The 2021 Clash of the Titans Event

The Economic Research Council ran its tenth annual Clash of the Titans economic forecasting event, which brought together three thought-leaders in economics in the UK. The Clash of the Titans was an unrivalled opportunity to hear economic experts detail their predictions for 2022. Titans each predicted figures for GDP growth, inflation, unemployment, earnings growth and interest rates, as well as a black swan event which could upset their forecasts. The audience and others then entered their own predictions and everyone competes over the following year, with the winning titan and leading public entrant crowned at the next event.

Dr Linda Yueh – Economist, Broadcaster, and Author

Dr Linda Yueh is Fellow in Economics, St Edmund Hall, Oxford University and Adjunct Professor of Economics, London Business School. She is also Visiting Professor at LSE IDEAS and Chair of the LSE Economic Diplomacy Commission. Her book, The Great Economists: How Their Ideas Can Help Us Today, was The Times’ Best Business Books of 2018. Aside from her academic work, Linda is also a TV and radio presenter, including for BBC Radio 4 and the World Service. She has been Chief Business Correspondent for BBC News as well as Economics Editor at Bloomberg TV.

Professor Douglas McWilliams – Executive Deputy Chairman, CEBR

Douglas is one of the world’s leading economists and was chosen in 2012 from over 300 applicants to become the Gresham Professor of Commerce.

His Gresham lecture series ‘The world’s greatest ever economic event’ looking at the impact of globalisation on the Western economies attracted widespread attention and large audiences. He covers all aspects of economics but is best known for his work in forecasting, the economics of the IT and telecoms sectors and transport economics and for his knowledge of the Far East economies. He works with clients who are particularly looking for an economist with a public presence to help make their case. After setting up the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR), he was the Chief Executive for 20 years, and Executive Chairman. Previously he was Chief Economic Adviser to the Confederation of British Industry and Chief Economist for IBM UK.

Dilip Shah – Clash of the Titans Best Performer

Dilip Shah has been an economist for over 15 years working in both the public and private sector. As a regular entrant of the public Clash of the Titans forecasting competition, Dilip has excelled with his forecasts. He has won the overall competition on two occasions, beating all previous professional titans and hundreds of public entrants. Dilip has almost always ended up in the top ten with forecasts that barely differ from the real data.

Our host for the evening is Yael Selfin, Chief Economist at KPMG.

Yael is Chief Economist at KPMG in the UK. Her research centres on the impact major issues including Brexit and other geopolitical events are likely to have on the economy as well as on individual businesses. Prior to joining KPMG in 2014 she worked at two independent economic consultancies as well as at PwC for over 14 years, where she set up and led their Macro Consulting business, as well as oversaw their international economic research. She has a BSc in Economics from UCL and did further studies in Advanced Econometrics at LSE. She also has a Chartered Accountant qualification.