Latest 300 | LSE Public lectures and events | Video

Contributor(s): Professor Patrick Bolton | Patrick Bolton will be talking on the topic of Elements of a Theory of the Responsible Firm. The lecture will begin with a short review of economic theories of the firm, pointing out that although all the economic theories see the firm as an institutional response to improve on market and contractual inefficiencies, they ignore the problem of the economic responsibility of firms in a world of market inefficiencies, externalities, and government failures. Professor Bolton will then turn to a discussion of the meaning of economic responsibility, its relevance, and practical implications for firms, by drawing on some key readings from management, law, and philosophy.

Contributor(s): Dr Tom Scott-Smith, Nick Henderson, Dr Myfanwy James | Abandoned airports. Shipping containers. Squatted hotels. These are just three of the many unusual places that have housed refugees in the past decade. The story of international migration is often told through personal odysseys and dangerous journeys, but when people arrive at their destinations a more mundane task begins: refugees need a place to stay. Governments and charities have adopted a range of strategies in response to this need. Some have sequestered refugees in massive camps of glinting metal. Others have hosted them in renovated office blocks and disused warehouses. They often end up in prefabricated shelters flown in from abroad.

Contributor(s): Professor Paul Dolan, Dr Gillian Tett | Nobel prize winning psychologist Daniel Kahneman was the founder of modern behavioural science and behavioural economics. His close friends and colleagues Gillian Tett, Paul Dolan and Richard Layard will come together to discuss his research and the scale of his influence on society.

Contributor(s): Professor Andrea Cornwall, Professor Naomi Hossain, Professor Naila Kabeer, Dr Erin Lentz | 30 years ago, Naila Kabeer published Reversed Realities: Gender Hierarchies in Development Thought, which became a landmark study in the scholarship on gender and development. It is widely regarded as a (if not the) key text in the field of Feminist Development Studies. It provided path-breaking perspectives on the politics of development knowledge production, specifically about how excluding feminist knowledge shaped development practice and unequal outcomes.

Several leading thinkers will join us in the fields of feminist economics and development studies to reflect on the legacies of this groundbreaking text and what has changed 30 years on.

Contributor(s): Professor Tarun Khaitan, Professor Lea Ypi | Liberal constitutional theory rests on a fundamental division between duty-bearing public institutions and the rights-wielding private persons. This inaugural lecture will explore the implications of this division on the constitutional regulation of news and social media corporations.

It will argue that constitutional theory needs to acknowledge the essentially public purpose of news media corporations. even when privately owned. It will further argue that the liberal free speech framework (even in its ‘positive’, pluralism-seeking, conception) cannot justify regulation of echo chambers and polarising content on social media. Democratic constitutions, therefore, need to explicitly recognise truth (or ‘verity’) as an independent fundamental constitutional value. The key implications for constitutional regulation that would follow from this recognition will be explored.

Contributor(s): Professor Bruce J. Caldwell | 2024 marks the 50th anniversary of the Nobel Prize won by liberal political economist F.A. Hayek. This lecture will review some of Hayek’s key ideas and especially his contributions to the methodology of the social sciences. It will feature Bruce Caldwell, a leading historian of economic thought, author of a recently released book Hayek: A Life, 1899–1950.

Contributor(s): Kate Aronoff, Stephen Castle, Professor Inderjeet Parmar, Richard Seymour | What does the outcome of the US presidential election mean for democrats and progressives? What is its significance both in the United States and around the world?

Contributor(s): Dr Helen Sharman, Dr Jill Stuart, Dr Dimitrios Stroikos | What kind of possibilities does this new space age bring—and what dangers should we be worried about?

Can any nation seize possession of the moon? Could it be mined? Is there junk in space? And whatever happened to that flag that Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin planted on the moon fifty five years ago?

To find out more, Maayan Arad speaks to Dr Helen Sharman, the first British astronaut in space who flew aboard the Soviet spacecraft Soyuz TM-12 in 1991. He also talks to Dr Jill Stuart, an expert in the politics, ethics and law of outer space exploration and exploitation and Visiting Fellow in LSE’s Department of Government, and Dr Dimitrios Stroikos, LSE Fellow in the Department of International Relations and Head of the Space Policy Programme at LSE IDEAS.

 

Contributors

Dr Helen Sharman, first British astronaut

Dr Jill Stuart, Visiting Fellow at LSE’s Department of Government

Dr Dimitrios Stroikos, LSE Fellow in the Department of International Relations at LSE and Head of the Space Policy Programme at LSE IDEAS.

Contributor(s): Ellie Benton, Meghan Roach, Alicia Walker | An estimated 20,000 young people in London were experiencing homelessness, or were at risk of homelessness, in 2022/23. This represents a 10% increase compared to 2021/22, with a similar trend seen nationally. Crucially, estimates suggest that 48% of all young people experiencing homelessness do not contact their local authority, or face barriers in doing so. The event will explore why youth homelessness in London has increased; the special needs of young people experiencing homelessness; the challenges for London’s local authorities and voluntary organisations in addressing these issues; and proposals for helping solve the problem of youth homelessness.

Contributor(s): Professor Mukulika Banerjee, Keith Magee, Joseph C Sternberg | Will the 2024 election mark a turning point in American democracy and in the country’s role in the world? Leading experts discuss the 2024 US election and its domestic and international implications.