The collapse of the world financial system and its fragile recovery will shape the research agenda for years as the extent of the damage to different countries and sectors becomes clear. In the UK recovery from recession directs attention to how to build sustainable growth at local, regional and national levels, to new models for the governance and regulation of complex financial systems, and to prepare for future financial shocks.

This priority will explore the UK’s relationship with and understanding of ‘rising powers’ such as Brazil, China and India, the prospects for alleviating global poverty and work on enhancing wellbeing in countries with a similar standard of living to the UK.

The three questions to be addressed are:

• What are the determinants of economic performance and sustainable growth?
  • We will maximise impact from work we have already commissioned on innovation, workforce skills, demographic changes
  • We will make selective new investments in studies of entrepreneurship and small businesses, relationships with rising powers, and the infrastructures needed for energy production and transmission, and to underpin the digital economy
• How to secure benefits for populations in the UK and in other countries?
  • We will maximise the impact of existing and planned studies of a low-carbon economy, the provision of environmental resources including water, food and energy, how to alleviate global poverty (especially in partnership with the Department of International Development), and on the regional distribution of economic performance
• How to improve stability and resilience of economies?
  • We will invest selectively on new approaches to macro-economics; and on risk, regulation and governance. (This will steer the Centres and Large Grants Competition, which will also be contributing to the Influencing Behaviour and Informing Interventions priority)