S4 Ep3: Slack and economic development

Recorded at the 2025 annual conference of the Structural Transformation and Economic Growth Programme, held at the University of Oxford.

What do economists mean when they talk about “slack” in an economy, and why is it an important concept for development? Felix Samy Soliman of the University of Zurich and his co-authors have analysed firms in Kenya to find out whether they underuse their labour and capital, and why. He tell Tim Phillips that there’s huge potential for economic growth if we better understand slack in the economies of low-income countries.