Summer 2015 | Public lectures and events | Audio and pdf: Recent Episodes
London School of Economics and Political Science
Contributor(s): Nick Giles, Michael Hayman | Business as usual is over. Belief is the new currency and to succeed you must follow new rules: purpose as the route to profit; mind share to gain market share. At this event you will discover the secrets of some of the world's most renowned business leaders, and find out how to harness the power of purpose to win in business. Michael Hayman (@michaelhayman) and Nick Giles (@nick_giles) are the co-authors of Mission: How the Best in Business Break Through and the co-founders of Seven Hills, the highly acclaimed campaigns firm founded to generate momentum for Britain’s explosive growth companies and most exciting entrepreneurs. Michael is an alumnus of LSE. Erik Eyster is a Reader in Economics, and Academic Director of the LSE Summer School at LSE.
Contributor(s): Professor Michael Cox | We have been told for years that war between great powers is a thing of the past: something that has been consigned into that proverbial dustbin of history. Yet today serious writers and influential strategic thinkers in the USA and China are now suggesting that war in East Asia is a very real possibility as China rises - and becomes more assertive - and the United States supported by its Asian allies seeks to limit China’s reach. But how real is the danger of war? Is this just wild speculation by old style thinkers who have not caught up with globalization? Or is the threat real? In this debate between two experts we shall seek to answer these difficult but important questions.
Contributor(s): Professor Fawaz Gerges | Fawaz A. Gerges is Professor of International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), and holder of the Emirates Professorship in Contemporary Middle East Studies. He wasalso the inaugural Director of the LSE Middle East Centre from 2010 until 2013. Gerges’ most recent books are The New Middle East: Protest and Revolution in the Arab World (Cambridge University Press, January 2014) and Obama and the Middle East: The End of America’s Moment? (Palgrave Macmillan, September 2013). On the ten-year anniversary of 9/11, Oxford University Press released Gerges’ book, The Rise and Fall of Al Qaeda.
Contributor(s): Ryan Pyle | Join adventurer and renowned photographer, Ryan Pyle, as he spends months exploring and photographing Western China’s remote Sacred Mountains in an effort to better understand these most sacred Tibetan regions. His human-powered adventure is “one of the ages” as he explores the remote provinces of Qinghai, Tibet, Sichuan and Yunnan. Born in Toronto, Canada, Ryan Pyle (@RyanPyle) spent his early years close to home. After obtaining a degree in International Politics from the University of Toronto in 2001, Ryan realised a life long dream and travelled to China on an exploratory mission. In 2002 Ryan moved to China permanently and in 2004 Ryan became a regular contributor to the New York Times. In 2009 Ryan was listed by PDN Magazine as one of the 30 emerging photographers in the world. In 2010 Ryan began working full time on television and documentary film production and has produced and presented several large multi-episode television series for major broadcasters in the USA, Canada, UK, Asia, CHINA and continental Europe.
Contributor(s): David Smith | Sunday Times economics editor and best-selling author David Smith leads us through the mire of government policy and long-term economic trends to paint a vivid picture of how we got to now – and where we might go from here. David Smith (@dsmitheconomics) is economics editor of the Sunday Times and the author of a number of books including The Dragon and the Elephant and the best-selling guide to economics Free Lunch. This event marks the launch of his new book, Something Will Turn Up: Britain’s Economy, Past, Present and Future. Sushil Wadhwani is the founder of Wadhwani Asset Management LLP and a former member of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee. Dr Wadhwani was educated at the London School of Economics and Political Science, where he obtained a BSc (Econ), MSc (Econ) and PhD (Econ).
Contributor(s): Tim Marshall | Foreign Affairs Broadcaster and Journalist, Tim Marshall, author of new book Prisoners of Geography explains how decisions made by world leaders are constrained by geography. It is true that to understand world events (such as President Putin's invasion of Crimea and events in the Middle East), you need to understand people, ideas and movements… but if you don’t know geography, you’ll never have the full picture. Tim Marshall (@itwitius), journalist, writer and broadcaster, is best known for his reporting and analysis of events in the world of foreign affairs and international diplomacy. Whilst at Sky News, Marshall covered twelve wars over a twenty-four year period. He is the founder and editor of 'thewhatandthewhy.com', a web platform for journalists, politicians and students to share their views on world events. Charlie Beckett (@CharlieBeckett) is the founding director of POLIS, the think-tank for research and debate in to international journalism and society in the Media and Communications Department.
Contributor(s): Lord Meghnad Desai | Lord Desai is an Indian-born British economist and Labour politician. He unsuccessfully stood for the Speaker in the British House of Lords in 2011, the first ever non-UK born candidate to do so. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan, the third highest civilian award in the Republic of India, in 2008. Starting as an economics lecturer at LSE,in 2003 he retired as Director of the Centre for the Study of Global Governance, which he had founded in 1992, and remains Professor Emeritus at LSE. Desai has written extensively, publishing over 200 articles in academic journals, writing a number of books, and he still writes regularly for two leading Indian newspapers. He published abiography of Indian film star Dilip Kumar entitled Nehru’s Hero: Dilip Kumar in the life of India in 2004, which he has described as his “greatest achievement”. His latest book is Hubris: Why Economists Failed to Predict the Crisis and How to Avoid the Next One.
Contributor(s): Professor Frank Wilczek | In his new book, which he will discuss in this public lecture, world-class physicist and Nobel laureate Frank Wilczek argues that beauty is at the heart of the logic of the universe, a principle that had guided his pioneering work in quantum physics. As his book looks to demonstrate, this quest has also guided the work of all scientific pursuit in the western world, from Pythagoras and Plato to Galileo and Newton, Maxwell and Einstein. Indeed, Wilczek looks to show us just how deeply intertwined our ideas about beauty and art are with our scientific understanding of the cosmos. A Beautiful Question is the culmination of Wilczek’s life work, a work that looks to combine the age-old quest for beauty with the age-old quest for truth. Frank Wilczek (@FrankWilczek) won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2004 for work he did as a graduate student at Princeton University, when he was 21 years old. He is the Herman Feshbach Professor of Physics at MIT.
Contributor(s): Gerard Grech | The extraordinary growth of the UK's Digital Economy reflects all the paradoxes of British culture and history. What has been the impact of the creative entrepreneur and disruptive technology on the way we live, and where could it take us next? Gerard Grech (@gerardgrech) is the CEO of Tech City UK. Gerard has 15 years experience in the world of digital media, web and mobile. His international experience in London, Paris and New York has given global vision and local expertise, spanning digital product development, business strategy and venture capital. Before that he was a new media journalist and started his career in the music business. Max Nathan (@iammaxnathan) is Deputy Director of the What Works Centre for Local Economic Growth and a Research Fellow at the Spatial Economics Research Centre at LSE. He is also a Senior Research Fellow at NIESR. Credits: Tom Sturdy (Audio Post-Production), LSE AV Services (Audio Recording).
Contributor(s): Virginia Postrel | Drawing on her path-breaking new book, The Power of Glamour: Longing and the Art of Visual Persuasion, Virginia Postrel cracks the code of this mysterious and surprisingly pervasive phenomenon. She identifies the three essential elements in all forms of glamour and explains how they work to create a distinctive sensation of projection and yearning. Virginia Postrel (@vpostrel) is a Los Angeles-based author and columnist whose work spans a broad range of topics, from social science to fashion, concentrating on the intersection of culture and commerce. Her previous books are The Substance of Style (2003) and The Future and Its Enemies (1998). She is a regular columnist for Bloomberg View. She has been a columnist for The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, The New York Times, and Forbesand its companion technology magazine Forbes ASAP. Shani Orgad is Associate Professor in Media and Communications at LSE.
Contributor(s): Professor Wendy Brown | In the United States, the extension of civil liberties to corporations is transforming democracy through rights adjudication. Best known in this regard is Citizens United v. The Federal Election Commission, the 2010 Supreme Court decision permitting corporate funding to flood the U.S. electoral process on the basis of corporate rights to free speech. In 2014, Burwell vs Hobby Lobby granted firms the right to the free exercise of religion, and hence the ability to withhold insurance coverage of abortions and abortifacients for their employees. This lecture explores the neoliberal logic of the Hobby Lobby decision, makes an argument about the transformations of democracy these decisions entail, and concludes with a critique of Foucault’s formulation of the relation of law, state and economy in neoliberalism. Wendy Brown is Class of 1936 First Professor of Political Science, University of California, Berkeley. Emily Jackson is Professor of Law and Head of Department in the Law Department at LSE. LSE Law (@lselaw) is an integral part of the School's mission, plays a major role in policy debates & in the education of lawyers and law teachers from around the world.
Contributor(s): Professor Ruth Simmons, Dr Purna Sen | This event is part of the Above the Parapet project, which seeks to capture the experiences of high profile women who have shaped public life. Ruth Simmons was the 18th president and first female president of Brown University and the first black person to be head of an Ivy-League Institution. Purna Sen (@Purna_Sen) is Deputy Director of the Institute of Public Affairs. Marie-Pierre Lloyd is the Seychelles High Commissioner to the UK. The Institute of Public Affairs (@LSEPubAffairs) is one of the world's leading centres of public policy. We aim to debate and address some of the major issues of our time, whether international or national, through our established teaching programmes, our research and our highly innovative public-engagement initiatives.
Contributor(s): Professor Peter Ayton, Dr Sepideh Bazazi, Professor Chris Frith | In our modern world we are constantly exposed to the opinion of the group. When is the crowd wise and when is it prone to madness? Peter Ayton (@Thruthal) is Professor of Psychology at City University London. Sepideh Bazazi is a researcher at the Centre on Animal Cognition, DYNACTOM, Université Paul Sabatier. Chris Frith (@cdfrith) is a psychologist and Professor Emeritus at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, University College London. Bahador Bahrami (@bahadorbahrami) is Senior Research Associate at the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, UCL. The Forum for European Philosophy (@LSEPhilosophy) is an educational charity which organises and runs a full and varied programme of philosophy and interdisciplinary events in the UK. Credits: Tom Sturdy (Audio Post-Production), LSE AV Services (Audio Recording).
Contributor(s): Dr Alina Averchenkova, Professor John Broome, Professor Robyn Eckersley, Fergus Green | Tackling climate change is crucial for human well-being. So why has the international community been faltering on effective climate action? How can we break through the collective-action impasse? Alina Averchenkova is Co-Head of Climate Policy in the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at LSE. John Broome is Emeritus White’s Professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of Oxford. Robyn Eckersley is Professor of Political Science in the School of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Melbourne. Fergus Green is Policy Analyst and Research Advisor to Professor Stern in the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at LSE.
Contributor(s): Julia Gillard, Dr Purna Sen | This event is part of the Above the Parapet project, which seeks to capture the experiences of high profile women who have shaped public life. Julia Gillard (@JuliaGillard) was Prime Minister of Australia 2010-13 and the first woman to hold this position. She recently wrote My Story. Julia Gillard started her Arts and Law degrees at the University of Adelaide. In 1983 she was elected national Education Vice-President of the Australian Union of Students (AUS) and moved to Melbourne to complete her degree at Melbourne University. Later that year, she was elected President of the AUS. After graduating Ms Gillard began work as a solicitor in Melbourne with the law firm Slater and Gordon and became a Partner in 1990. Ms Gillard's work at the firm focused on employment law where she worked on securing fairer treatment for workers and fought for clothing trades outworkers who had been underpaid. From 1996 to 1998 Ms Gillard served as Chief-of-Staff to the then Opposition Leader of the State of Victoria, John Brumby. Julia Gillard first contested the Federal seat of Lalor for the Australian Labor Party in 1998 and was elected that year. From 1998 to 2001 Ms Gillard served on the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Employment, Education and Workplace Relations. In 2001 Ms Gillard was appointed Shadow Minister for Population and Immigration and subsequently took on responsibilities for Reconciliation and Indigenous Affairs in 2003. From 2003 to 2006 Ms Gillard served as Shadow Minister for Health. On 4 December 2006 Ms Gillard was appointed Deputy Leader of the Australian Labor Party and served as Shadow Minister for Employment and Industrial Relations and Social Inclusion. Following the Australian Labor Party's victory at the 2007 Federal Election, Ms Gillard was sworn in as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Education, Employment and Workplace Relations and Social Inclusion. Purna Sen (@Purna_Sen) is Deputy Director of the IPA and leads on the Above the Parapet programme. Tessa Jowell is Professor of Practice for LSE Cities and the Department of Government at LSE. The Institute of Public Affairs (@LSEPubAffairs) is one of the world's leading centres of public policy. We aim to debate and address some of the major issues of our time, whether international or national, through our established teaching programmes, our research and our highly innovative public-engagement initiatives.
Contributor(s): Professor Sir Paul Collier, Professor Dani Rodrik | 2015 marks the centenary of the birth of the LSE’s Nobel Prize winning economist, William Arthur Lewis (1915-1991). Sir Arthur Lewis was awarded the Nobel Prize for economics for “pioneering research into economic development research with particular consideration of the problems of developing countries”. As part of LSE's marking of the centenary, this event will see Rodrik and Collier reflect on some important themes on the subject of “Understanding Economic Development” and their relation to Lewis’s earlier work. Paul Collier is a Director of the International Growth Centre (IGC), Professor of Economics and Public Policy at the Blavatnik School of Government at Oxford University and Co-Director of the Centre for the Study of African Economies also at Oxford University. Dani Rodrik (@rodrikdani) is Ford Foundation Professor of International Political Economy at the John F Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University and Centennial Professor at the LSE European Institute and Department of Economics. He has published widely in international economics and globalization, economic growth and development, and political economy. He is the author of The Globalization Paradox (Norton, 2011) andOne Economics, Many Recipes (Princeton, 2007). Stuart Corbridge is Deputy Director and Provost of LSE. Credits: Tom Sturdy (Audio Post-Production), LSE AV Services (Audio Recording).
Contributor(s): Isaac Herzog | In his lecture Mr Herzog will argue that most Israelis want to live in a country that is not only secure, but just, democratic, liberal and at peace with its neighbours – as envisioned by Israel’s Declaration of Independence. Israel faces complex divisions within its society, and unique security threats. Mr Herzog will set out how Israel can overcome the politics of fear, and its internal divisions, to build an Israel which fully embodies the vision of its founders. Isaac Herzog, son of former Israeli President, Chaim Herzog was born in 1960. He completed his army service with the rank of major (res.). He holds a law degree from University of Tel Aviv and is an attorney by profession. In November 2013 Herzog was elected Chairman of the Labor Party and assumed the position of Leader of the Opposition in the Knesset. In December 2014 Herzog formed a political alliance with MK Tzipi Livni's Hatnua Party, making the newly-created Zionist Union Israel's largest Centrist political party, and Isaac Herzog was the leading candidate to replace Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the national elections in March 2015. Isaac Herzog served as Secretary of the Economic-Social Council (1988-1990), as Government Secretary (1999-2001). He was elected to the 16th Knesset in 2003 as a member of the Labor Party. In January 2005 Isaac Herzog was appointed for the first time to a cabinet position in the Israeli Government, and served as the Minister of Housing and Construction. In May 2006, he was appointed Minister of Tourism. In March 2007 he was appointed Minister of Welfare and Social Services & Minister of the Jewish Diaspora, Society and the Fight against Anti-Semitism. In February 2009 he began his second term as Minister of Welfare and Social Services. In January 2011 he resigned from the government. The Institute of Global Affairs (IGA) (@LSEIGA) creates a dedicated space for research, policy engagement and teaching across multiple disciplines to pioneer locally-rooted responses to global challenges.
Contributor(s): Herman Van Rompuy | Herman Van Rompuy is a Belgian politician who formerly served as Prime Minister of Belgium and then as the first President of the European Council in the European Union. A politician from Belgium's Christian Democratic and Flemish party, Van Rompuy served as the 66th prime minister of Belgium from December 2008 until November 2009. In November 2009 he was selected by the members of the European Council as its first full-time President under the Treaty of Lisbon. He was appointed for the period from December 2009 until May 2012. On 1 March 2012 he was re-elected for a second (and last) term, which lasted from June 2012 until November 2014. Paul De Grauwe (@pdegrauwe) is John Paulson Chair in European Political Economy in the European Institute at LSE. The LSE European Institute (@LSEEI) was established in 1991 as a dedicated centre for the interdisciplinary study of processes of integration and fragmentation within Europe. In the most recent national Research Assessment Exercise, the Institute was ranked first for research in European Studies in the United Kingdom. The LSE European Institute has been a Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence since 2009.
Contributor(s): Professor Sam Scheffler | Imagine you discovered that shortly after your death an asteroid would destroy the world. How would that affect how you lived your life? Would you bother to come to this session with renowned philosophy professor Sam Scheffler? We think you should. Samuel Scheffler is University Professor and Professor of Philosophy and Law at New York University. Edward Stourton is one of BBC Radio 4's leading presenters of news and documentaries.
Contributor(s): Professor Amitav Chakravarti | Successful consumer insights and policy interventions are elusive; often they tend to follow a hit-or-miss pattern. The GO-STOP signal framework explains why this pattern occurs and demonstrates how to avoid it. Amitav Chakravarti is Professor of Marketing in the Department of Management, LSE. Dr Simona Botti is Associate Professor of Marketing at London Business School, where she teaches Marketing and Brand Management. Her research focuses on consumer behaviour and decision making, and she specialises in the impact of perceived consumer control. The Department of Management (@LSEManagement) is a globally diverse academic community at the heart of the LSE, taking a unique interdisciplinary, academically in-depth approach to the study of management and organisations.
Contributor(s): Shami Chakrabarti, Professor Francesca Klug | The Magna Carta, sealed in 1215, has come to stand for the rule of law, curbs on executive power and the freedom to enjoy basic liberties. When the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted by the United Nations in 1948, it was heralded as 'a Magna Carta for all human-kind'. Yet in the year in which this medieval Charter's 800th birthday is widely celebrated, the future of the UK's commitment to international human rights standards is in doubt. Why is it that features which are lauded as ‘totemic’ in the Magna Carta are condemned as ‘dangerous’ when applied today? Are human rights palatable in a mature democracy only when they are associated with an ancient English document with minimal legal impact? Are universal values commendable as a benchmark by which to judge the rest of the world, but unacceptable when applied ‘at home’? In A Magna Carta for all Humanity: homing in on human rights, published by Routledge to coincide with the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta, Professor Francesca Klug invites us to consider what is distinctive about the ethic and practice of universal human rights. The author takes us on a journey through time, exploring such topics as 'British values', 'natural rights', 'enlightenment values' and legal rights'. This event celebrates the launch of A Magna Carta for all Humanity: homing in on human rights, and brings together Francesca Klug and Shami Chakrabarti in a public conversation, chaired by Jane Gordon. Join some of the UK's leading human rights thinkers and advocates in exploring the ethic behind universal human rights and deconstructing the current debate in the UK on the future of human rights protection. Shami Chakrabarti is Director of Liberty and author of On Liberty. Francesca Klug is Professorial Research Fellow and Director of the Human Rights Futures Project at the LSE Centre for the Study of Human Rights. Jane Gordon is Visiting Fellow in the Centre for the Study of Human Rights at LSE and an independent human rights barrister. The Centre for the Study of Human Rights at LSE (@LSEHumanRights) is a trans-disciplinary centre of excellence for international academic research, teaching and critical scholarship on human rights. Credits: Tom Sturdy (Audio Post-Production), LSE AV Services (Audio Recording).
Contributor(s): Professor Richard Thaler | Richard Thaler has spent his career studying the radical notion that the central agents in the economy are humans—predictable, error-prone individuals. Traditional economics assumes rational actors. Early in his research, Thaler realized these Spock-like automatons were nothing like real people. Whether buying an alarm clock, selling football tickets, or applying for a mortgage, we all succumb to biases and make decisions that deviate from the standards of rationality assumed by economists. In other words, we misbehave. Dismissed at first by economists as an amusing sideshow, the study of human miscalculations and their effects on markets now drives efforts to make better decisions in our lives, our businesses, and our governments. Speaking about his latest book Misbehaving: The Making of Behavioural Economics, Richard Thaler will couple recent discoveries in human psychology with a practical understanding of incentives and market behaviour. Thaler will explain how to make smarter decisions in an increasingly mystifying world, revealing how behavioural economic analysis opens up new ways to look at everything. Richard H Thaler (@R_Thaler) is the Ralph and Dorothy Keller Distinguished Service Professor of Behavioural Science and Economics and the Director of the Center for Decision Research at the University of Chicago's Graduate School of Business. He is co-the author of Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth and Happiness and has worked in the US with Barack Obama and with David Cameron's 'Nudge Unit' in the UK. Paul Dolan (@HappinessBD) is a Professor of Behavioural Science in the Department of Social Policy at LSE. The Department of Social Policy (@LSESocialPolicy) is the longest established in the UK and offers outstanding teaching based on the highest quality empirical research in the field. Credits: Tom Sturdy (Audio Post-Production), LSE AV Services (Audio Recording).
Contributor(s): Professor Joseph S Nye | For more than a century, the United States has been the world's most powerful state. Now some analysts predict that China will soon take its place. Does this mean that we are living in a post-American world? Joseph S.Nye, Jr. (@Joe_Nye) is University Distinguished Service Professor, and former Dean of the Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. He received his bachelor's degree summa cum laude from Princeton University,won a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford University, and earned a PhD in political science from Harvard. He has served as Assistant Secretary of Defence for International Security Affairs, Chair of the National Intelligence Council, and Deputy Under Secretary of State for Security Assistance, Science and Technology. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the British Academy, and the American Academy of Diplomacy. In a recent survey of international relations scholars, he was ranked as the most influential scholar on American foreign policy, and in 2011, Foreign Policy named him one of the top 100 Global Thinkers. His most recent book, Is The American Century Over? published in March 2015. Peter Trubowitz is Professor of International Relations and Director of the US Centre at LSE. The US Centre at LSE promotes scholarly analysis and critical debate about the United States. The International Relations Department at LSE (@LSEIRDept) is now in its 87th year, making it one of the oldest as well as largest in the world. Credits: Tom Sturdy (Audio Post-Production), LSE AV Services (Audio Recording).
Contributor(s): Richard Dobbs, Jonathan Woetzel, Stephanie Flanders | Since the start of the new century, the world has started to change - and radically. The collision of four global forces means we are now living in an era of near constant discontinuity. Competitors can burst upon the scene in a blink of an eye. Businesses that were protected by large and deep moats find that their defences are easily breached. Vast new markets are conjured seemingly from nothing. Five years is an eternity. In a new book, No Ordinary Disruption, the three leaders of the McKinsey Global Institute, McKinsey's business and economics research arm, argue that the world is now roughly in the middle of a dramatic transition as a result of four fundamental disruptive trends: growth and urbanisation in emerging markets, technological disruption, increasing connectivity, and the ageing of populations. None of these disruptions, on its own, is a surprise. The unique challenge is that they are happening at the same time - and on a huge scale, creating second-, third-, and even fourth-order effects that are scarcely possible to anticipate. As they collide, they will produce change so significant that much of the management intuition that has served us in the past will become irrelevant, causing us to reset our collective intuition. This event marks the publication of No Ordinary Disruption. Richard Dobbs is a Director of the McKinsey Global Institute (@McKinsey_MGI), McKinsey & Company’s economics and business research arm, and a Director (Senior Partner) of McKinsey, based in London. He joined the firm in 1988, and more recently from 2004 to 2009 co-led its Corporate Finance Practice. From 2009, Richard has co-led the McKinsey Global Institute, first from South Korea and then from London. He is a co-author of Value, the Four Cornerstones of Corporate Finance, published in November 2010, and his work has appeared in several books, including Valuation: Measuring and Managing the Value of Companies, and Korea 2020 – Global Perspectives for the next decade. Richard received a B.A. in engineering, economics, and management at Oxford University, where he obtained a first-class degree. Based in Shanghai, Jonathan Woetzel is a director of the McKinsey Global Institute and leads McKinsey research on China, Asia, and global economic and business trends. As leader of the firm’s Cities Initiative, he has conducted more than 60 projects for governments throughout China to support local economic development and transformation. He also supports the transformation of Chinese companies into global leaders. Stephanie Flanders (@MyStephanomics) is Managing Director and Chief Market Strategist for the UK and Europe, J.P. Morgan Asset Management. Stephanie was previously the Economics Editor at the BBC. Prior to this, she worked as a reporter at the New York Times, a speechwriter and senior adviser to US Treasury Secretaries Robert Rubin and Lawrence Summers, a Financial Times leader-writer and columnist, and an economist at the Institute for Fiscal Studies and the London Business School. Credits: Tom Sturdy (Audio Post-Production), LSE AV Services (Audio Recording).
Contributor(s): Professor Lord Stern of Brentford | Introducing his new book, Why Are We Waiting? The Logic, Urgency and Promise of Tackling Climate Change Professor Stern will argue that the transition to a low-carbon economy and rapid structural transformations to the world economy provide a story of growth and poverty reduction that is attractive and sustainable. Nicholas Stern is IG Patel Professor and Chair of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at LSE and President of the British Academy. Craig Calhoun (@craigjcalhoun) is Director and President of LSE. The Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment (@GRI_LSE) is a research centre at LSE. The Institute’s research looks at the economics of climate change, and aims to inform policy and academic debate. The Centre for Economic Performance (@CEP_LSE) is an interdisciplinary research centre at the LSE Research Laboratory. It was established by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) in 1990 and is now one of the leading economic research groups in Europe. Credits: Tom Sturdy (Audio Post-Production), LSE AV Services (Audio Recording).
Contributor(s): Caroline Criado-Perez | A lecture by the woman who took on the Bank of England, Twitter and the criminal justice system, Caroline Criado-Perez, who will celebrate women’s rights activists from around the world to inspire you to get out there and change it for the better. Caroline Criado-Perez (@CCriadoPerez) is a British journalist and feminist activist. In 2013, she won the Liberty Human Rights Campaigner of the Year Award and was named one of the Guardian’s People of the Year. This event marks the publication of Caroline's new book, Do it Like a Woman. Julia Black is Pro-Director for Research and a Professor of Law at LSE. Credits: Tom Sturdy (Audio Post-Production), LSE AV Services (Audio Recording).
Contributor(s): Professor Lisa Appignanesi, Professor Rae Langton, Dr Stephen Law, Professor Peter McDonald | What does it mean to have a right to free speech, and who has the right to curtail it? Lisa Appignanesi, prize-winning writer, novelist, broadcaster and cultural commentator, is Visiting Professor in the Department of English at King’s College London. Rae Langton is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Cambridge. Stephen Law is Lecturer in Philosophy at Heythrop College, University of London. Peter McDonald is Professor of English and Related Literature at the University of Oxford. The Forum for European Philosophy (@LSEPhilosophy) is an educational charity which organises and runs a full and varied programme of philosophy and interdisciplinary events in the UK.
Contributor(s): Professor Robert J Shiller | Robert Shiller, who warned of both the tech and housing bubbles, now cautions that signs of irrational exuberance among investors have only increased since the 2008–9 financial crisis. With high stock and bond prices in the United States, and rising housing prices in many countries, the post-subprime boom may well turn out to be another illustration of Shiller’s influential argument that psychologically driven volatility is an inherent characteristic of all asset markets. Robert J Shiller (@RobertJShiller), the recipient of the 2013 Nobel Prize in economics, is a best-selling author, a regular contributor to the Economic View column of the New York Times, and a professor of economics at Yale University. His books include Finance and the Good Society, Animal Spirits (co-written with George A. Akerlof), The Subprime Solution, and The New Financial Order (all Princeton). This event marks the publication of a new edition of Irrational Exuberance. The Financial Markets Group Research Centre (FMG) at LSE (@FMG_LSE) is one of the leading European centres for academic research into financial markets and is a focal point for research communication with the business, policy making, and academic finance communities. Credits: Tom Sturdy (Audio Post-Production), LSE AV Services (Audio Recording).
Contributor(s): Kevin Rudd | Drawing on both his high-level political insights and personal expertise, Kevin Rudd will discuss the rise of China, the enduring influence of the United States and the changing balance of power in the Pacific. Kevin Rudd (@MRKRudd) was Leader of the Labor Party and twice Prime Minister of Australia. He served as Australia’s 26th Prime Minister (2007-2010, 2013) and as Foreign Minister (2010- 2012). Mr Rudd is President of the Asia Society Policy Institute in New York. ASPI is a “think-do tank” dedicated to second track diplomacy to assist governments and businesses on policy challenges within Asia, and between Asia, the US and the West. He is also Chair of the Independent Commission on Multilateralism where in 2015-6 he leads a review of the UN system. Mr Rudd is a Senior Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School where in 2014-15 he completed a major policy report on “Alternative Futures for US-China Relations.” He is a Distinguished Fellow at Chatham House in London, a Distinguished Statesman with the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, and a Distinguished Fellow at the Paulson Institute in Chicago. Mr. Rudd is a member of the Comprehensive Test Ban Organization’s Group of Eminent Persons. He is proficient in Mandarin Chinese, serves as a Visiting Professor at Tsinghua University in Beijing, and co-Chairs the China Global Affairs Council of the World Economic Forum. Robin Archer is Associate Professor in Political Sociology and Director of the Ralph Miliband Programme at LSE. The Ralph Miliband Programme (@rmilibandlse) is one of LSE's most prestigious lecture series and seeks to advance Ralph Miliband's spirit of free social inquiry. Credits: Tom Sturdy (Audio Post-Production), LSE AV Services (Audio Recording).
Contributor(s): Amitav Ghosh | Flood of Fire, the conclusion to Amitav Ghosh's bestselling Ibis Trilogy, takes us from India to China, through the outbreak of the First Opium War and China’s devastating defeat, to Britain’s seizure of Hong Kong. It follows a varied cast of characters, among them a sepoy in the East India Company, an impoverished young sailor searching for his lost love, and a determined widow en route to China to reclaim her opium-trader husband’s wealth and reputation. Amitav Ghosh is one of the finalists for this year’s Man Booker International Prize. Here the Booker shortlisted, bestselling author, talks about his work and the true story that lies behind his latest novel. Amitav Ghosh (@GhoshAmitav) was born in Calcutta and grew up in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and India. He studied at the universities of Delhi and Oxford and published the first of eight novels, The Circle of Reason in 1986. The first novel in his Ibis trilogy, Sea of Poppies, was shortlisted for the Man Booker prize. He has gone on to sell over 3 million books worldwide, and his work is translated in to 33 languages. He currently divides his time between Calcutta, Goa and Brooklyn. Mukulika Banerjee is an Associate Professor in Social Anthropology at LSE and Director of the IGA South Asia Centre.
Contributor(s): Dr Harry Walker | What would individualism and equality look like if detached from their foundations in a logic of equivalence? Harry Walker is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology at LSE. Rita Astuti is Professor of Social Anthropology and Head of the Anthropology Department at LSE. The Department of Anthropology (@LSEAnthropology) is a leading centre for innovative research and teaching committed to both maintaining and renewing the core of the discipline.
Contributor(s): Sergio Mattarella | Sergio Mattarella is the President of the Republic of Italy. He was born in Palermo in 1941. In 1964 he obtained a summa con laude Law Degree from "La Sapienza" University. He was admitted to the Palermo Bar Association in 1967. He taught parliamentary law at the Law School of the University of Palermo until 1983. In 1983 he was elected to Parliament for the Christian Democracy Party in the western Sicily constituency and remained a member of the Chamber of Deputies until 2008. From July 1987 to July 1989 he was Minister for Relations with Parliament. He was Minister of Education from July 1989 to July 1990. He became Deputy Prime Minister in October 1998 and Minister of Defence from December 1999 to the June 2001 elections. During his mandate, laws were enacted to abolish conscription and to turn the Carabinieri into an autonomous armed force. During that period, Italy strongly supported the establishment of the European Security and Defence Policy, which led to the creation of the first European Army Corps. On 5 October 2011 he was elected Constitutional Judge by Parliament and was sworn in as a member of the Constitutional Court on 11 October 2011. He was elected twelfth President of the Republic on 31 January 2015. The LSE European Institute (@LSEEI) was established in 1991 as a dedicated centre for the interdisciplinary study of processes of integration and fragmentation within Europe. In the most recent national Research Assessment Exercise, the Institute was ranked first for research in European Studies in the United Kingdom. The LSE European Institute has been a Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence since 2009. Suggested hashtag for this event for Twitter users: #LSEItaly
Contributor(s): Professor Lord Desai, Professor Charles Goodhart, Stephen King | Meghnad Desai discusses his latest book Hubris: Why Economists Failed to Predict the Crisis and How to Avoid the Next One with Stephen King of HSBC. Meghnad Desai worked at LSE in the Economics Department from 1965 onwards, and is now Honorary Fellow and Emeritus Professor. He has written over 25 books and 200 articles in refereed journals. He is a Labour Peer and has received the Padma Bhushan from the Government of India. Charles Goodhart, a former member of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee, is Emeritus Professor at the London School of Economics, and Director of the Financial Regulation Research Programme in the Financial Markets Group. Stephen King (@KingEconomist) is Group Chief Economist at HSBC. He is also a successful author. His latest book, When the Money Runs Out, was published by Yale University Press in May 2013 and was selected as a “book of the year” by the Financial Times, The Economist and The Times. Timothy Besley is School Professor of Economics and Political Science at LSE. He is also a Visiting Professor at the Institute for International Economic Studies at Stockholm University. From September 2006 to August 2009, he served as an external member of the Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee. The Department of Economics at LSE (@LSEEcon) is one of the largest economics departments in the world. Its size ensures that all areas of economics are strongly represented in both research and teaching. The Centre For Macroeconomics (@CFMUK) brings together world-class experts to carry out pioneering research on the global economic crisis and to help design policies that alleviate it.
Contributor(s): Stephen J Dubner | When Freakonomics was first published, Steven D Levitt and Stephen J Dubner started a blog—and they’ve kept it up, tallying more than 8,000 blog posts on Freakonomics.com and pulling in 12 million page views per year. The best are now published in When to Rob a Bank. At this event, Stephen Dubner shares the Freakonomic secrets to making economic ideas fresh and entertaining through their blog and podcast (which has been downloaded a freakish 150million times). You’ll discover what people lie about, and why; why it might be time for a sex tax (if not a fat tax); and, yes, when to rob a bank. (Short answer: never; the ROI is terrible.) Stephen J Dubner (@freakonomics) is an award-winning writer and radio and TV personality. He has written six books, including the Freakonomics trilogy and is host of Freakonomics Radio. Tim Harford (@TimHarford) is a senior columnist for the Financial Times and the presenter of Radio 4’s More or Less and Pop-Up Economics With Tim Harford. His books include The Undercover Economist, The Logic of Life, Adapt and The Undercover Economist Strikes Back. The Department of Economics at LSE (@LSEEcon) is one of the largest economics departments in the world. Its size ensures that all areas of economics are strongly represented in both research and teaching. The Centre For Macroeconomics (@CFMUK) brings together world-class experts to carry out pioneering research on the global economic crisis and to help design policies that alleviate it.
Contributor(s): Jacob J. Lew | The conversation will focus on the state of the global economy ahead of the Secretary’s travel to a meeting of G-7 Finance Ministers in Dresden, Germany. Jack Lew was confirmed by the United States Senate on February 27, 2013, to serve as the 76th Secretary of the Treasury. Secretary Lew previously served as White House Chief of Staff. Prior to that role, Lew was the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), a position he also held in President Clinton's Cabinet from 1998 to 2001. Before returning to OMB in 2010, Lew first joined the Obama Administration as Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources. Lew began his career in Washington in 1973 as a legislative aide. From 1979 to 1987, he was a principal domestic policy advisor to House Speaker Thomas P. O'Neill, Jr, when he served the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee as Assistant Director and then Executive Director. He was the Speaker's liaison to the Greenspan Commission, which negotiated a bipartisan solution to extend the solvency of Social Security in 1983, and he was responsible for domestic and economic issues, including Medicare, budget, tax, trade, appropriations, and energy issues. Before joining the Obama Administration, Lew co-chaired the Advisory Board for City Year New York and was on the boards of the Kaiser Family Foundation, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the Brookings Institution Hamilton Project, and the Tobin Project. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the National Academy of Social Insurance, and of the bar in Massachusetts and the District of Columbia. The US Centre at LSE promotes scholarly analysis and critical debate about the United States.
Contributor(s): Liz Fekete, Kiri Kankhwende, Professor James Nazroo, Dr Debbie Weekes-Bernard | This event will consider the ongoing significance of race and class to shaping inequalities in contemporary British life. Liz Fekete is the Executive Director of the Institute for Race Relations and Head of its European Research Programme. Kiri Kankhwende is a human rights campaigner and journalist specialising in race, immigration and politics. James Nazroo is Professor of Sociology and Director of the Centre on Dynamics of Ethnicity. Debbie Weekes-Bernard is Head of Research at the Runnymede Trust. The Department of Sociology at LSE (@LSEsociology) was established in 1904 and remains committed to top quality teaching and leading research and scholarship today. Credits: Tom Sturdy (Audio Post-Production), LSE AV Services (Audio Recording).
Contributor(s): Professor Matthew Kahn | Professor Kahn, a leading expert on environmental and urban issues, will examine China’s economic growth to present key issues from his latest research. Matthew Kahn is a Professor in the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability. Steve Gibbons is Professor of Economic Geography at LSE. The Department of Geography and Environment at LSE (@LSEGeography) is a centre of international academic excellence in economic, urban and development geography, environmental social science and climate change. The Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment (@GRI_LSE) is a research centre at LSE. The Institute’s research looks at the economics of climate change, and aims to inform policy and academic debate. Credits: Tom Sturdy (Audio Post-Production), LSE AV Services (Audio Recording).
Contributor(s): Professor Sendhil Mullainathan | Why does poverty persist? Why do successful people get things done at the last minute? A single psychology--the psychology of scarcity--connects these seemingly unconnected questions. The research in our book shows how scarcity creates its own mindset. Understanding this mindset sheds light on our personal problems as well as the broader social problem of poverty and what we can do about it. Sendhil Mullainathan (@m_sendhil) is a Professor of Economics at Harvard whose main interest is behavioural economics. Credits: Tom Sturdy (Audio Post-Production), LSE AV Services (Audio Recording).
Contributor(s): Professor Julian Le Grand | Should governments save people from themselves? Do governments have the right to influence citizens’ behavior related to smoking tobacco, eating too much, not saving enough, drinking alcohol, or taking marijuana—or does this create a nanny state, leading to infantilization, demotivation, and breaches in individual autonomy? Looking at examples from both sides of the Atlantic and around the world, Government Paternalism examines the justifications for, and the prevalence of, government involvement and considers when intervention might or might not be acceptable. Building on developments in philosophy, behavioral economics, and psychology, Julian Le Grand explore the roles, boundaries, and responsibilities of the government and its citizens in his new book The Government Paternalist: nanny state or helpful friend? Julian Le Grand is Richard Titmuss Professor of Social Policy at LSE. Howard Glennerster is Emeritus Professor of Social Policy at LSE. The Department of Social Policy (@LSESocialPolicy) is the longest established in the UK and offers outstanding teaching based on the highest quality empirical research in the field. Credits: Tom Sturdy (Audio Post-Production), LSE AV Services (Audio Recording).
Contributor(s): Professor Ed Glaeser | Residents of big cities typically earn higher wages, but are they any happier? According to surveys on life satisfaction, American cities were once less happy than rural areas. Industrial areas seem once to have paid wages that were high enough for their residents to put up with a little misery, but this is no longer true. The unhappier cities of America's industrial heartland have shrunk, while the happier cities have grown, and today there is no relationship between city size and self-reported life satisfaction within the U.S. The developing world today appears to be reversing the Western industrial pattern of happy farms/unhappy cities, with far higher levels of life satisfaction in urban areas. Ed Glaeser is Fred and Eleanor Glimp Professor of Economics at Harvard University. Ricky Burdett (@BURDETTR) is Professor of Urban Studies, and director of LSE Cities and the Urban Age Programme. LSE Cities (@LSECities) is an international centre at the London School of Economics and Political Science that carries out research, education and outreach activities in London and abroad. Its mission is to study how people and cities interact in a rapidly urbanising world, focussing on how the design of cities impacts on society, culture and the environment. Credits: Tom Sturdy (Audio Post-Production), LSE AV Services (Audio Recording).
Contributor(s): Dr Purna Sen | As part of LSE Research Festival 2015 the Above the Parapet project will showcase its recent research on women in public life. Purna Sen (@Purna_Sen) is Deputy Director of the Institute of Public Affairs at LSE. Julia Black is Pro Director for Research at LSE. LSE Research Festival (@LSEResearchFest) is a series of events, free and open to all, celebrating public engagement with social science research. The centrepiece of the series is an annual public exhibition of research from across LSE and other institutions in three categories - film, photography, and poster design. The Institute of Public Affairs (@LSEPubAffairs) is one of the world's leading centres of public policy. We aim to debate and address some of the major issues of our time, whether international or national, through our established teaching programmes, our research and our highly innovative public-engagement initiatives. LSE Works is a series of public lectures, that will showcase some of the latest research by LSE's academic departments and research centres. In each session, LSE academics will present key research findings, demonstrating where appropriate the implications of their studies for public policy. A list of all the LSE Works lectures can be viewed at LSE Works.
Contributor(s): Professor Joseph E Stiglitz | Why has inequality increased in the Western world and what can we do about it? In this new book, The Great Divide, which he will talk about in this public lecture, Joseph E. Stiglitz expands on the diagnosis he offered in his best-selling book The Price of Inequality and suggests ways to counter this growing problem. Stiglitz argues that inequality is a choice: the cumulative result of unjust policies and misguided priorities. Ultimately, Stiglitz believes our choice is not between growth and fairness; with the right policies, we can choose both. Joseph Stiglitz (@JosephEStiglitz) was Chief Economist at the World Bank until January 2000. He is currently University Professor of the Columbia Business School, and Chair of the Management Board and Director of Graduate Summer Programs at the Brooks World Poverty Institute, University of Manchester. He won the Nobel Prize for Economics in 2001 and is the best-selling author of Globalization and Its Discontents, The Roaring Nineties, Making Globalization Work, Freefall and The Price of Inequality, all published by Penguin. The new International Inequalities Institute (@LSEInequalities) at LSE will bring together experts from many LSE departments and centres to lead critical and cutting edge research to understand why inequalities are escalating in numerous arenas across the world, and to develop critical tools to address these challenges.
Contributor(s): Professor Raewyn Connell | The creation of contemporary knowledge about gender is a revolution in thought that has been closely connected with political struggles for gender justice. In the last generation a major problem about this field of knowledge has been recognized, its constitution within a worldwide economy of knowledge shaped by the power and wealth of the global North. This lecture will explore recent attempts to overcome this problem, in feminist re-thinking of imperialism, coloniality and Southern perspectives. The lecture will consider connections of knowledge with feminist politics in the neoliberal era, when new forms of patriarchy have emerged; and will ask if we can have a fully decolonized global feminism that is both politically effective and socially radical. Raewyn Connell (@raewynconnell) is Professor Emerita at the University of Sydney, and one of Australia's leading social scientists. Her most recent books are Southern Theory (2007), about social thought beyond the global metropole; Confronting Equality (2011), about social science and politics; and Gender: In World Perspective (3rd edn, with Rebecca Pearse, 2015). Her other books include Masculinities, Schools & Social Justice, Ruling Class Ruling Culture, Gender & Power, and Making the Difference. Her work has been translated into eighteen languages. She has taught at universities in Australia, Canada and the USA, in departments of sociology, political science, and education, and is a long-term participant in the labour movement and peace movement. The Gender Institute (@lsegendertweet) was established in 1993 to address the major intellectual challenges posed by contemporary changes in gender relations. This remains a central aim of the Institute today, which is the largest research and teaching unit of its kind in Europe. Feminist Theory (@FeministTheory) is an international peer reviewed journal that provides a forum for critical analysis and constructive debate within feminism. Feminist Theory is genuinely interdisciplinary and reflects the diversity of feminism, incorporating perspectives from across the broad spectrum of the humanities and social sciences and the full range of feminist political and theoretical stances. Credits: Tom Sturdy (Audio Post-Production), LSE AV Services (Audio Recording).
Contributor(s): Fareed Zakaria | Fareed Zakaria argues the turn away from the liberal arts is a mistake. In today’s world, the jobs of the future will go to people who have creativity, curiosity, and social skills, precisely the strengths of a broad based education. Fareed Zakaria (@FareedZakaria) is host of CNN’s flagship foreign affairs show Fareed Zakaria GPS, a Washington Post columnist, a contributing editor for The Atlantic and a New York Times best selling author. This event marks the launch of his new book, In Defense of a Liberal Education. Charlie Beckett (@CharlieBeckett) is the founding director of POLIS, the think-tank for research and debate in to international journalism and society in the Media and Communications Department. Credits: Tom Sturdy (Audio Post-Production), LSE AV Services (Audio Recording).
Contributor(s): Laszlo Bock | Google receives more than two million unique job applications a year. In this talk, Laszlo Bock, the head of their People Operations, will explain how Google went from a small search engine to a global company of over 50,000 employees without losing its culture and core values. Laszlo Bock (@LaszloBock2718) leads Google's people function, which includes all areas related to the attraction, development, and retention of 'Googlers', of which there are more than 50,000 in seventy offices worldwide. During his tenure, Google has been recognised over 100 times as an exceptional employer, including being named the Number 1 Best Company to work for in the UK, Ireland, US, Japan, Brazil and numerous other countries. He is author of Work Rules! Insights from Inside Google that Will Transform How you Live and Lead. Sandy Pepper is Professor of Management Practice in the Department of Management at LSE. The Department of Management (@LSEManagement) is a globally diverse academic community at the heart of the LSE, taking a unique interdisciplinary, academically in-depth approach to the study of management and organisations. Credits: Tom Sturdy (Audio Post-Production), LSE AV Services (Audio Recording).
Contributor(s): Professor Stephanie Seguino, Saphieh Ashtiany, Diane Negra | Austerity policies lead to cuts in social spending that have a potentially disproportionately negative effect on women, youth and racial or ethnic minorities. Stephanie Seguino is Professor of Economics at the University of Vermont and Professorial Research Associate at SOAS. Stephanie Seguino's research explores the impact of globalisation on income distribution and well-being, with a particular emphasis on Asian and Caribbean economies. She has been an advisor or consultant to numerous international organisations including the World Bank, United Nations Development Program, the Asian Development Bank, and US AID, and publishes regularly in a number of economic journals, including World Development, Journal of Development Studies, and Feminist Economics. Professor Seguino has also contributed her services to local and global living wage campaigns. Saphieh Ashtiany is Principal of Ashtiany Associates, visiting Professor at QMUL, Chair of the Equal Rights Trust and a non-Executive Director and Vice-Chair of the Charities Aid Foundation. Saphieh is an internationally recognised expert on employment and equality law and is ranked in the top tier of UK employment and discrimination lawyers. She currently works on complex consultancy projects for not-for-profit and institutional bodies. Diane Negra is Professor of Film Studies and Screen Culture and Head of Film Studies at University College Dublin. The co-editor of the journal Television and New Media, she is author, editor or co-editor of nine books including Off-White Hollywood: American Culture and Ethnic Female Stardom (2001), A Feminist Reader in Early Cinema (2002), Interrogating Postfeminism: Gender and the Politics of Popular Culture (2007), What A Girl Wants?: Fantasizing the Reclamation of Self in Postfeminism (2008) and Gendering the Recession: Media and Culture in an Age of Austerity (2014). A former member of the Board of Directors of the Society for Cinema and Media Studies, she serves on the Board of the Console-ing Passions International Conference on Television, Video, Audio, New Media and Feminism and with institutional partners will host the 2015 event in Dublin. Alan Manning is Professor of Economics and Director of the Community Programme at the Centre for Economic Performance (CEP) at LSE. The LSE Commission on Gender, Inequality and Power (@LSEGenderTweet) draws on LSE research and external experts to inform public and policy debates on the complex and multidimensional character of inequality and power imbalances between women and men. Credits: Tom Sturdy (Audio Post-Production), LSE AV Services (Audio Recording).
Contributor(s): Professor Richard A Shweder, Dr Bradley Franks, Professor Anne Phillips | Are there limits to liberal moral concepts for judging others? What does a highly developed social intelligence look like? Can there be cultural difference without economic inequality? Richard A Shweder is a cultural anthropologist and cultural psychologist and the Harold Higgins Swift Distinguished Service Professor in the Department of Comparative Human Development at the University of Chicago. Bradley Franks is Associate Professor of Psychology in the Department of Social Psychology at LSE. He has interests in the intersections between culture, evolution and cognition, and has researched a variety of topics within this field, including the self, agency, varieties of knowledge representation and categorisation. His books include The Social Psychology of Communication (with D Hook & M Bauer, Palgrave MacMillan, 201), and Cognition and Culture: Evolutionary Perspectives (Palgrave MacMillan, 2011). Anne Phillips is the Graham Wallas Professor of Political Science in the Government Department at LSE. She is a political theorist, who has written extensively on issues of democracy and representation, equality and difference, feminism and multiculturalism, bodies and property. Her books include Multiculturalism without Culture (Princeton University Press, 2007), Our Bodies, Whose Property? (Princeton University Press, 2013) and The Politics of the Human (Cambridge University Press, 2015). Alex Gillespie is Associate Professor in Social Psychology at LSE. The Department of Social Psychology (@PsychologyLSE) is a leading international centre dedicated to consolidating and expanding the contribution of social psychology to the understanding and knowledge of key social, economic, political and cultural issues. Credits: Tom Sturdy (Audio Post-Production), LSE AV Services (Audio Recording).
Contributor(s): Professor John Curtice, Polly Toynbee, Hilary Wainwright | What do the results of the British general election mean for the left? John Curtice is Professor of Politics at Strathclyde University. Polly Toynbee is a Guardian columnist. Hilary Wainwright is the Editor of Red Pepper magazine. Robin Archer is Associate Professor in Political Sociology and Director of the Ralph Miliband Programme at LSE. The Ralph Miliband Programme (@rmilibandlse) is one of LSE's most prestigious lecture series and seeks to advance Ralph Miliband's spirit of free social inquiry. Credits: Tom Sturdy (Audio Post-Production), LSE AV Services (Audio Recording).
Contributor(s): Hank Paulson, Lionel Barber | Hank Paulson has dealt with the government and business communities of China to a greater extent than any other foreigner alive today. As head of Goldman Sachs and as U.S. Treasury Secretary, he has worked with scores of top Chinese leaders, including Xi Jinping, China's most powerful man in decades. He will talk about his new book, Dealing with China, which takes readers behind closed doors to the future of China's state-controlled capitalism, in conversation with Lionel Barber. Henry M Paulson Jr is founder and chairman of the Paulson Institute, an independent center devoted to advancing global environmental protection and sustainable economic growth in the United States and China. He served as the 74th Secretary of the Treasury under President George W. Bush and, prior to that, was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Goldman Sachs. Lionel Barber (@lionelbarber) has been editor of the Financial Times since November 2005. Danny Quah (@DannyQuah) is Director of the Saw Swee Hock Southeast Asia Centre and Professor of Economics and International Development at LSE. Established in 2014, the Saw Swee Hock Southeast Asia Centre (@LSESEAC) is an inter-disciplinary, regionally-focused academic centre within the LSE. Building on the School's deep academic and historical connections with Southeast Asia, the Centre serves as a hub at LSE for public debate and engagement, and research dissemination on issues relevant to the region. Credits: Tom Sturdy (Audio Post-Production), LSE AV Services (Audio Recording).
Contributor(s): Professor Prasenjit Duara, Professor William A Callahan, Professor Stephan Feuchtwang, Professor Rana Mitter | Professor Duara will discuss his new book, The Crisis of Global Modernity: Asian traditions and a sustainable future, which suggests that Asian ideas can help us address the crises of the 21st century. Prasenjit Duara is the Raffles Professor of Humanities and Director of the Asia Research Institute at the National University of Singapore. William A Callahan is Professor of International Relations at the LSE, and his recent publications include China Dreams: 20 Visions of the Future, and the documentary video, China Dreams: The Debate. Stephan Feuchtwang is an emeritus professor in the Department of Anthropology at LSE. Rana Mitter is Professor of the History and Politics of Modern China at the University of Oxford and Fellow of St Cross College. Meghnad Desai is Professor Emeritus of Economics at LSE and a Labour peer. The International Relations Department at LSE (@LSEIRDept) is now in its 87th year, making it one of the oldest as well as largest in the world.
Contributor(s): David Soskice, Wendy Carlin, Bob Rowthorn, Diane Perrons, Stephanie Seguino, Lisa McKenzie, Naila Kabeer, Dr. Laura Bear, Gareth Jones, Mike Savage, Sir John Hills, Sir Tony Atkinson, Thomas Piketty | A day-long conference with Thomas Piketty, whose Capital in the Twenty-First Century has been of global significance in shaping debates about inequality across the globe. The workshop will be hosted by LSE's new International Inequalities Institute with the Department of Sociology at LSE and the British Journal of Sociology, which ran a special issue of reviews on Piketty's book, several of the contributors to which will be involved in these discussions. Thomas Piketty is a professor of economics at the Paris School of Economics, an alumnus of the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and author of Capital in the Twenty-First Century. Suggested hashtag for this event for Twitter users: #LSEIII. Session 1, 10.15am to 11.30am, Economics, Political Economy and Democracy. Session 2, 11.45am to 1.00pm, Gender and Everyday Life. Session 3, 2.00pm to 3.15pm, Accumulation and Timespaces of Class. Session 4, 3.30pm to 4.45pm, The policy implications.
Contributor(s): David Soskice, Wendy Carlin, Bob Rowthorn, Diane Perrons, Stephanie Seguino, Lisa McKenzie, Naila Kabeer, Dr. Laura Bear, Gareth Jones, Mike Savage, Sir John Hills, Sir Tony Atkinson, Thomas Piketty | A day-long conference with Thomas Piketty, whose Capital in the Twenty-First Century has been of global significance in shaping debates about inequality across the globe. The workshop will be hosted by LSE's new International Inequalities Institute with the Department of Sociology at LSE and the British Journal of Sociology, which ran a special issue of reviews on Piketty's book, several of the contributors to which will be involved in these discussions. Thomas Piketty is a professor of economics at the Paris School of Economics, an alumnus of the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and author of Capital in the Twenty-First Century. Suggested hashtag for this event for Twitter users: #LSEIII. Session 1, 10.15am to 11.30am, Economics, Political Economy and Democracy. Session 2, 11.45am to 1.00pm, Gender and Everyday Life. Session 3, 2.00pm to 3.15pm, Accumulation and Timespaces of Class. Session 4, 3.30pm to 4.45pm, The policy implications.
Contributor(s): David Soskice, Wendy Carlin, Bob Rowthorn, Diane Perrons, Stephanie Seguino, Lisa McKenzie, Naila Kabeer, Dr. Laura Bear, Gareth Jones, Mike Savage, Sir John Hills, Sir Tony Atkinson, Thomas Piketty | A day-long conference with Thomas Piketty, whose Capital in the Twenty-First Century has been of global significance in shaping debates about inequality across the globe. The workshop will be hosted by LSE's new International Inequalities Institute with the Department of Sociology at LSE and the British Journal of Sociology, which ran a special issue of reviews on Piketty's book, several of the contributors to which will be involved in these discussions. Thomas Piketty is a professor of economics at the Paris School of Economics, an alumnus of the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and author of Capital in the Twenty-First Century. Suggested hashtag for this event for Twitter users: #LSEIII. Session 1, 10.15am to 11.30am, Economics, Political Economy and Democracy. Session 2, 11.45am to 1.00pm, Gender and Everyday Life. Session 3, 2.00pm to 3.15pm, Accumulation and Timespaces of Class. Session 4, 3.30pm to 4.45pm, The policy implications.
Contributor(s): David Soskice, Wendy Carlin, Bob Rowthorn, Diane Perrons, Stephanie Seguino, Lisa McKenzie, Naila Kabeer, Dr. Laura Bear, Gareth Jones, Mike Savage, Sir John Hills, Sir Tony Atkinson, Thomas Piketty | A day-long conference with Thomas Piketty, whose Capital in the Twenty-First Century has been of global significance in shaping debates about inequality across the globe. The workshop will be hosted by LSE's new International Inequalities Institute with the Department of Sociology at LSE and the British Journal of Sociology, which ran a special issue of reviews on Piketty’s book, several of the contributors to which will be involved in these discussions. Thomas Piketty is a professor of economics at the Paris School of Economics, an alumnus of the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and author of Capital in the Twenty-First Century. Suggested hashtag for this event for Twitter users: #LSEIII. Session 1, 10.15am to 11.30am, Economics, Political Economy and Democracy. Session 2, 11.45am to 1.00pm, Gender and Everyday Life. Session 3, 2.00pm to 3.15pm, Accumulation and Timespaces of Class. Session 4, 3.30pm to 4.45pm, The policy implications.
Contributor(s): Dr Laura Bear, Professor David Graeber, Professor Bill Maurer | Can “bad money” be made good? Leading economic anthropologists will debate the morality of money, philosophies of philanthropy, and the lure of redemption. Laura Bear is Associate Professor of Anthropology at LSE. David Graeber (@davidgraeber) is Professor of Anthropology at LSE. Bill Maurer is Professor of Anthropology and Law at UC Irvine. Giles Fraser (@giles_fraser) is a Priest, former Canon Chancellor of St Paul’s Cathedral and Guardian columnist. TheForum on Religion is part of the Programme for the Study of Religion and Non-Religion at LSE, based in the Department of Anthropology. The Programme aims to bring together staff and research students from across LSE, and within the wider academic and policy communities, working on issues to do with religion, secularism, and “non-religious” practices, beliefs, and traditions. LSE's Anthropology Department (@LSEAnthropology), with a long and distinguished history, remains a leading centre for innovative research and teaching.
Contributor(s): Professor Fran Tonkiss | What kinds of cities are emerging as urbanisation grows alongside worsening inequality? Why does urban inequality matter, and what is distinctive about urban inequalities now? Fran Tonkiss is Professor of Sociology at LSE and Director of the Cities Programme. Ricky Burdett (@BURDETTR) is Professor of Urban Studies in the Department of Sociology, and Director of LSE Cities and the Urban Age Programme. The Department of Sociology at LSE (@LSEsociology) was established in 1904 and remains committed to top quality teaching and leading research and scholarship today.
Contributor(s): Professor Robert Cassen, Professor Sandra McNally, Professor Anna Vignoles, Professor Steve Strand | Is education policy evidence-based? The speakers have written a book, Making a Difference in Education: What the evidence says surveying the evidence about the effectiveness of education in the UK. They will review the book's main findings about raising pupil outcomes and narrowing the social gap. Robert Cassen is a Visiting Professor in the Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion, LSE; in 2008 he received an OBE for services to education. Sandra McNally (@Sandra_McNally) is Professor of Economics at the University of Surrey and Director of the Education and Skills Programme in the Centre for Economic Performance, LSE. Anna Vignoles (@AnnaVignoles) is Professor of Education at the University of Cambridge. She is a Research Associate at the Institute for Fiscal Studies and a Visiting Professor at the Institute of Education. Steve Strand is Professor of Education at the University of Oxford. Howard Glennerster is Emeritus Professor of Social Policy and CASE Associate at LSE. The Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion (CASE) at LSE (@CASE_lse) focuses on the exploration of different dimensions of social disadvantage, particularly from longitudinal and neighbourhood perspectives, and examination of the impact of public policy. LSE Works is a series of public lectures, that will showcase some of the latest research by LSE's academic departments and research centres. In each session, LSE academics will present key research findings, demonstrating where appropriate the implications of their studies for public policy. A list of all the LSE Works lectures can be viewed at LSE Works.
Contributor(s): Professor Peter Katzenstein | Professor Katzenstein will discuss the Anglo-American civilisation, how it compares to the world’s other civilisations, and the possibilities for a more inclusive global civilisation. Peter Katzenstein is the former President of the American Political Science Association and the Walter S Carpenter, Jr Professor of International Studies at Cornell University. Peter Trubowitz is Professor of International Relations and Director of the US Centre at LSE. The International Relations Department at LSE (@LSEIRDept) is now in its 87th year, making it one of the oldest as well as largest in the world.
Contributor(s): Professor Arne Westad | The rivalry between China and the United States for influence in Asia will determine the geo-political landscape in this century. At the moment, most of the advantages are on the US side, especially since China after the last economic crisis seems to have been busy driving away potential allies in the region. But will this state of affairs last? What can China do to mobilise its undeniable resources in the exercise of a more effective foreign policy? And how will domestic developments in the two countries influence their long-term Asia policies? In his final public lecture at LSE before taking up the ST Lee Chair in US-Asian Relations at Harvard University, Professor Westad will discuss these questions with the audience. Professor Arne Westad (@OAWestad) is Director of LSE IDEAS. Michael Cox is Director of LSE IDEAS and Professor of International Relations at LSE. LSE IDEAS (@lseideas) is a centre for the study of international affairs, diplomacy and grand strategy.
Contributor(s): Gillian Slovo | Gillian Slovo will reflect on revolutionary heroism and the impact of the ANC’s turn to armed struggle in the fight for democracy in South Africa. Gillian Slovo is a South African born novelist, playwright and memoirist. Robin Archer is Associate Professor in Political Sociology and Director of the Ralph Miliband Programme at LSE. The Ralph Miliband Programme (@rmilibandlse) is one of LSE's most prestigious lecture series and seeks to advance Ralph Miliband's spirit of free social inquiry.
Contributor(s): Maria Luís Albuquerque | Following a difficult adjustment period, the Portuguese economy is now recovering and standing on more solid ground – sounder public finances, secured financial stability and growing competitiveness. Notwithstanding, given the magnitude of the economic imbalances accumulated before the crisis, the significant correction achieved in recent years was not yet sufficient to substantially reduce indebtedness and unemployment. While these remain as central challenges, they are also a constant reminder of the importance of keeping the current reform momentum. And keeping the current reform momentum is certainly the biggest opportunity for the future of the economy and of the country itself. It also demonstrates that one of the key lessons from the crisis was learned: prevention is less costly than correction. Thus, in order to consolidate recent results and move towards sustainable growth, the discipline and the determination that ensured the success of the adjustment must continue in all dimensions – both in good times and bad times. Maria Luís Albuquerque is the Portuguese Minister of State and Finance. The LSE European Institute (@LSEEI) was established in 1991 as a dedicated centre for the interdisciplinary study of processes of integration and fragmentation within Europe. In the most recent national Research Assessment Exercise, the Institute was ranked first for research in European Studies in the United Kingdom. The LSE European Institute has been a Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence since 2009.
Contributor(s): Professor Sir Tony Atkinson, Tom Clark, Professor Baroness Lister | Introducing his new book, Inequality: what can be done?, Professor Atkinson will argue we can do much more about inequality than skeptics imagine. Tony Atkinson is a Centennial Professor at LSE and a Fellow of Nuffield College, Oxford. Tom Clark (@guardian_clark) writes for The Guardian and is the author of Hard Times: the divisive toll of the economic slump. Ruth Lister is Baroness Lister of Burtersett and Emeritus Professor of Social Policy at Loughborough University. Nicholas Stern is IG Patel Chair of Economics and Government at LSE and President of the British Academy. The Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion (CASE) at LSE (@CASE_lse) focuses on the exploration of different dimensions of social disadvantage, particularly from longitudinal and neighbourhood perspectives, and examination of the impact of public policy. The LSE International Inequalities Institute (@LSEInequalities) will be formally launched in autumn 2015 and aims to become the world’s premier centre for inter-disciplinary research on inequalities, creating a centre of excellence that will pool and facilitate the best research within the School and across the world. As well as its research activity, the impact of Institute will be in informing and assessing policy solutions to address the problem of inequalities and the profound challenges to social cohesion, solidarity, social welfare and well-being.
Contributor(s): Andrew Palmer | Finance distorts behaviour and destroys economies, but it also solves society's biggest problems. A new wave of financial innovation is tackling everything from the threat of pandemics to the retirement crisis, from credit-starved borrowers to recidivism in prisons. Andrew Palmer (@palmerandrew) has worked at the Economist since 2007; as the banking correspondent from 2007-2009, the finance editor from 2009-2013 and currently as head of data journalism. He has a master's degree in international relations from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). This event marks the publication of his new book, Smart Money. Andrea Vedolin is Assistant Professor of Finance in the Department of Finance and a Research Associate in the Systemic Risk Centre at LSE. The Systemic Risk Centre (@LSE_SRC) investigates the risks that may trigger the next financial crisis and develops practical tools to help policy-makers and private institutions become better prepared. Credits: Tom Sturdy (Audio Post-Production), LSE AV Services (Audio Recording).
Contributor(s): Oystein Olsen, Dr Sushil Wadhwani | The past decade shows how monetary policy and financial stability are interlinked. In recent years, Norges Bank has been one of few central banks where the risk of a build-up of financial imbalances has played an explicit role in monetary policy. Norges Bank was also one of the first to establish an analytical framework for the Basel III macroprudential countercyclical capital buffer. The Governor, Øystein Olsen, will discuss both analytical and organisational aspects of integrating monetary policy and financial stability and share experiences from Norges Bank so far. Øystein Olsen is the Governor of Norges Bank (Norway's central bank), a position he has held since 2011. Sushil Wadhwani is the founder of Wadhwani Asset Management LLP and a former member of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee. Dr Wadhwani was educated at the London School of Economics and Political Science, where he obtained a BSc (Econ), MSc (Econ) and PhD (Econ). Sir Charles Bean is a Professor of Economics at LSE and a former Deputy Governor of the Bank of England. The Systemic Risk Centre (@LSE_SRC) investigates the risks that may trigger the next financial crisis and develops practical tools to help policy-makers and private institutions become better prepared.
Contributor(s): Dr Fabienne Peter, Professor Catherine Rowett, Dr Stephen de Wijze | Is politics the instrument of moral ideals and values? Is it something like ‘applied morality’? In recent years there has been a revival of approaches which give greater autonomy to distinctively political thought, which can be called ‘political realism’, in contrast to ‘political moralism’. The panel discussion will explore this contrast, and ask whether political legitimacy is ultimately a question of one’s moral conception. Fabienne Peter is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Warwick. Catherine Rowett (@catherinerowett) is Professor of Philosophy at the University of East Anglia and Green Party parliamentary candidate for South Norfolk. Stephen de Wijze is Senior Lecturer in Political Theory at the University of Manchester. Geoffrey Hawthorn is Emeritus Professor of International Politics and Emeritus Fellow at Clare Hall, University of Cambridge. The Forum for European Philosophy (@LSEPhilosophy) is an educational charity which organises and runs a full and varied programme of philosophy and interdisciplinary events in the UK.
Contributor(s): Matthew Crawford | Matthew Crawford will be in conversation with Professor Richard Sennett about his new book, The World Beyond Your Head: How to Flourish in an Age of Distraction, in which he investigates the challenge of mastering one's own mind. With ever-increasing demands on our attention, how do we focus on what's really important in our lives? Matthew Crawford is a philosopher and mechanic. He has a Ph.D. in political philosophy from the University of Chicago and served as a postdoctoral fellow on its Committee on Social Thought. Currently a senior fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture at the University of Virginia, he also runs Shockoe Moto, a motorcycle repair shop. Richard Sennett is Director of Theatrum Mundi, University Professor of the Humanities at New York University and Professor of Sociology at LSE. Credits: Tom Sturdy (Audio Post-Production), LSE AV Services (Audio Recording).
Contributor(s): Jack Blumenau, Simon Hix, Tony Travers, Sue Cameron | The third of the general election debates, involving five opposition party leaders: Natalie Bennett (Greens), Nigel Farage (UKIP), Ed Miliband (Labour), Nicola Sturgeon (SNP) and Leanne Wood (Plaid Cymru) will be screened live at the LSE (from 8-9.30pm) and will be followed by a panel discussion involving LSE academics and the audience (from 9.30-10.30pm). LSE's Jack Blumenau, Simon Hix, Tony Travers and columnist and presenter Sue Cameron will be taking part in the post debate discussion. Jack Blumenau (@jblumenau) is a Managing Editor of LSE General Election 2015 blog and a PhD candidate in the Department of Government at LSE. Sue Cameron has been a columnist for The Daily Telegraph and the Financial Times and is a former presenter of Newsnight, Channel Four News and the ITN Parliament Programme. She is renowned for her contacts in Whitehall, and writes about the Government's relationship with the Civil Service. Simon Hix (@simonjhix) is Professor of European and Comparative Politics and Fellow of the British Academy and Head of Department of Government at LSE. Tony Travers is a visiting professor at LSE, and is a specialist in issues affecting local government. He is Director of the Greater London Group and British Government @ LSE. British Government @ LSE (@lsegovernment) is an initiative currently based in the Government Department to promote and develop research on British Government being conducted at the LSE. So far world class speakers have attended our events, talking on a range of topics.