On the Spatial Economics Research Centre (SERC) blog, Henry Overman gives his views on Labour’s housing policies.

Christine Lagarde, head of the IMF, argues for policies that encourage more women to participate in the workforce on Project Syndicate.

On the NIESR blog, Heather Rolfe takes issue with Ed Miliband’s pledge to ensure that firms that want to bring in a skilled foreign worker must also train a local worker. “[He] is right to put training on the political agenda, but in pointing the finger at firms who recruit skilled migrants, he is attacking the wrong target.”

On OpenDemocracy’s Our Kingdom blog, Nicholas Shaxson wonders whether country’s with powerful financial sectors might be similar to those rich in minerals, in that a “relatively small rent-seeking elite captures vast wealth while the dominant sector crowds out the rest of the economy”.

On the University of Sheffield’s SPERI blog, David Coates looks at the staggering levels of student debt in the US and warns the UK not to emulate the American model.