Lse: Public Lectures And Events

Contributor(s): Professor Vimal Ranchhod, Faeza Meyer, Dr Eleni Karagiannaki, Dr Shabna Begum | Wealthy households able to draw on owner occupied housing assets, private pensions, savings and financial investments have prospered. Meanwhile the majority of the populations, even in rich nations – have been exposed to harsh ‘austerity’ policies, and often the need to balance debt obligations. There is increasing evidence that wealth assets play a significant role in allowing social mobility advantages to the children of wealthy households. However, it is not widely appreciated that these developments underscore the intensification of racial wealth divides. Although the historical study of the racialised elements of wealth inequality is widely known, with widely appreciated studies of slavery and imperialism, the contemporary racialisation of wealth inequality needs to be much better known. This event features original research reporting on their findings from the UK, South Africa, and elsewhere.

Contributor(s): Professor Richard Pettigrew, Dr David Jarrett, Nicci Gerrard, Ruth Bright | Many of us will face this important question: over 850,000 people in the UK currently have dementia, and many more will be involved in their care. One of the great strengths of the LSE is its work in decision-theory – but how should we apply decision-theory to those with dementia? How can we figure out the preferences of a person who currently has dementia, whose desires may appear incoherent and ever-shifting? Should we focus on a person’s current desires – or rather on what they ‘would have wanted’ – or indeed what they did want for themselves before dementia took hold? And how should we make room for the needs of carers, and the wider community? To discuss these questions, we bring together a diverse collection of thinkers for a panel-style event, with discussion questions posed by the chair, and regular questions from the audience.

Contributor(s): Lord McFall | He advises caution on radical reform of the Upper House, arguing that incremental change to the process for nomination of peers would strengthen its role as a “forum for civil society” allowing the country to draw on expertise from outside politics.

Contributor(s): Professor Eric Schneider | Children with poor nutrition or who are exposed to high levels of chronic disease grow more slowly than healthy children. Thus, children’s growth is a sensitive metric of how population health has evolved over time. Eric begins by showing how child growth has changed around the world since the nineteenth century and linking changes in child growth to child stunting, children who are too short for their age relative to healthy standards, the most common indicator used to measure malnutrition in LMICs today. Then he discusses the key determinants of poor child growth drawing on historical research and contemporary findings related to the ‘Indian Enigma’, the puzzling fact that Indian children are shorter than sub-Saharan African children today despite India’s lead in many indicators of economic development. Finally, he will consider what lessons historical analysis of child malnutrition has for tackling child stunting today.

Contributor(s): Professor Catherine Boone, Professor Wendy Wolford | For over 100 years, plantations have served as the imagined ideal for agricultural production and labor management in Mozambique. This talk outlines the colonial roots of this desire for the always-elusive plantation and argue that it manifests in contemporary Mozambique in a variety of ways: the global market takes priority over local needs; agricultural researchers rely on external funding that is short-term, motivated by international interests and the search for new varieties rather than land management; and local residents long seen only as plantation labor are separated into ‘emerging’ and ‘poor’ farmers, with research aimed at the former and charity at the latter.

Contributor(s): Daffne Valdes Vargas, Sibila Sotomayor Van Rysseghem, Paula Cometa Stange | This is a timely event. 50 years after the Chilean coup that ushered forth a violent 17-year dictatorship and 5 years after Chile’s widespread democratic protests, known as the estallido social, they will discuss the importance of understanding history for the present and why feminist theory and resistance matters more than ever. They also speak about their book, Set Fear on Fire: the feminist call that set the Americas ablaze, published earlier this year. What role does art and performance have in politics and how does it shape activism around the world? What relevance does Chile’s history have for contemporary politics and society? How has the conceptualisation of human rights changed over time and what rights should we be concerned about safeguarding today? 

Contributor(s): Stephen Timms MP, Professor Kirsten Sehnbruch, Professor James Foster | In the context of a worldwide cost-of-living crisis and likely recession, policy attention will focus increasingly on poverty and employment. In the UK, as elsewhere, those workers employed in low-wage, unstable jobs with poor working conditions are likely to suffer disproportionately in this crisis, thus exacerbating existing inequalities.  It will further discuss the policy implications and applications of this research, especially in the context of potential future disruptions in the labour market such as technological changes, climate change, population ageing and migration. The event will present research from a British Academy Global Professorship on multidimensional quality of employment deprivation.

Contributor(s): Professor Leslie Willcocks, Dr Michael Muthukrishna, Lucy Bailey, Dr Grace Lordan | The job market is in constant flux; industries change or become obsolete and new technologies emerge and disrupt. Never before has this been more salient, with the recent progress of AI. In this public event the panel will explain just how AI is now and will continue to disrupt the labour market.

Contributor(s): Professor Paul Dolan | Paul Dolan introduces his new podcast series, Get Happier, which aims to help you improve your own happiness and the happiness of those around you, at home and at work, without too much effort.  This recording contains strong language. 

Contributor(s): Rachel Reeves MP | In this event, Rachel delves into the untold stories of remarkable women who have historically been sidelined in the economic landscape. As both a woman and an economist, Rachel brings a unique perspective to the challenges faced by women in the field and the broader impact on society. She addresses the barriers these women encountered, highlighting the consequences for us all when their contributions were dismissed. This event is a call to action, inspiring us to work towards an economy that fosters productivity, sustains growth, and creates opportunities for everyone, irrespective of their background.

Contributor(s): Professor Leslie Vinjamuri, Ann Pettifor, Professor Abraham L Newman, Professor Henry Farrell | The panel discusses debates around the weaponisation of the global economy with the sustainability of these tactics, how different major and emerging powers are reacting, and what role the UK has to play in both utilising and mitigating these tactics.

Contributor(s): Ros Taylor, Dr Abby Innes, Professor Gwyn Bevan | The post-war political settlement established by Clement Attlee’s government developed systems to tackle what William Beveridge identified as five giant evils of Britain in 1942: Want, Disease, Ignorance, Idleness, and Squalor. By 1979, these systems were failing. In the UK, from 1979, successive governments led by Margaret Thatcher aimed to tackle those failures in a neoliberal settlement based on rolling back the state and empowering markets. This strategy was based on two fundamental neoliberal ideas. First, the social responsibility of private enterprises is to maximise profits within rules of the game. Second, effective systems of governance can harness the attractions of market forces for services that violate the requirements for markets to be effective.

Contributor(s): Gemma Mortensen, Kirsty McNeill, David Robinson | How are we to live together? More than ever, the big questions that we face are all about relationships. Their substance and quality will determine the direction and quality of our lives. In his 2018 LSE public lecture David Robinson set out the case for building a better society by building better relationships. What happened next? David will tell the unfolding story of the Relationships Project, discuss new trends in our understanding of relationships, and put forward his practical vision of a place where 'meaningful relationships are the central operating principle' for social innovation.

Contributor(s): Dr SM Rodriguez, Dr Mame-Fatou Niang | In tandem with the theme of Black History Month, "Celebrating our Sisters, Saluting our Sisters, and Honouring Matriarchs of Movements", this panel discussion analyses the role of black women in social, cultural and political movements historically and in our times.

Contributor(s): Faiza Shaheen, Duncan Green, Dr Jens Madsen | Experts will discuss how change isn't as straightforward as we'd like it to be – How it can be all in the timing and that, at times, you just need to wait for the right moment to make change happen. We’ll hear from an academic striving to become a Member of Parliament and make change from within the political system, rather than by lobbying from the outside. And an author and strategic advisor to Oxfam will explain how change is built around communities and groups of people rather than the individual. Mike Wilkerson talks to: Faiza Shaheen, an author and a Labour candidate running to become an MP; Dr. Jens Madsen an Assistant Professor at LSE’s Department of Psychological and Behavioural Science; and Dr. Duncan Green a Professor in Practice and Senior Strategic advisor to Oxfam. Contributors Faiza Shaheen Duncan Green Jens Madsen   Research How change Happens: Duncan Green

Contributor(s): Professor Martin Daunton | In his latest book, which forms the basis of this lecture, Martin Daunton pulls back the curtain on the institutions and individuals who have created and managed the economy over the last ninety years, revealing how and why one economic order breaks down and another is built.

Contributor(s): Dr Sara Camacho-Felix, Professor Kehinde Andrews | An all-encompassing, insightful and wry look at living in a racist world, by a leading black British voice in the academy and in the media. Take a step through the looking-glass to a strange land, one where Piers Morgan is a voice worth listening to about race, where white people buy self-help books to cope with their whiteness, where Boris Johnson and Donald Trump are seen by the majority of the population as 'the right (white) man for the job'. Perhaps you know it. All the inhabitants seem to be afflicted by serious delusions, like that racism doesn't exist and if it does it can be cured with a one-hour inclusion seminar, and bizarre collective hallucinations, like the widely held idea that Britain's only role in slavery was to abolish it. But there is a serious side too. Black and brown people suffer from a greater number of mental health difficulties, caused in no small part by living in a racist society. Society cannot face up to the raci

Contributor(s): Arun Blair-Mangat | To celebrate Black History Month, join us for this conversation between LSE alumnus Arun Blair-Mangat and LSE President Eric Neumayer. 

Contributor(s): Professor Jason Sharman, Oliver Bullough, Thomas Anthony, Dr Kristin Surak | Drawing on fieldwork in sixteen countries, Kristin Surak exposes the world of the wealthy elites who buy passports, the states and brokers who sell them, and the normalisation of a once shadowy practice. It’s a business that thrives on uncertainty and imbalances of power between big, globalised economies and tiny states desperate for investment. In between are fascinating stories of buyers, brokers, and sellers, all ready to profit from the citizenship trade. Joining Kristin will be three experts who offer different angles into this world. Thomas Anthony, CEO of Citizenship Investment Unit of the country of Grenada, brings a Caribbean perspective on the programs. Oliver Bullough, author and journalist, has examined issues around financial crimes. Jason Sharman of Cambridge University will share his extensive knowledge of the political economy of offshore.

Contributor(s): Paul Nowak | The protracted cost of living crisis has seen a resurgence of industrial action across almost every sector of the British economy. To discuss the political implications of this renewed activism in the labour movement, we are joined by Paul Nowak, General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress.