Economic theory
Research Topic
Language: English
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Research problems linked to this topic
- How can open source data, big data and data science techniques inform us about the emerging trends in trade across different sectors?
- How can the UK best uphold the global rules-based system to support trade recovery?
- How can insights from behavioural economics and nudge theory inform business engagement with DIT products and services?
- How can we better measure interactions of regulations and how they adapt in response to innovation?
- What measures limit international trade restrictions on exports (including healthcare supplies) and investment resulting from global shocks?
- How can data flows be rapidly improved, promoting data sharing across research, government and industry to allow secure collaboration?
- How can we measure the impact of a trade agreement on value added trade? How does this differ by sector?
- How can forecasting methods inform long-term total factor productivity growth?
- What are the influences on young people’s decision making at key education transition points, including subject and qualification choice at key stage 4 and 5? How do these choices influence their later economic outcomes?
- How do England’s general, technical and academic education systems compare to systems in other developed economies in terms of status, structure, operation and performance? How can the performance of England’s systems be monitored relative to systems in these other countries?
- How have different sectors (aerospace, financial services, telecoms), sizes of business, regions and the self-employed been impacted by the COVID-19 crisis, and how might they be impacted differently by the recovery phase?
- How can finance, logistics and other data be brought together to accurately track the ordering and delivery of emergency supplies through supply chains including medical supplies?
- How can we best establish which UK research and technology organisations are undertaking work for overseas companies, and which have operations outside of the UK?
- What can we learn about sequencing the levels of intervention and openness in an economy following a shock? How can economic theories, such as transition economics, inform this?
- How can policy measures best encourage and support businesses to recover and return to international trade post-crisis, given differing attitudes to risk?
- How can government policy best foster supply chain resilience, and incentivise businesses to develop supply chain resilience strategies?
- What are the best ways to measure business perceptions of risk in relation to exporting post COVID-19?
- What impact do further education, technical education and apprenticeships have on improving earnings and career progression for learners? What is the best way to assess the longevity/durability of impact and how does it vary by qualification and learner demography?
- What long-term trade opportunities and risks may arise from changes in the use of technology and ways of working resulting from COVID-19?/
- In the event of a trade shock, how can data requirements for taking rapid decisions be met using real time indicators (RTIs) and non-traditional sources of data? How can data science evaluate and improve the quality and reliability of RTIs?
- How can we understand the value of provisions on mutual recognition of conformity assessment in trade agreements?
- How can we assess the longer-term structural changes to the global trading system following a shock, including the assessment of the long-term impacts of short-term responses to COVID-19?
- In response to a trade shock, what innovative approaches to support data collection, dissemination and application can be taken, without burdening businesses and frontline staff?
- How will COVID-19 affect global technological adoption rates and what will that mean for disruptions to global trade and investment patterns?
- What is international best practice to define and measure trade in services? This may include digital trade, e-commerce and cross-border data flows.
- How might COVID-19 shape wider social attitudes towards trade and investment?
- What challenges might developing economies face when engaging with the international economy that developed economies might not? How can the UK best support trade recovery in developing economies?
- Changing world: How have evolutions in our statistical system (such as the greater focus on administrative sources for statistics) influenced how statistics are produced, used, and valued? How may advances in wider society (such as the increasing sophistication of large language models) influence how statistics are produced, used, and valued?
- How can we effectively evaluate countries’ relative technology readiness levels (TRL), by technical area, sector and overall strategy? To what extent does the commercial, regulatory and legal environment impact on TRLs? To what extent can market access restrictions to some sectors have wider impacts on trade within other sectors?
- What factors make countries and regions attractive as destinations for investment in high potential, early stage, technology-based entrepreneurs?
- What can international best practice tell us about using data to manage the shock and recovery?
- How can comparative advantage inform future trade and investment interests across regions and sectors? What are the limits of comparative advantage here?
- How can we assess how much value is created in each stage of a global supply chain and how do “smile curves” vary across products and sectors? For example, how can we estimate the value of intellectual property within global supply chains?
- Interactions: How does the way that statistics are produced influence the value that users get from them, and how can this be addressed to maximise value? To what degree to statistics need to be directly used for them to provide value (or do people value outcomes from others using them instead)?
- How can ‘systems science’ be used by government and regulators to improve their understanding, making their policies better targeted and more effective? How can ‘behavioural science’ be used to influence the behaviour of key stakeholders (regulators, businesses and/or policymakers) to achieve better policy outcomes?
- How can global demand shocks (including for emergency and medical supplies) be best modelled, accounting for uncertainty?
- What effect does COVID-19 have on business models and supply chain structure? How does the renewed focus on shortening or regionalisation vary by sector?
- What are the long-term impact of provisions that bind in existing market access and reduce uncertainty?