Our good growth research puts the public at the heart of the debate on economic wellbeing
Setting the scene
If the pursuit of growth is essentially about improving the prosperity, life chances and wellbeing of citizens, is there more to the equation than a narrow focus on Gross Domestic Product (GDP)?
Place-based strategy and inclusive growth is now firmly on the agenda as a key priority for the Government, which has stated its ambition to deliver an ‘economy that works for everyone’.
This means that economic success should be seen through the eyes of what the public wants and needs. And judged in new ways: factors like health, housing affordability and quality of life need to be put alongside jobs, skills and incomes when we measure good growth.
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PwC Annual Report 2018: GoodGrowth
"Over the seven years that the good growth programme has been up and running, we've seen how important it is to work together - with business, the general public, politicians, policy makers and others with a stake in the debate - to form a shared vision for what economic success looks like."
How we helped
Our research first launched in 2011 when the Coalition Government of the day led a national debate on how to generate economic growth and rebalance the economy as the UK emerged from recession.
As our contribution to this discussion, we worked with the think tank Demos on what’s been a seven year programme so far working with business, the general public, politicians, policy makers and other opinion formers in the creation of a scorecard and Index for ‘good growth’.
This research started out looking at national and international measures, but we saw the potential for places in the UK to make comparisons. The result became the Demos-PwC Good Growth for Cities Index which encompasses broader measures of economic wellbeing including jobs, income, health, skills, work-life balance, housing, transport infrastructure, and the environment – the factors that the public have told us are most important to the work and money side of their lives.
Initially, we worked with BritainThinks to bring together a Citizens’ Jury to inform the measures that underpin the index and every year since, we've conducted polls of around 2000 members of the UK working age population in order to define the weights used within the index. We now have a combined sample of over 14,000 members of the public since the research began.
Making a difference
For the 42 cities featured in this research, the Index provides a framework for allocating resources and investment, driving decisions based on what people want. This is an opportunity to move beyond the narrow confines of how growth is traditionally measured and for city leadership to start with the outcomes that people – the voters – value, and so provide a more democratic dimension to the decisions made.
"Good growth cannot be delivered by any one person working alone. Central government, local government and the private sector must act together and work collaboratively to achieve future prosperity, as we look towards Brexit and beyond."
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