academia are all PhD, they probably a lot cost more to do policy research, and since they are all economist they know the dynamics of the labour markets and outcomes. Nonetheless i recall their economic panels and senior economist roles have a few PhD.

i guess maybe it is for those who wants to do research in economics but don't want to do a PhD? They said a lot of economists move on for masters (not sure sponsored or not) also, and a lot of them inside have some qualifications (ug, pg or phd) from top universities like Oxbridge, LSE, UCL so i imagine it to be quite competitive in there by default, and given the technical rigour of their interviews.