Written by: Amy Clair, ESRC Research Centre for Micro-Social Change, Institute for Social and Economic Research, University of Essex

In this blog we look at the possible impact of Brexit on Government targets for the public finances, including deficit reduction and borrowing. We find that the impact leaves many of the spending suggestions made during the referendum campaign unfunded.

In other countries, points-based systems which govern immigration for work have encouraged a culture of greater empiricism, a willingness to review outcomes, learn from them and adapt immigration policies accordingly. Will the UK have a similar experience?

In our latest ESRC-sponsored Ask the Expert seminar, Professor David Metz argued that conventional transport economics has reached a dead end, and that an intelligent transport policy requires modelling and forecasting methodologies to be updated for the twenty first century.

The 2005 Gambling Act was designed to regulate gambling, in all its forms. But 15 years later, the world has changed, and gambling has changed too: bookies’ shops on the high street are fading, as gambling goes online. And a gambling law written before the first iPhone went on sale is clearly no longer fit for purpose.