Valuing What Matters
Photo credit:
Krissy.Venosdale
nef’s Valuing What Matters team challenges the theory and practice of traditional economic decision-making. We argue that to take the right decisions for people and the planet you need economic approaches which take into account the triple bottom line of economic, social and environmental impacts.
Our work explores how to create better outcomes in key policy areas such as infrastructure, education and justice policy, and how to make major economic systems, like the labour market, work better for society as a whole. To support this work, we have pioneered the use of Social Return on Investment, a cost–benefit tool which ensures that the real life experiences of stakeholders are factored into the calculation alongside more easily measurable impacts.
Current team focuses include:
- Our criminal justice programme, delivered in partnership with the Centre for Justice Innovation. This applies the triple bottom line approach to the criminal justice system, with the aim of informing a more effective, authoritative and humane justice system.
- Our work on infrastructure, interrogating the real value to environment, economy and society of major public investment decisions like the High Speed 2 rail project or the expansion of Heathrow airport.
- Our inequality programme to identify (a) the impacts of income and wealth polarisation across economy, society and the environment, (b) the underlying drivers of economic inequality – particularly the role of the labour market, and (c) the pre- and re-distributive measures that will enable us to tackle economic inequality at its root.
Team members
- Aiden Selsick, Researcher, Valuing What Matters
- Ben Estep, Researcher, Valuing What Matters
- David Theiss, Researcher, Valuing What Matters
- Faiza Shaheen, Senior Researcher, Economic Inequality
- Helen Kersley, Head of Valuing What Matters
- Stephen Whitehead, Researcher, Valuing What Matters
Blog post // May 16, 2013
The case for HS2 is far from clear
New report from the National Audit Office lends further credence to claims that the case for High Speed 2 hasn't yet been made. More
Blog post // May 1, 2013
Labour shouldn’t play politics with criminal justice
The question of which cases should come to court is a complex one. More
Blog post // January 29, 2013
Does the DfT’s case for HS2 stand up to scrutiny?
Yesterday, the Department for Transport (DfT) announced the route for the northern sections of the £33bn high speed rail project, HS2. Buttressing familiar sales pitches from the Prime Minister, Chancellor and Secretary of State for Transport (“Our economy might have contracted 0.3% in the final quarter of 2012 but fear not, the game-changing infrastructure investment to catapult the UK forward in the global race for economic prosperity is only 20 years away!”) More
Blog post // January 28, 2013
Four reasons why HS2 is on the wrong track
Today the government have detailed plans for the northern sections of HS2, their £33bn high speed rail project. The message is clear: ‘We are in an economic mess. We have a plan to fix it. HS2, despite all the noise from naysayers, will be the engine by which we pump the lifeblood of economic opportunity to poor performing regions.’
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Blog post // January 15, 2013
Titan prisons: back on the agenda?
In the wake of announcing the wholesale dismantling of the state-run probation system in England and Wales, last week the Ministry of Justice also announced significant changes to the prison estate. While the former represents an enormous (and radical) change rightly receiving scrutiny, the latter is also momentous.
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Blog post // December 14, 2012
Drug policy reform shouldn’t only be about possession
This week’s call by the Home Affairs Select Committee for a Royal Commission on the reform of our drug laws sparked a fiery debate on the merits of decriminalisation. Though, as the report notes, recorded drug use across several categories has fallen, the authors are sharply critical of a legal framework centred around the outmoded 1971 Misuse of Drugs Act that continues to criminalise swathes of substances with radical disregard for their associated harms.
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Blog post // December 10, 2012
Making the justice system work for women
Few people will be paying much attention to the House of Lords today, where the Crime and Courts Bill is trundling through its report stage, inching closer to receiving royal assent. But among the amendments being discussed today is one of crucial importance for the tens of thousands of women each year who go through the criminal justice system.
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Blog post // November 19, 2012
Decision-making should be pro-citizen, not pro-business
Now hear this: We’re at war! Not with the fascists of yesteryear or despots in lands far far away, but with an insidious domestic foe: regulation. And the yoke under which we will writhe? Tools of healthy democracy, like public consultation and judicial review.
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Blog post // November 5, 2012
Living Wage: a silver bullet?
Today marks the first day of Living Wage week. From an idea that was laughed at and deemed impossible it has evolved and progressed to become a popular policy. Ed Miliband has placed it at the centre of his ‘one nation’ vision and London Mayor Boris Johnson is a firm supporter - it's no surprise that those involved in the campaign are in a celebratory mood. More
Blog post // October 22, 2012
HS2: on the right track?
The need for infrastructure investment is clear and the time is ripe for bold new ideas, but that is no reason to be cavalier with society’s scarce resources. Tomorrow nef is hosting a discussion that will seek to elevate the debate on the Government’s prospective £33bn trans-national high speed rail scheme, High Speed 2 (HS2) and provide a platform for wider conversation about the decision-making process for large and complex investments.
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