Keeping pace with the economy: Innovation and trust in economic measurement
4 November 2026, 5:30 pm – 7:00 pm
Location: NIESR, 2 Dean Trench Street, Smith Square, London SW1P 3HE
Think tank: National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR)
This event hosted by UK think tank NIESR traces how economic measurement has evolved as the economy has changed.
The 2026 Deane-Stone Lecture traces how economic measurement has evolved as the economy has changed and asks how national accounts must adapt again for an AI-driven economy. During his talk James will explore how quality, relevance and trust in both the statistics and the institutions that produce them will determine the future value of economic measurement.
About the Speaker
James Benford is the Director General for Surveys and Economic Statistics and Deputy National Statistician at the ONS. Prior to joining the ONS in 2025, James had roles in both the Bank of England and HM Treasury where he worked on economic analysis and data strategy. A key part of his role at the ONS is to drive forward improvements to the quality of their key statistical outputs.
About the Lecture
The Deane-Stone lecture was established to commemorate the work that Sir Richard Stone (1913–1991) and Professor Phyllis Deane undertook during the 1940s into the development of national income accounting (NIA) systems of measurement. Much of this work was published jointly by ourselves and the Department of Applied Economics in Cambridge. Professor Deane later left NIESR to join the Colonial Office where she remained until 1949. She was a former president of the Royal Economic Society (1980-1982) and Professor of Economic History at Cambridge University. Sir Richard Stone was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1984 for this work.
