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What helps people to make better choices in life? Rachel Griffith explores which public policies are most effective to improve dietary choices. An expert on fiscal policy, she also looks at a total rethink of corporate taxation.
The data that comes out of research does not always reveal the findings that those working on it expected and researchers need to be prepared to reassess the preconceptions they may have brought into a project. Rachel Griffith illustrates this point with two examples from her career, including the paradox of increasing obesity built on a falling calorie consumption, and advocates the power of curiosity-driven research.
When corporate income is taxed is it the shareholders who bear the cost, or do firms shift it on to workers via lower wages or onto consumers via higher prices. Is the money gained through the tax lost through knock-on disincentives to innovation and growth. In a globalised economy it is no longer clear who has the right to tax a company and how much they should expect them to pay. Rachel Griffith thinks that the current corporate tax system needs a rethink if it is to be made fit for modern times.
Rachel Griffith sees her role as an academic not in terms of dictating what policy should be, but exploring mechanisms for achieving the goals that society sets.
Diet is a good example. We all know that obesity has increased over the last 30 years; we all know that poor nutrition in childhood affects social mobility and health outcomes, both of which have significant economic consequences. Holistic policies are needed to counter this problem, with the aim of changing peoples’ entire decision-making processes around food and activity.