Flying Blind
Analysis15 Feb 2021

Flying Blind

What do we really know about the policy choices confronting us? Covid-19 has been a brutal lesson in the extent of our ignorance. We face hard decisions, and argue about them ferociously, when in truth we’re often in the dark about their full consequences. But Covid is not unusual in this respect - and we could learn from it. Other areas of life and policy are similarly obscured. Not that we like to admit it. How well, for example, do we know what the economy is up to? Quite possibly not nearly as well as you might think - even to the extent that it’s recently been suggested the first estimates of GDP can’t be sure of telling the difference between boom and bust - the problem really can be that extreme. Some recessions have turned out to be illusions. In this programme Michael Blastland examines our collective ignorance and how it affects policy and debate, asking if public argument needs a lot more humility.

Producer Caroline Bayley Editor Jasper Corbett

Episoder(389)

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Addiction in the age of the metaverse

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Is the UK the new sick man of Europe?

Is the UK the new sick man of Europe?

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18 Jul 202228min

What is childcare for?

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11 Jul 202229min

Beyond the cost of living crisis

Beyond the cost of living crisis

The Bank of England says inflation might reach 11 per cent this year. There are warnings that some people will have to choose between heating and eating. But what does it mean for the whole economy wh...

4 Jul 202228min

Cashing in on the green rush

Cashing in on the green rush

Some countries have legalised cannabis, often with the hope of kick-starting a lucrative new source of tax revenue - but just how profitable has it been?Aside from a few fact-finding trips, the prospe...

27 Jun 202228min

Germany and Russia: It's Complicated

Germany and Russia: It's Complicated

In late February, three days after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz made a landmark speech in the German parliament, the Bundestag. The invasion, he declared, represe...

20 Jun 202229min

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