
In this episode, we speak with Ed Conway, Economics Editor at Sky News and author of a new book Material World: The Making of Civilisation.
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From silicon chips to fertiliser, the last few years have shown us that where our materials come from matters massively to the stability of our economy.
How we get stuff out of the ground, processed and into complex global supply chains is a vital and oft-overlooked part of our economy - with ramifications for government policy across all sectors.
In this episode, we speak with Ed Conway, Economics Editor at Sky News and author of a new book Material World: The Making of Civilisation.
Zooming In: discussion questions
Every week, we share a set of questions designed for A Level economics students to discuss, written by teacher Will Haines.
- Why do some of the materials mentioned in this episode account for a small proportion of GDP, despite being very influential in our day to day lives?
- Having listened to this episode, how does an economy find a balance between the benefits of importing materials from abroad or producing these materials domestically?
Host

Director
Paul has been the Director of the IFS since 2011. He is also currently visiting professor in the Department of Economics at University College London.
Participants

Economics and Data Editor Sky News
Podcast details
- DOI
- 10.1920/pd.ifs.2023.0016
- Publisher
- Institute for Fiscal Studies
Suggested citation
. (2023). The materials that shape our economy [Podcast] Institute for Fiscal Studies. Available at: https://ifs.org.uk/articles/materials-shape-our-economy (accessed: 23 May 2025).
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