards to employees/partners as income at the point of award?
@sachahilhorst.bsky.social thought you might find this interesting
October 17, 2025 at 5:21 PM
@sachahilhorst.bsky.social thought you might find this interesting
I hadn't seen this before - I don't entirely agree with all the numbers but its a welcome approach to an underacknowledged problem neweconomics.org/2009/12/a-bi...
A bit rich
Calculating the real value to society of different professions
neweconomics.org
October 17, 2025 at 1:39 PM
I hadn't seen this before - I don't entirely agree with all the numbers but its a welcome approach to an underacknowledged problem neweconomics.org/2009/12/a-bi...
Excellent - hope this is all over facebook/tiktok etc
October 17, 2025 at 9:50 AM
Excellent - hope this is all over facebook/tiktok etc
I do think we need a moratorium on mainstream commentators describing literally any policy other than managed decline as "populist"
October 16, 2025 at 1:40 PM
I do think we need a moratorium on mainstream commentators describing literally any policy other than managed decline as "populist"
A reminder to economic journalists that the purpose of the entire exercise is to restructure our economy away from consumer services and towards construction and investment; so if the former falls and the latter rises, this is *a good thing*. It is the intended outcome of government economic policy.
October 16, 2025 at 10:35 AM
A reminder to economic journalists that the purpose of the entire exercise is to restructure our economy away from consumer services and towards construction and investment; so if the former falls and the latter rises, this is *a good thing*. It is the intended outcome of government economic policy.
bsky.app/profile/czed...
Sorry but this is wrong. High tea is not and has never been a synonym for supper. Tea is a late afternoon meal, high tea is just a big tea. Supper is a late evening meal. totally different.
Sorry but this is wrong. High tea is not and has never been a synonym for supper. Tea is a late afternoon meal, high tea is just a big tea. Supper is a late evening meal. totally different.
October 13, 2025 at 8:17 PM
bsky.app/profile/czed...
Sorry but this is wrong. High tea is not and has never been a synonym for supper. Tea is a late afternoon meal, high tea is just a big tea. Supper is a late evening meal. totally different.
Sorry but this is wrong. High tea is not and has never been a synonym for supper. Tea is a late afternoon meal, high tea is just a big tea. Supper is a late evening meal. totally different.
If we ever want productivity growth ever again, we need to rebuild UK national capital stocks which requires a massive increase in both public and private investment. The only way to do this whilst maintaining macroeconomic stability is to simultaneously reduce consumption. So we take measures to...
October 12, 2025 at 12:11 PM
If we ever want productivity growth ever again, we need to rebuild UK national capital stocks which requires a massive increase in both public and private investment. The only way to do this whilst maintaining macroeconomic stability is to simultaneously reduce consumption. So we take measures to...
Amazing quote. Art is fundamentally something humans make for the sake of making something; the only reason to experience someone else's art is to see what another human made. There is - definitionally - no such thing as AI produced art.
David Simon, creator of ‘The Wire’, being interviewed by Ari Shapiro (NPR)
October 10, 2025 at 1:11 PM
Amazing quote. Art is fundamentally something humans make for the sake of making something; the only reason to experience someone else's art is to see what another human made. There is - definitionally - no such thing as AI produced art.
Ah yes, the result of 15 years of Tory education policy is a massive upsurge in parents feeling that the system is now so horrendously dysfunctional they have no other option other than to actually quit work and educate their kids at home themselves
October 9, 2025 at 2:31 PM
Ah yes, the result of 15 years of Tory education policy is a massive upsurge in parents feeling that the system is now so horrendously dysfunctional they have no other option other than to actually quit work and educate their kids at home themselves
Any analysis that treats Trump, Musk and the rise of Corporatist Fascism as some weird historical aberration is fundamentally missing the point. This is the inevitable, unavoidable and entirely predictable endpoint of the sociopathic winner-takes-all economic system we've been building since the 80s
We’re not dealing with brilliant strategists cleverly laying traps, we’re dealing with impulsive whiners whose advantage is contempt for laws, norms, and morality.
They’re not pulling some elaborate trick, they’re just willing—even eager—to do things regular, principled people consider off limits.
They’re not pulling some elaborate trick, they’re just willing—even eager—to do things regular, principled people consider off limits.
October 9, 2025 at 8:43 AM
Any analysis that treats Trump, Musk and the rise of Corporatist Fascism as some weird historical aberration is fundamentally missing the point. This is the inevitable, unavoidable and entirely predictable endpoint of the sociopathic winner-takes-all economic system we've been building since the 80s
Reposted by Adam Brown
in which, I continue to plead for systems thinking in planning, reprising last night's bluesky rant, so people who read that can be excused. backofmind.substack.com/p/canaries-a...
canaries and islands
the indicator species in the system
backofmind.substack.com
October 8, 2025 at 2:06 PM
in which, I continue to plead for systems thinking in planning, reprising last night's bluesky rant, so people who read that can be excused. backofmind.substack.com/p/canaries-a...