John Van Reenen: 'a lot of promises are just smoke and mirrors'

The British MIT-LSE economist talks about the general elections, Brexit, and what the parties are promising. As director of LSE's Centre for Economic Performance (CEP) up to 2016, British economist John Van Reenen led a team of academic researchers who produced detailed analysis of the consequences a divorce from the European Union would have on the UK economy. They predicted a fall in GDP, employment, direct investment, wages and productivity. Of these indicators, only employment contradicted the forecasts. Van Reenen, who is now professor of economics at MIT, defends the work of economists on Brexit as consensual and accurate, but competing against lies. He spoke to LSE Business Review managing editor Helena Vieira on 22 November at LSE, and commented on the election promises the parties had made until then. “A lot of promises are just smoke and mirrors”, he said.