Spring 2009 | Public lectures and events | Audio and pdf

Contributor(s): President Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev | Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev was elected President of the Russian Federation in March 2008. In November 2005 he was elected First Deputy Prime Minister, previous to this he was Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office.

Contributor(s): President Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev | Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev was elected President of the Russian Federation in March 2008. In November 2005 he was elected First Deputy Prime Minister, previous to this he was Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office.

Contributor(s): Professor Peter Singer | We live in a world of great affluence as well as extreme poverty, and in which the rich nations play a disproportionate role in changing the planet's climate, from which the poor will suffer most. What values would best guide us to a more just and sustainable world? Can we realistically expect them to be put into practice?

Contributor(s): Professor Jeffrey D Sachs | The G20 Summit is the world's key venue for addressing the current global crisis. Yet there are profound questions facing the Summiteers. What are the underlying causes of the global crisis? What are the priorities to speed economic recovery? How should the G172 (the 172 UN members not members of the G20) be represented? What are the most powerful tools for protecting the world's most vulnerable people, arresting financial contagion, restoring global demand, and creating a path to sustainable development? Does the world require a fundamental re-shaping of global institutions and modes of cooperation?

Contributor(s): President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono | General TNI (Ret) Dr. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was born in Pacitan on 9 September 1949. Having graduated from the Military Academy in 1973, his military career and rank rose until he became a four-star general in 2000. In 1991, he received his Master of Arts in Management from Webster University, the United States. He earned a Doctorate Degree in Agricultural Economics from Bogor Institute of Agriculture in 2004.

Contributor(s): George Soros | On the eve of the G20 summit, George Soros will argue that authorising an increase in SDRs is the most significant step that the G20 leaders could agree. This event will also launch the paperback edition George Soros latest book, The Crash of 2008 and What it Means: the New Paradigm for Financial Markets.

Contributor(s): Professor John Roberts | The current financial crisis was largely caused by strong, misaligned incentives for bankers, resulting in calls for redesign of these pay schemes. Yet economic research over the last several years has suggested a number of contexts where muted incentives are desirable. This lecture will examine these.

Contributor(s): Professor Richard Thaler | Standard economic analyses rely on an unrealistic model of human behaviour in which economic agents are hyperrational robots. Modern behavioural economics takes a more realistic approach and assumes that economics agents are humans, who sometimes forget where they put their keys, panic in the face of economic volatility, and are growing more obese by the day. The theme of Nudge is that it is possible to help such humans make better choices without taking away their freedoms, just by giving them a gentle nudge. The financial crisis of 2008 makes the message of Nudge more relevant than ever, both in determining how we got into this mess, how we can get out, and how we can prevent another crisis.

Contributor(s): Professor Michel Balinski | Balinski argues that, although the new Majority Judgement voting system is not perfect, Approval Voting fails in theory and in practice, and that Majority Judgement is better than Condorcet's and Borda's classical proposals, point-summing methods, first-past-the post and others.

Contributor(s): Professor Simon Caney, Professor Paul Kelly, Baroness Onora O'Neill | Three distinguished political philosophers examine and discuss how theories of social justice and sustainability can be related to each other.