@johnnyrunge
Senior Research Fellow at The Policy Institute at King's College London. Research Associate at Economic Statistics Centre of Excellence. Interested in economic & financial literacy, education, pay & jobs. I specialise in evaluation & qualitative research.
🔊 "It recognises that actually they're probably the best people to make decisions for themselves"
Hannah Piggott spoke to BBC Radio 4 about our trial evaluating the impact of a £2,000 unconditional cash transfer to people experiencing homelessness, conducted with @homelessnessimpact.bsky.social
We’re pleased to partnering with former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Akshata Murty on Number Nation, a new initiative to conduct the UK’s largest ever study into attitudes to everyday numbers – in partnership with the Richmond Project, Purposeful Ventures and Public First
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What if financial literacy could boost GDP? on.ft.com/48EwppR | opinion
🪙 'This is the first “gold standard” RCT of financial education in UK primary schools'
@johnnyrunge.bsky.social sets out what policymakers can learn from it
"Thanks to our latest evidence, we know financial education can be effective, even in primary schools. What’s needed now is leadership and a clear national framework"
@johnnyrunge.bsky.social for @schoolsweek.bsky.social on findings from our major trial of financial education in primary schools
Published today: our new evaluation with @johnnyrunge.bsky.social and @domenicaavilaluna.bsky.social. We studied the UK Democracy Fund's efforts to register 750,000 voters in the UK between 2019 and 2024 which saw nearly £2m being awarded to 33 grantees. www.jrrt.org.uk/powering-par...
In the latest issue of Significance magazine, our @johnnyrunge.bsky.social explores how the general public are using statistics from a variety of (not necessarily reliable) online sources when making big life decisions from baby names to house moves.
➡️ academic.oup.com/jrssig/artic...
@policyatkings.bsky.social's @johnnyrunge.bsky.social in Significance Magazine on trusting stats - from baby names to house moves - and how official stats should respond: doi.org/10.1093/jrss...
ESCoE work: tinyurl.com/a4zr89un
We published our @policyatkings.bsky.social research on Access to Work (AtW) Plus, a DWP pilot for those needing more support than standard AtW. Overall, we found positive experiences & impact, but also challenges with eligibility, timelines, and implementation. www.kcl.ac.uk/research/eva...
Great to see the launch of this new @policyatkings.bsky.social report.
This links with ESCoE work on communicating and valuing economic statistics, in partnership with @kingscollegelondon.bsky.social, @niesrorg.bsky.social, @bankofengland.bsky.social and many others: tinyurl.com/43a5w8vw
This is genuinely really interesting, at least for a data nerd. The proportion of people who use government statistics to make major decisions, while <50%, is still higher than I would have thought.
Surprised me, too! (as one of authors). There are caveats as outlined in the report, but they go both ways - number may both be lower (because people overestimate when self reporting) and higher (as we found plenty of evidence that people sometimes use stats without realising)
"The power of statistics lies not only in shaping policy decisions that may feel distant, but also right on our doorstep, by enriching our everyday lives."
Sofi Nickson, Head of Research at the Office for Statistics Regulation, writes about our new study on how the public make use of official stats
Thanks! They might very well do, and would be fascinating to explore - but this was not one of the areas we specifically explored during the interviews or survey. Partly because we didn't wish to get into too sensitive topics during the interviews.
NEW: Our @policyatkings.bsky.social research, commissioned by Office for Statistics Regulation is out today! I am particularly proud to contribute to OSR's efforts to ensure official statistics are, and can be, used directly by the wider UK public, and not just policymakers & stats geeks like us!
Amazing, thanks, added all! (and feel free to add me into it🙃).
Last publication of last year, with Pavel Kuchar (#9 together) in Oeconomia:
The Knowledge Gap in Economics: What Does the Public Know about the Economy and What Do Economists Know about the Public?
In it we respond to the widespread belief that the public is economically ignorant: "They aren't!"
Thanks! Will take a look and see whether I'm still outraged..
Can't access this due to pay wall. Is there a link to the trial? It sounds frankly ridiculous as they seek to include qual interviews...
🎓 We've made a starter pack of university policy institutes like us, and people who work for/are connected to them – do give it a follow!
We'll add to it as more institutes join, and let us know if there's anyone we should add! ⬇️
Would love to be added, thanks! :)
“The public don’t quite understand the subtle ways that automation affects their attention [but] it’s like giving people a sedative” - why expecting human drivers to vigilantly monitor partially-automated cars isn't a great idea www.ft.com/content/6734...
Jonathan: watch out with messing up with maths curriculum. The U.K. are doing really well on numeracy skills at the moment, against international trends. Thinks it’s great to hear this programme is not necessarily about this.
Ruston: Money drives everything, including mental health.
Bernice: Many different approaches to maths and numeracy in schools. Complicates things if you want to integrate financial education into maths. But financial education is not all about numeracy.
Susannah Hume (lead researcher) says financial education needs to earn its place on the curriculum. There is a research gap on whether teaching about money not only improves knowledge about money but also on behaviour. Our research will hopefully help address this gap.
Jonathan Slater (former DfE perm sec) says there is only so much time in the school day - what has to go? Cooking? PE? Or do we ask for financial education to be included in maths? It’s a zero sum game. Need to make the case well to the DfE
Bernice (headteacher) talks about the pressures on primary teachers, but says Change the Game can be fitted into the busy day-to-day school life, without putting undue burden on teachers. It’s not weekly, all materials are ready for teachers, and pupils find the workshops exciting and aspirational!
On to the panel! Ruston Smith says money & money management have become invisible and insular, when it’s all online and not physical. More need for financial education than before! Starting in schools.
We found positive impacts on financial knowledge and ability already after one and two years. Also on financial mindset, but not yet on financial behaviour. Which is expected - evidence shows it takes much longer to affect behaviour. Which is why it is a longitudinal trial!
Some of the results from our survey with Reception pupils, conducted as a narrative story featuring a bear! These pupils will be followed over the next 6 years to see if there are differences between control and treatment pupils in the trial.
