Economics: Market Failure at Work? Modern Slavery in the UK with Professor Duncan Watson from University of East Anglia

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In this Economics session, Duncan Watson, Professor of Applied Economics in the School of Economics at University of East Anglia, will run an interactive talk for students on Market Failure at Work? Modern Slavery in the UK.

If markets are meant to allocate resources efficiently and eliminate harmful behaviour, why does modern slavery persist in the UK?

This interactive university taster session starts from market failure, a core concept in A-level Economics, and uses labour market economics to examine modern slavery in the UK as a real-world case study. Students are invited to test what labour market models predict should happen when workers can leave jobs, wages adjust, and firms compete for labour — and then explore what happens when these conditions fail.

Through live questions and decision-making activities, students will analyse how cost pressure, limited worker choice, and incentives can distort labour markets and allow illegal outcomes to persist even where strong laws exist. Real UK examples are used throughout to connect theory to practice.

The session concludes by asking whether modern slavery is best understood as a case of market failure, or whether it exposes deeper limits in how economists think about labour markets themselves.

Lecturer Profile: Professor Duncan Watson

Our events are designed so that a group of students can take part from a classroom or students and teachers can take part as individuals, either from school or from home. There is no charge to take part.

As a live, participative event, this session will not be recorded but slides and other resources will be shared after the event, where available.

Suitable for: Aged 16+ pre-university students studying, or with a possible interest in studying, Economics and related disciplines. Student groups as well as students and teachers joining individually are very welcome.

Preparation/Pre-Reading: Students may wish to consider the topic in advance and questions they have. Students can also think about questions about studying at university level.

The IT Setup: The event will be run on Zoom and participants will be able to join using laptops, tablets, and mobile devices. If you are joining as a school group, we recommend connecting with one device and projecting on to a whiteboard. You will be able to interact with the speaker via typed comments and questions and/or via a microphone. Full details will be sent to those who have registered (see below) prior to the event.

Booking a Place: This is free for schools and colleges. If you would like to take part in this event, please register your interest using the link to the registration form below:

Register here