Inaugural Prais Lecture on Productivity: How not to miss the productivity revival once again

For this inaugural lecture, Bart van Ark explores the sources of long productivity slowdowns, including that of the past decade, with a special look at the importance of education and skills in the workplace. He discusses how productivity has typically revived after previous episodes of slow growth, and addresses the prospects for a recovery in today’s economic, demographic, technological and political context.

This annual lecture series is to be held in honour of renown economist Professor Sig Prais, who was a colleague, friend and champion of the Institute for over 60 years. While Professor Prais is no longer with us, we hope that through these lectures his energy, intelligence and commitment to policy-related research will remain part of the Institute for many years to come. 

Bart van Ark is Chief Economist  at The Conference Board, New York, and Professor of Economic Development, Technological Change and Growth, University of Groningen. He was a Research Associate at NIESR between1988 and 1990 

Please note: Due to the nature of NIESR's Grade II listed building, we are unable to provide step-free access to our facilities and the Library is not currently accessible to wheelchair users, or those with limited mobility. We apologise for the inconvenience. Please do let us know in advance how we can assist your visit to the Institute – we are happy to discuss alternative arrangement in order to access our events.

Director of NIESR, Jagjit Chadha, opens the Inaugural Prais lecture	Bart Van Ark delivers his lecture on "How not to miss the productivity revival once again"
Bark Van Ark received a medal to commemorate his role as the inaugural Sig Prais lecturer	A packed house

All photos © Tim Stubbs Hughes / Grey Swan

Part of the Festival of Social Science 2019 at NIESR. In recognition for its growing profile and its commitment to impact and engagement, NIESR was awarded an Impact Acceleration Account (IAA) from the Economic and Social Research Council in Spring of this year. As part of this, NIESR was delighted to host its first ever Festival of Social Sciences from 4th-9th November.