Investment, infrastructure and levelling up

The government has pledged to make ‘levelling up’ a core part of their policy agenda.

To achieve this, they have promised increased investment spending and infrastructure spending.

What is investment spending?

Why is investment so much lower now than it was 40 or 50 years ago?

How does this relate to recent announcements from the government, and the response to the pandemic?

Joining us today, Professor Sir Tim Besley, Professor of Economics at LSE and member of the National Infrastructure Commission, and Ben Zaranko, Research Economist at IFS.