One of the single best papers I've read in yonks. It overturns a *LOT* of the conventional wisdom on the problems with the British economy. Everyone in UK policymaking should read this paper.

This is the key chart. As the UK graduate population has grown, the graduate earnings premium has declined everywhere except in London. This indicates a lack of skills is likely not a tight bottleneck on national or local growth.

Combined with UK domestic migration having the *opposite* pattern needed to equalise incomes (people migrate out of London instead of to it) and low-income Londoners having some of the lowest disposable incomes in the UK...

...the conclusion is that low-skilled Brits aren't able to boost their incomes by moving to London, they are 'stuck' in struggling local economies. London gets to keep only its highest earning graduates, which boosts London's economy but the gains are gobbled up by housing costs.

Martin Wolf's column discusses the paper by @annastansbury, Turner, and @edballs, alongside our recent @CentreforCities paper on London's productivity slowdown by @gpriorrodrigues and @StuartBridgett1 here:

Good summary of the paper in its entirety here, capturing the points I've missed from my too-short thread