Perspectives on Contemporary Issues
Over the nearly two decades following the global financial crisis, the economic and political consensus that had defined the previous decades has unravelled. The era of sustained growth, relatively free markets, and technocratic solutions to intervene where markets are deemed to fail has given way, in the UK and Europe particularly, to a more interventionist state in the face of a more complex reality characterised by persistent low growth, mounting debt burdens, and deepening questions about the fundamental values that should guide our economic and social systems.
More specifically, for many, the financial crisis raised serious ethical issues regarding the way in which financial institutions do business and, over recent years, concerns about globalisation, climate change and other environmental issues, poverty, AI and other specific concerns have added to the overall sense of unease about the nature of twenty-first century capitalism. There are growing concerns that capitalism and democracy are in crisis, and we find ourselves navigating uncharted territory where the old certainties no longer hold.
This interview series brings together leading voices from economics, business, policy, and faith communities to grapple with these defining challenges of our time. Through conversations with experts who approach these issues from diverse perspectives, we aim to explore not just the technical dimensions of our current predicament, but the deeper questions about purpose, meaning, and values that lie at its heart. In an era in which purely economic solutions seem insufficient, these discussions seek to illuminate new pathways forward that acknowledge both the practical constraints we face and the moral imperatives that must guide our response.
Andrew Haldane was the Chief Executive of the Royal Society of Arts (RSA) until June 2025.
He was formerly Chief Economist at the Bank of England and a member of the Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee. He was the Permanent Secretary for Levelling Up at the Cabinet Office from September 2021 to March 2022.
In this conversation with CEME Senior Research Fellow John Kroencke, Andy discusses, among other things his view of economic growth as a failed lodestar for policy, the case for increasing opportunity for those at a disadvantage, and the problems with British public finance.
Centre for Enterprise, Markets and Ethics