Latest 300 | LSE Public lectures and events | Audio and pdf

Speaker(s): Professor Kalipso Chalkidou, Professor Ken Shadlen, Dr Daniel Wang | Although Universal health coverage is a pillar of the modern welfare state, the successful design and implementation of arrangements to deliver on this promise faces enormous challenges. This panel, with perspectives from health policy, law, and political science, examines these challenges and reflects on national experiences in developing countries. Topics will include: the imperatives of determining which healthcare products and services are covered; national and regional strategies for securing stable supplies of quality healthcare services at affordable prices; the relationship between the spread of patents on pharmaceutical products, a new phenomenon, and governments’ commitments to provide essential medicines; and the tensions between health technology assessment systems designed to make judgements on cost-effectiveness and legal systems that offer opportunities for individuals and groups to secure expensive health products via litigation. Kalipso Chalkidou (@kchalkidou) is the Director of Global Health Policy and a Senior Fellow at the Center for Global Development, and a Professor of Practice in Global Health at Imperial College London. Ken Shadlen is Professor of Development Studies in the Department of International Development of LSE. He is currently Head of Department (September 2017-2020). Daniel Wang is a Lecturer in Health and Human Rights at Queen Mary University of London. Justin Parkhurst (@justinparkhurst) is Associate Professor in Global Health Policy in the Department of Health Policy at LSE and an honorary Senior Lecturer at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. The panel is brought together by the Global Health Initiative (@LSEGlobalHealth), a newly established cross-departmental research platform set up to increase the coherence and visibility of Global Health research activity across the School, both internally and externally. It provides support for interdisciplinary engagement and showcases LSE’s ability to apply rigorous social science research to emerging global health challenges

Speaker(s): Professor Kalipso Chalkidou, Professor Ken Shadlen, Dr Daniel Wang | Although Universal health coverage is a pillar of the modern welfare state, the successful design and implementation of arrangements to deliver on this promise faces enormous challenges. This panel, with perspectives from health policy, law, and political science, examines these challenges and reflects on national experiences in developing countries. Topics will include: the imperatives of determining which healthcare products and services are covered; national and regional strategies for securing stable supplies of quality healthcare services at affordable prices; the relationship between the spread of patents on pharmaceutical products, a new phenomenon, and governments’ commitments to provide essential medicines; and the tensions between health technology assessment systems designed to make judgements on cost-effectiveness and legal systems that offer opportunities for individuals and groups to secure expensive health products via litigation. Kalipso Chalkidou (@kchalkidou) is the Director of Global Health Policy and a Senior Fellow at the Center for Global Development, and a Professor of Practice in Global Health at Imperial College London. Ken Shadlen is Professor of Development Studies in the Department of International Development of LSE. He is currently Head of Department (September 2017-2020). Daniel Wang is a Lecturer in Health and Human Rights at Queen Mary University of London. Justin Parkhurst (@justinparkhurst) is Associate Professor in Global Health Policy in the Department of Health Policy at LSE and an honorary Senior Lecturer at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. The panel is brought together by the Global Health Initiative (@LSEGlobalHealth), a newly established cross-departmental research platform set up to increase the coherence and visibility of Global Health research activity across the School, both internally and externally. It provides support for interdisciplinary engagement and showcases LSE’s ability to apply rigorous social science research to emerging global health challenges

Speaker(s): Professor Paul Dolan, Lord Willetts | There is increasing evidence from the UK and the US to show that higher education is associated with less happiness and more inequality. In light of this, Professor of Behavioural Science at LSE Paul Dolan argues that the government should reduce funding to higher education and prioritise early years education instead. Former Minister for Universities David Willetts stands up for the value of a university degree. Paul Dolan (@profpauldolan) is Professor of Behavioural Science at LSE, Director of Executive MSc Behavioural Science and Head of the Department of Psychological and Behavioural Science. There are two main themes to Paul’s work: Developing measures of happiness and subjective wellbeing that can be used in policy and by individuals looking to be happier; and considering ways in which the lessons from the behavioural sciences can be used to understand and change individual behaviour, and to add to the evidence base in this regard. He uses a range of data and methods to address these issues, and to better integrate them e.g. surveys, big data, lab studies, and field experiments. He is author of the Sunday Times best-selling book, Happiness by Design and the forthcoming The Narrative Trap, in which he talks about how the stories we tell about how we ought to live our lives harm us. David Willetts is the Executive Chair of the Resolution Foundation. He served as the Member of Parliament for Havant (1992-2015), as Minister for Universities and Science (2010-2014) and previously worked at HM Treasury and the No. 10 Policy Unit. Lord Willetts is a visiting Professor at King’s College London, a board member of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), a Board member of Surrey Satellites and of the Biotech Growth Trust, Chair of the British Science Association, a Governor of the Ditchley Foundation and a member of the Council of the Institute for Fiscal Studies. He is a member of the Board of the Crick Institute and a Trustee of the Science Museum. He is an Honorary Fellow of Nuffield College Oxford. Lord Willetts has written widely on economic and social policy. His book The Pinch about fairness between the generations was published in 2010. His latest book A University Education is published by Oxford University Press. Julia Black is Pro Director for Research at LSE.

Speaker(s): Professor Paul Dolan, Lord Willetts | There is increasing evidence from the UK and the US to show that higher education is associated with less happiness and more inequality. In light of this, Professor of Behavioural Science at LSE Paul Dolan argues that the government should reduce funding to higher education and prioritise early years education instead. Former Minister for Universities David Willetts stands up for the value of a university degree. Paul Dolan (@profpauldolan) is Professor of Behavioural Science at LSE, Director of Executive MSc Behavioural Science and Head of the Department of Psychological and Behavioural Science. There are two main themes to Paul’s work: Developing measures of happiness and subjective wellbeing that can be used in policy and by individuals looking to be happier; and considering ways in which the lessons from the behavioural sciences can be used to understand and change individual behaviour, and to add to the evidence base in this regard. He uses a range of data and methods to address these issues, and to better integrate them e.g. surveys, big data, lab studies, and field experiments. He is author of the Sunday Times best-selling book, Happiness by Design and the forthcoming The Narrative Trap, in which he talks about how the stories we tell about how we ought to live our lives harm us. David Willetts is the Executive Chair of the Resolution Foundation. He served as the Member of Parliament for Havant (1992-2015), as Minister for Universities and Science (2010-2014) and previously worked at HM Treasury and the No. 10 Policy Unit. Lord Willetts is a visiting Professor at King’s College London, a board member of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), a Board member of Surrey Satellites and of the Biotech Growth Trust, Chair of the British Science Association, a Governor of the Ditchley Foundation and a member of the Council of the Institute for Fiscal Studies. He is a member of the Board of the Crick Institute and a Trustee of the Science Museum. He is an Honorary Fellow of Nuffield College Oxford. Lord Willetts has written widely on economic and social policy. His book The Pinch about fairness between the generations was published in 2010. His latest book A University Education is published by Oxford University Press. Julia Black is Pro Director for Research at LSE.

Speaker(s): Louise Doughty, Winnie M Li, Professor Nicola Lacey | How can literature reach audiences in ways that social science research about inequality can’t? How can narratives about fictional characters dramatise lived experiences of social inequality – and what are the ethical implications of creating these narratives for a mass readership? This event brings together two award-winning authors (one established, one emerging) whose fiction explores various forms of social inequality. Louise Doughty, author of eight novels, is best known for her bestselling Apple Tree Yard, which was adapted into a BBC TV series. Winnie M Li is a PhD student at LSE, whose debut novel Dark Chapter, recently won The Guardian’s Not The Booker Prize and is inspired by her own lived experience of rape. They will be discussing these questions wtih Bingchun Meng, whose work focuses on the representation of gender in media narratives, and Nicola Lacey, whose work focuses on feminist analysis of law, law and literature and biography. Louise Doughty (@DoughtyLouise) is the author of eight novels, most recently Black Water, which was published in 2016 to critical acclaim in the UK and US where it was nominated as one of the New York Times Notable Books of the Year. Her previous book was the Top Ten bestseller Apple Tree Yard, adapted for BBC One as a four-part series starring Emily Watson. Her sixth novel, Whatever You Love, was shortlisted for the Costa Novel Award and longlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction. She has also won awards for radio drama and short stories, along with publishing one work of non-fiction, A Novel in a Year, based on her popular newspaper column. She is a critic and cultural commentator for UK and international newspapers and broadcasts regularly for the BBC. Winnie M Li (@winniemli) is a PhD Researcher based in the Department of Media and Communications at LSE. Her research examines the uses of social media by rape survivors to narrate their experiences of sexual trauma – and how this online engagement can serve as a means of individual recovery and community-building. Before coming to LSE, Winnie worked for fifteen years in the creative industries in the US, the UK, Ireland, Qatar, and Singapore. Her debut novel Dark Chapter, inspired by her own experience of rape, was published worldwide in 2017. It was listed by Stylist Magazine as one of ‘10 Smashing Debut Novels of 2017’ and won The Guardian's Not The Booker Prize, decided in part by a public vote. It is currently nominated for the prestigious Edgar Awards in the US for Best First Novel. Nicola Lacey is School Professor of Law, Gender and Social Policy at LSE and an Associate Member of the International Inequalities Institute. She is an Honorary Fellow of New College Oxford and of University College Oxford; a Fellow of the British Academy; and a member of the Board of Trustees of the British Museum. In 2011 she was awarded the Hans Sigrist Prize by the University of Bern for outstanding scholarship on the function of the rule of law in late modern societies and in 2017 she was awarded a CBE for services to Law, Justice and Gender Politics. Her publications include Women, Crime and Character: From Moll Flanders to Tess of the d’Urbervilles (OUP 2008) and In Search of Criminal Responsibility (OUP 2016). Bingchun Meng is an Associate Professor and Deputy Head of Department in the Department for Media and Communications at LSE. She is also LSE’s Advisor to Female Students. Her research interests include gender and the media, political economy of media industries, communication governance, and comparative media studies. Her book The Politics of Chinese Media: Consensus and Contestation was recently published by Palgrave.

Speaker(s): Professor Matthew Jones, Dr David Motadel, Professor David Stevenson | Editor's note: We apologise for the poor audio quality of this podcast. Academics from the Department of International History at LSE will reassess the 1942 Beveridge Report in the light of German, American, and British planning for reconstruction after World War II. Matthew Jones is Professor of International History at LSE. He works on US foreign relations, British foreign policy, and nuclear history during the Cold War. David Motadel is Assistant Professor of International History at LSE. He works on the history of modern Europe and Europe's relations with the wider world. David Stevenson is Professor of International History at LSE. His research includes the continuities between the First World War and the Second. Megan Black is Assistant Professor of International History with research interests in the United States and the world, environmental history, and political economy. She completed doctoral work at George Washington University and a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard University. Her current manuscript, The Global Interior: Mineral Frontiers and American Power, is forthcoming with Harvard University Press.

Speaker(s): Professor Nicholas Barr, Professor Howard Glennerster, Professor Sandra McNally, Dr Kitty Stewart, Professor Anne West | Ignorance, though one of the Giants, was barely mentioned in the Beveridge Report, but addressed by the 1944 Education Act and 1963 Robbins Report. This panel identifies gaps that have emerged and ways to fill them, focussing particularly on equality of opportunity. Kitty Stewart will discuss the importance of early education to children’s life chances, and consider how far current early years and childcare policy is well-designed to promote children’s development and to narrow gaps between children from different backgrounds. Anne West will focus on school-based education. She will outline how the school system has changed since the 1944 Education Act, particularly since the academies programme was introduced. She will highlight some of the concerns that have been raised regarding the governance and financing of academies and outline proposals as to how these might be addressed. Sandra McNally will address the state of further and technical education in England. She will look at the extent to which there are good opportunities within this type of education in England – and whether there is inequality of opportunity in who is able to access the more successful routes. The post-war assumption was that education should be tax-financed. As higher education expanded both Howard Glennerster and Nicholas Barr advocated income-contingent graduate contributions. They discuss two contrasting futures: A return to old style, mainly tax-financed higher education, with a neglect of early education and vocational education, and resource constraints affecting the size and/or quality of higher education; or a forward-looking approach based on: a holistic view of tertiary education; a universal endowment at 18; a well-designed income-contingent loan; flexible pathways through tertiary education; and greater emphasis on education spending earlier in the system. Nicholas Barr is Professor of Public Economics at LSE and the author of numerous books and articles including The Economics of the Welfare State (OUP, 5th edn, 2012), Financing Higher Education: Answers from the UK (with Iain Crawford) (Routledge 2005), and Reforming Pensions: Principles and Policy Choices (with Peter Diamond) (OUP, 2008). Howard Glennerster joined the Higher Education Research Unit at LSE in 1964 after working in the Labour Party Research Department. Sandra McNally is Director of the Centre for Vocational Education Research and Director of the Education and Skills Programme at the Centre for Economic Performance at LSE. She is also a professor of economics at University of Surrey. Her interests are in the economics of education. She works on evaluation of government policies, particularly in schools and in post-16 education. Kitty Stewart is Associate Professor of Social Policy at LSE, and Associate Director of LSE’s Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion. Anne West is Professor of Education Policy in the Department of Social Policy at LSE.

Speaker(s): Professor Nicholas Barr, Professor Howard Glennerster, Professor Sandra McNally, Dr Kitty Stewart, Professor Anne West | Ignorance, though one of the Giants, was barely mentioned in the Beveridge Report, but addressed by the 1944 Education Act and 1963 Robbins Report. This panel identifies gaps that have emerged and ways to fill them, focussing particularly on equality of opportunity. Kitty Stewart will discuss the importance of early education to children’s life chances, and consider how far current early years and childcare policy is well-designed to promote children’s development and to narrow gaps between children from different backgrounds. Anne West will focus on school-based education. She will outline how the school system has changed since the 1944 Education Act, particularly since the academies programme was introduced. She will highlight some of the concerns that have been raised regarding the governance and financing of academies and outline proposals as to how these might be addressed. Sandra McNally will address the state of further and technical education in England. She will look at the extent to which there are good opportunities within this type of education in England – and whether there is inequality of opportunity in who is able to access the more successful routes. The post-war assumption was that education should be tax-financed. As higher education expanded both Howard Glennerster and Nicholas Barr advocated income-contingent graduate contributions. They discuss two contrasting futures: A return to old style, mainly tax-financed higher education, with a neglect of early education and vocational education, and resource constraints affecting the size and/or quality of higher education; or a forward-looking approach based on: a holistic view of tertiary education; a universal endowment at 18; a well-designed income-contingent loan; flexible pathways through tertiary education; and greater emphasis on education spending earlier in the system. Nicholas Barr is Professor of Public Economics at LSE and the author of numerous books and articles including The Economics of the Welfare State (OUP, 5th edn, 2012), Financing Higher Education: Answers from the UK (with Iain Crawford) (Routledge 2005), and Reforming Pensions: Principles and Policy Choices (with Peter Diamond) (OUP, 2008). Howard Glennerster joined the Higher Education Research Unit at LSE in 1964 after working in the Labour Party Research Department. Sandra McNally is Director of the Centre for Vocational Education Research and Director of the Education and Skills Programme at the Centre for Economic Performance at LSE. She is also a professor of economics at University of Surrey. Her interests are in the economics of education. She works on evaluation of government policies, particularly in schools and in post-16 education. Kitty Stewart is Associate Professor of Social Policy at LSE, and Associate Director of LSE’s Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion. Anne West is Professor of Education Policy in the Department of Social Policy at LSE.

Speaker(s): Kathleen Henehan, Professor Nicola Lacey, Lord Wood | A distinguished panel discusses the most promising European welfare state reforms to combat Beveridge's social evils, presented in a video by European Institute students. Kathleen Henehan (@kathleenhenehan) joined the Resolution Foundation in 2017, working on post-16 skills and education, including apprenticeships, technical and higher education, and adult skills development. Prior to joining Resolution Foundation, Kathleen worked at Universities UK, where she focused on graduate employment outcomes and learning and teaching policy. She has a PhD in Political Science from LSE. Nicola Lacey is School Professor of Law, Gender and Social Policy at LSE and an Associate Member of the International Inequalities Institute. She is an Honorary Fellow of New College Oxford and of University College Oxford; a Fellow of the British Academy; and a member of the Board of Trustees of the British Museum. In 2011 she was awarded the Hans Sigrist Prize by the University of Bern for outstanding scholarship on the function of the rule of law in late modern societies and in 2017 she was awarded a CBE for services to Law, Justice and Gender Politics. Her publications include Women, Crime and Character: From Moll Flanders to Tess of the d’Urbervilles(OUP 2008) and In Search of Criminal Responsibility (OUP 2016). Stewart Wood, Baron Wood of Anfield (@StewartWood) is a Labour life peer in the House of Lords since 2011. He studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Oxford University and completed his PhD in Government as a Fulbright Scholar at Harvard University. He has taught Politics at Oxford University since 1995. He served as advisor to Gordon Brown from 2001 to 2010, first at the Treasury and then at 10 Downing Street. At no.10 he was senior special adviser to the Prime Minister on foreign policy; Northern Ireland; and culture, media and sports policy. He also served as advisor to Ed Miliband, the Labour party's leader, from 2010 to 2015. His research and writing focuses on contemporary political economy in Europe, German politics, American politics, and public policy issues around industrial policy and the future of the welfare state. Nicholas Barr is Professor of Public Economics at the European Institute and the Department of Economics at LSE. He is the author of numerous books and articles including The Economics of the Welfare State (OUP, 5th edn, 2012), Financing Higher Education: Answers from the UK (with Iain Crawford) (Routledge 2005), and Reforming Pensions: Principles and Policy Choices (with Peter Diamond) (OUP, 2008). Alongside his academic work is wide-ranging involvement in policy, including spells at the World Bank and IMF. He has been active in policy debates, particularly on pension reform and higher education finance, advising governments in the post-communist countries, and in the UK, Australia, Chile, China, Hungary, New Zealand and South Africa.

Speaker(s): Dr Tania Burchardt, Amy Feneck, Dr Sam Friedman, Dr Luna Glucksberg | The economic and political power of the richest in our society has dramatically increased since 1942. 75 years on since his report, the panel will discuss whether Beveridge’s concern with poverty now needs to be extended to include a concern with richness. Tania Burchardt is Director of the Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion (CASE) and an Associate Professor in the Department of Social Policy at LSE. Amy Feneck is an artist based in London. Her work spans photography, writing, moving image and participatory projects, including collaborating with artist Ruth Beale on The Alternative School of Economics – an artistic project investigating political, social and cultural issues. Sam Friedman (@SamFriedmanSoc) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at LSE. His research focuses on the cultural dimensions of contemporary class division. Luna Glucksberg (@luna_inequality) is an urban anthropologist based in LSE’s International Inequalities Institute, looking at socio-economic stratification in contemporary British society. Her current work focuses on the reproduction of wealth amongst elites in the UK, considering the roles of two key and so far under-researched actors: family offices and women. Mike Savage (@MikeSav47032563) is the Martin White Professor of Sociology at LSE and co-Director of the LSE’s International Inequalities Institute. His research focuses principally on social inequality, with a particular interest in social stratification and inequality. With an introduction from Katharina Hecht (@katharina_hecht), a PhD Researcher in the Department of Sociology at LSE. Her research focuses on perceptions of top incomes and wealth.