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Twenty-first century housing markets have had their ups and downs, but prices continue to rise. It’s win-win for the property-rich. Yet as corporate landlords and intermediaries open the door to institutional investors, it’s unclear where the route is to a fairer housing future.

Unemployment in the UK has been historically low since the start of 2022, despite rising interest rates and falling numbers of job vacancies. A key question for monetary and fiscal policy-makers is whether this trend will continue into the future.

Women constantly face the possibility of becoming victims of sexual assault in public spaces and at work. This may deter them from pursuing better education and career opportunities. Ensuring that women are secure helps to guarantee that they will have better futures.

The late Daniel Kahneman was awarded the economics Nobel Prize in 2002 for influential research on how people make decisions. His work on wellbeing has also had wide impact, including on what official statistics measure and evaluation of the effects of policies on people’s life satisfaction.

Superstar musicians and sold-out arena tours indicate a thriving music business in the UK. But this hides another reality – one of rising costs, administrative barriers post-Brexit, declining earnings and grassroots venues closing. The live music industry is in urgent need of tailored support.

The tripling of tuition fees in 2012 put universities in a strong financial position. But since then, fees – and the maintenance loans that support students – haven’t kept up with inflation. Now, students face real hardship and some universities seem to be in deep financial difficulties.

The UK has had seven different sets of fiscal rules since 2010, suggesting that they are simply not fit for purpose. Sound fiscal policy urgently needs the Chancellor to accept accountability and transparency, including an annual ‘state of the economy’ address outlining progress – and failure.

Rising rates of obesity and other diet-related diseases are costly to people’s health and the NHS. Recommendations from the National Food Strategy set out a path to healthier – and less environmentally damaging – choices.

Buying tickets for big music events like the Oasis reunion or Taylor Swift’s Eras tour is a hassle. That’s because fixed supply and fixed price are incompatible. Improvements to the system could be made – perhaps by using a ballot or flexible pricing, as airlines do – but nothing is perfect.

Conserving the Congo Basin is essential for preserving biodiversity and averting climate catastrophe. But safeguarding this precious ecosystem has to be balanced with the needs of some of the world’s poorest people. Managing the environmental and economic interconnections is a global challenge.

Northern Ireland experienced a big spike in economic inactivity due to long-term sickness or disability as a result of the pandemic. But in the aftermath of Covid-19, the headline rate has been falling and converging with the historically lower rates in the rest of the UK.

Child poverty is depriving millions of youngsters of their basic needs – and hindering their potential for a brighter future. Addressing this challenge requires a multifaceted approach that tackles economic, educational and social disparities to create a more equitable world.

Only one in ten of the UK’s top businesses have a woman as chief executive. Several factors explain this imbalance: from discrimination and a lack of networks to low confidence and the ‘motherhood penalty’. Investment in childcare and more diverse boards could help to close the corporate gender gap.

Unemployment in the UK has been historically low since the start of 2022, despite rising interest rates and falling numbers of job vacancies. A key question for monetary and fiscal policy-makers is whether this trend will continue into the future.

Kenya’s government faces the challenge of meeting its debt obligations, while avoiding further unrest. President William Ruto must find ways to raise money, manage the economic recovery from Covid-19 and respond to the threat of climate change.

Aviation is a truly global industry, with airlines competing at home and abroad on price and quality, but also subject to a complicated mixture of domestic and international regulations. A country’s airports constitute a big part of the economy, contributing to trade, tourism, education and more.

Faced with the threat of climate change and other environmental damage, some say that the solution is a reversal of our collective commitment to continued economic growth. But the idea of degrowth has a range of definitions – and reviews of research on the topic reach contrasting conclusions.

The world economy is underperforming as a result of tight monetary policies, weaker global trade, a slowing Chinese economy and uncertainty around the US election. An escalation of conflict in the Middle East could increase uncertainties, harming inflation reduction efforts and hurting growth.

Successive UK governments have struggled to promote economic growth in the aftermath of the global financial crisis of 2007-09. In an interview conducted in late 2023, former business secretary Vince Cable talks to John Turner about some of the persistent challenges for policy-makers.

The Venezuelan economy has suffered from decades of disastrous economic policies – and more recently, from economic sanctions. The country has seen the largest ever decline in living standards outside war, revolution or the collapse of the state.

Conserving the Congo Basin is essential for preserving biodiversity and averting climate catastrophe. But safeguarding this precious ecosystem has to be balanced with the needs of some of the world’s poorest people. Managing the environmental and economic interconnections is a global challenge.

Northern Ireland experienced a big spike in economic inactivity due to long-term sickness or disability as a result of the pandemic. But in the aftermath of Covid-19, the headline rate has been falling and converging with the historically lower rates in the rest of the UK.

The outcome of the UK general election did not come as a surprise. Labour’s win seems to have already been ‘priced in’ to bond and stock markets, which means there has been little reaction on either. The same cannot be said for recent parliamentary elections elsewhere in Europe.