Economists as Time Travellers
When it comes to social values, we all need to be Marty McFly. Economists take values from the past and uprate them to today’s prices. We predict future benefits and discount them to ‘present values’.
Introducing Time Toggle
The DeLorean of social value. No plutonium required. No broken flux capacitors. All good social value practitioners can time travel, but we need the tools to do this consistently and reliably.
Why it matters
For Treasury ‘Green Book’ compliance. Business cases, impact assessments, social value analysis… they’re simply not credible without proper time adjustment.
Example
Let’s take the Government’s wellbeing adjusted life year (WELLBY) values. Big red flag for anyone telling you it’s worth £13,000 these days. It was in 2019 – but that’s ~£16,500 in 2025 prices.
Time Toggle is up to date with the latest OBR forecasts from the Spring Budget. So, we’ve got your back in the final hectic weeks of the Spending Review.
Try it today: Time Toggle
Roads? Where we’re going, we don’t need roads. But you can email [email protected] and I’ll help keep you on track.
