Do you want to know more about current research into how productivity can be accelerated in Northern Ireland? Come along to this #NationalProductivityWeek event in Belfast on 29 April.

Raising NI’s productivity: Better outcomes for people, firms and places Join us to explore how the challenge of raising Northern Ireland's productivity is being met by research, business and policy.

Interested in what the latest research has to say about productivity in Northern Ireland, & how business & policy are meeting the challenge?
Join us on Wed 29April at Queen's Business School for a #NationalProductivityWeek @productivity.bsky.social event
Register www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/raising-ni...

It's interesting that Northern Ireland and Wales end up only slightly below where they started, but with very different experiences in between

We’re delighted to announce the society's 2026 Distinguished Lecture will be delivered by Prof Tyler Anbinder of George Washington University.

"The Surprising Socio-Economic Mobility of New York’s Great Famine Refugees"

Online, 4pm GMT (11am EST), Thurs. 5 Mar. 2026.

Register here: www.eshsi.org

Now on Early View: 'Managed decline: Muddling through with the Sterling (dis)Agreements, 1968–74'
By Alan de Bromhead, David Jordan, Francis Kennedy & Jack Seddon.
@djordanecon.bsky.social @ucddublin.bsky.social @qubelfastofficial.bsky.social
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Northern Ireland Productivity Dashboard 2025 - The Productivity Institute The dashboard assesses NI’s performance across the key drivers of productivity, which provide the foundations for long-run productivity growth.

While Northern Ireland has seen its ranking within the UK improve, moving up to 8th place, its productivity level has remained at £40 per hour worked.
You can read and download this year’s Dashboard from the @productivity.bsky.social website: www.productivity.ac.uk/research/nor...

NI Productivity Dashboard page 1.

NI Productivity Dashboard page 2.

Has Northern Ireland’s productivity growth stalled?

Today we’ve launched the 2025 edition of our Northern Ireland Productivity Dashboard, written with Ruth Donaldson, Seán McDonald, and @profjohnturner.bsky.social

We had a brilliant time co-hosting the 'AI and the future of work' discussion event in Belfast with @qubelfastofficial.bsky.social and @matrixni.bsky.social. Thank you to all of our speakers and to the audience for your great questions and feed-in!

Doing things differently here? After decades of hype, Greater Manchester is starting to look like something rare; an actual UK economic sucess story. I had a look into the latest economic data for @manchestermill.bsky.social to find out more (1/4)

A very important report from Pivotal - currently there is a lot of talk about the external factors that affect Northern Ireland, but this report is a reminder that there are factors within the control of government here that could lead to better outcomes for NI's economy & people

Photo of speakers at the Institute of Directors Northern Ireland lunch at Queen's University Belfast

Very pleased to share our research on Northern Ireland’s productivity challenge at yesterday’s Institute of Directors NI lunch at @qubelfastofficial.bsky.social. You can find out more about our @productivity.bsky.social research here: www.productivity.ac.uk/regions-nati... #Productivity #QBSresearch

Argument I make in the paper is that NI failed to converge with the worst performing regions of GB 1920-1972 (it would do this in early 2000s, but I don't go into this) & devolved financial settlement was a barrier to this convergence (other stuff mattered too eg. declining staple industries)

I would counter the idea that geographic peripherality was main reason for NI underpeforming. Access to ports & GB market, & growth of large export industries during 19th century run counter to that, plus study of extra transport costs in 1980s showed these were very minor relative to GB regions

Great paper here from @djordanecon.bsky.social asking a really smart question in modern British political debate - if Northern Ireland had always had so much more devolution than the rest of the UK, why is it so poor? A: Because it never really had fiscal devolution ehs.org.uk/wp-content/u...

Panel discussion at the Powering Productivity Conference

Very pleased to contribute to today’s Powering Productivity Conference organised by @investni.bsky.social, discussing the reasons for Northern Ireland’s low productivity and sharing findings from our NI Productivity Forum research for @productivity.bsky.social

NI Productivity 2040: Addressing Northern Ireland’s productivity gap for greater prosperity - The Productivity Institute The Northern Ireland Productivity Forum's 2025 updated Insights Paper.

Spotlight on Northern Ireland | #NationalProductivityWeek 2025
The NI Productivity Forum at @qubelfastofficial.bsky.social released "NI Productivity 2040" in National Productivity Week, by Ruth Donaldson, @djordanecon.bsky.social & @profjohnturner.bsky.social: www.productivity.ac.uk/research/nor...

How can Northern Ireland close its productivity gap? My Queen’s Business School colleague, Ruth Donaldson, outlines what the NI Executive needs to do, based on our recent report for the NI Productivity Forum & The Productivity Institute @productivity.bsky.social

Economy Minister Dr Caoimhe Archibald is pictured with her Department's expert panel - Professor David Rooney, Dr Conor Patterson, Dr Lisa Wilson and Dr David Jordan

Economy Minister @caoimhearchibald.bsky.social
has held a meeting with the independent experts who help advise the Department on the implementation of the economic plan.

To read a progress report on the plan, please visit ➡️ www.economy-ni.gov.uk/publications...

What's happening with Northern Ireland's productivity performance? @profjohnturner.bsky.social from @qubelfastofficial.bsky.social & Northern Ireland Productivity Forum provides his insights on this Productivity Puzzles ep., released during #NationalProductivityWeek: podfollow.com/1567204500/e...

Front cover of 'NI Productivity 2040'.

Pictured L-R are: Ruth Donaldson, Research Associate at Queen's Business School and the NI Productivity Forum; Professor John Turner, from Queen’s Business School and NI Productivity Forum Lead; John Healy OBE, Chair of Invest Northern Ireland; and Dr David Jordan, from Queen’s Business School and the NI Productivity Forum.

Today we launched our new @productivity.bsky.social report 'NI Productivity 2040' at @qubelfastofficial.bsky.social. Co-authored with Ruth Donaldson & @profjohnturner.bsky.social we provide a roadmap for how policy can close Northern Ireland's productivity gap: productivity.ac.uk/research/nor...

Today at the NI Productivity Forum we launch our new report as part of @productivity.bsky.social National Productivity Week. @qubelfastofficial.bsky.social

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Scotland has the 3rd highest productivity of the UK’s 12 regions, at £40 per hour worked. Northern Ireland (£36) and Wales (£34) are in 10th and last place respectively.

🔗Read Ruth Donaldson and @djordanecon on productivity performance in devolved nations https://buff.ly/4fOiLAK👈

National Productivity Week – NI Productivity 2040 This event will launch the NI Productivity Forum's new report, NI Productivity 2040, focusing on how policy can improve NI's productivity.

Join us on Friday 31st January as we launch our new report, NI Productivity 2040, examining Northern Ireland’s productivity gap and what policy can do to close it

To register: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/national-p... @productivity.bsky.social @profjohnturner.bsky.social #NationalProductivityWeek

We like to be different

Is the UK facing a 'farmageddon'? Brexit, competition and climate change hits food production YouTube video by Sky News

🚜FARMAGEDDON🌾
The story of what's REALLY going on in farming. A story far more complex than the conventional wisdom.
This isn't just (or even mainly) about inheritance tax.
It's about a cascade of challenges & crises that could ultimately threaten food security.
5min primer👇
youtu.be/7CjZSfapKmA?...

Read the Northern Ireland Productivity Dashboard 2024, produced on behalf of the Northern Ireland Productivity Forum: productivity.ac.uk/research/nor...

Northern Ireland (NI) has persistently had the lowest productivity of the UK’s twelve regions. But it saw an improvement during the Covid-19 pandemic, moving up to 7th place. The most recently published data shows this improvement has not been sustained. Productivity in NI was 13% below the UK average in 2022, widening from 11% in 2021. This led to NI falling back to 10th place amongst the UK’s twelve regions, ahead of only the East Midlands and Wales. NI also lags behind the Republic of Ireland, where productivity is 8% higher than the UK average. This means productivity in NI is 20% lower than in the Republic of Ireland. The dashboard assesses NI’s performance across the key drivers of productivity, which provide the foundations for long-run productivity growth. Overall, there has been no change from last year’s dashboard. 14 of the dashboard’s 18 drivers are red and below the UK average. Only 2 drivers are green and therefore better than the UK average; and 2 drivers are either equal to the UK average, or below this but above the UK median. Across the three editions of the dashboard since 2022, it is clear that NI possesses deep-seated issues that must be addressed before we will see meaningful progress. While some drivers have seen both short and long-term improvements – such as exports and qualifications – these are in the minority. 8 drivers have experienced no improvement in either the short and/or long-term. With the return of the NI Executive in February 2024, and the new draft Programme for Government, there is an opportunity for the Executive to make progress in improving these key drivers of productivity. This will require a long-term commitment to prioritising productivity when designing, implementing, and evaluating policy. Authors: Ruth Donaldson (Queen’s University Belfast), David Jordan (Queen’s University Belfast), John Turner (Queen’s University Belfast)

Has Northern Ireland’s productivity bubble burst?

Today we’ve launched this year’s NI Productivity Dashboard, written with Ruth Donaldson & John Turner for
@productivity.bsky.social, showing NI’s productivity gap has widened.

Read & download: productivity.ac.uk/research/nor...
#QBSresearch

Today marks 25 years since powers were transferred to the
NI Assembly, the final of the three new devolved governments established in Scotland, Wales & Northern Ireland

Many of those powers relate to the economy, so how has productivity changed since 1999?⬇️

Line-up of panellists at the Northern Ireland Economic Conference 2024

Very pleased to speak at the Northern Ireland Economic Conference this week, and provide an overview of NI’s performance across key drivers of productivity, based on research with Ruth Donaldson & @profjohnturner.bsky.social for the Northern Ireland Productivity Forum @productivity.bsky.social

Devolution at 25: how has productivity changed in the devolved nations? - Economics Observatory Productivity performance has long varied across the nations of the UK – and it has continued to do so since the devolved administrations were established a quarter of a century ago. Devolution allows ...

How has productivity changed in the UK's devolved nations over the past 25 years?

In this @econ-observatory.bsky.social article, Ruth Donaldson & I look at productivity in Northern Ireland, Scotland & Wales, & the explanations for their performance
www.economicsobservatory.com/devolution-a...