Contributor(s): Dr Tali Sharot, Dr Joan Costa-Font, Professor David de Meza, Dr Chris Kutarna |   Despite our growing collective pessimism about the state of the world, when it comes to our own lives, research suggests we are generally optimistic.   After a year that will remain synonymous with anxiety, isolation, endless devastating news reports, and for too many – loss, this episode of LSE IQ asks: is optimism is good for us? And, beyond the effects on our wellbeing, is optimism an accurate lens through which to view the world?   Addressing these issues are: Dr Tali Sharot, Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at UCL; Dr Joan Costa-Font, Associate Professor in Health Economics at LSE; Dr David de Meza, Professor of Management at LSE; and Dr Chris Kutarna, author of Age of Discovery: Navigating the Risks and Rewards of our New Renaissance.     Contributors   Dr Tali Sharot Dr Joan Costa-Font Professor David de Meza Dr Chris Kutarna Research   The Optimism Bias: Why we're wired to look on the bright side by Tali Sharot. Neither an Optimist Nor a Pessimist Be: Mistaken Expectations Lower Well-Being by David de Meza and Chris Dawson in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. Why optimism and entrepreneurship are not always a good mix for business by David de Meza and Chris Dawson in The Conversation. Optimism and the perceptions of new risks by Elias Mossialos, Caroline Rudisdill and Joan Costa-Font in the Journal of Risk Research. Explaining optimistic old age disability and longevity expectations by Joan Costa-Font and Montserrat Costa-Font in Social Indicators Research. Does optimism help us during a pandemic? by Joan Costa-Font. Age of Discovery: Navigating the Risks and Rewards of Our New Renaissance by Chris Kutarna and Ian Goldin.

Contributor(s): Professor Laura Bear, Nikita Simpson, Professor Joan Roses, Dr Adam Oliver, Dr Clare Wenham, Professor Patrick Wallis | In this month’s episode of the LSE IQ podcast we ask, ‘What’s the point of social science in a pandemic?’.   On the 23rd March 2020 Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the country’s first national lockdown. In the months since, there has been a seismic shift in all our lives. As we embark on 2021 and, hopefully, the latter stages of the pandemic, now is an apt moment to reflect on how we’ve got to where we are. While the scientific community has taken centre stage in the fight to overcome the virus, how have social scientists helped us navigate – and evaluate –the UK’s response?   In this episode we talk to anthropologists Professor Laura Bear and Nikita Simpson, Economic historians Professor Patrick Wallis and Professor Joan Roses, Assistant Professor of Global Health Policy Dr Clare Wenham and behavioural economist Dr Adam Oliver.   Research   ’A good death’ during the Covid-19 pandemic in the UK: a report on key findings and recommendations, by the COVID and Care Research Group  A Right to Care: The Social Foundations of Recovery from COVID-19, by the COVID and Care Research Group  The Redistributive Effects of Pandemics: Evidence of the Spanish Flu. By Sergi Basco, Jordi Domenech, and Johanne Rohses  Separating behavioural science from the herd by Adam Oliver Reciprocity and the art of behavioural public policy by Adam Oliver What is the future of UK leadership in global health security post Covid-19? By Clare Wenham A Dreadful Heritage: Interpreting Epidemic Disease at Eyam, 1666-2000, by Patrick Wallis Eyam revisited: lessons from a plague village, by Patrick Wallis   Contributors   Professor Laura Bear Nikita Simpson Professor Joan Roses Dr Adam Oliver Dr Clare Wenham Professor Patrick Wallis

Contributor(s): Dr Kitty Stewart | A campaign by the Manchester United footballer, Marcus Rashford, has prompted the UK government to provide extra support for children from low-income families during the pandemic. Even before coronavirus, child poverty had been rising for several years. This latest bite-sized episode of LSE iQ explores the question, ‘How can we end child poverty in the UK?’ Joanna Bale talks to Kitty Stewart of LSE’s Social Policy Department and Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion. Dr Stewart is currently part of a major research programme examining what progress has been made in addressing social inequalities through social policies. Research links: K Cooper and K Stewart (2020): Does Household Income Affect children’s Outcomes? A Systematic Review of the Evidence   K Stewart and M Reader (2020 forthcoming): The Conservatives’ record on early childhood: policy, spending and outcomes 2015-20.   Polly Vizard, John Hills et al (2020 forthcoming): The Conservatives’ Record on Social Policy: Policies, spending and outcomes 2015 to pre-Covid 2020.

Contributor(s): Professor David Graeber | This episode is dedicated to David Graeber, LSE professor of Anthropology, who died unexpectedly in September this year. David was a public intellectual, a best-selling author, an influential activist and anarchist. He took aim at the pointless bureaucracy of modern life, memorably coining the term ‘bullshit jobs’. And his book ‘Debt: The First 5000 years’ was turned into a radio series by the BBC. But David started his academic career studying Madagascar. Anthropology interested him, he said, because he was interested in human possibilities - including the potential of societies to organise themselves without the need for a state - as he had seen in his own research. He was also a well-known anti-globalisation activist and a leading figure in the Occupy Wall Street Movement. David was generous enough to do an interview for us in 2016 when LSE iQ was in its infancy. That episode asked, ‘What’s the future of work?’ and in his interview he reflected on the disappointments of technology, pointless jobs and caring labour. David was such an interesting speaker that we would have liked to use more of it at the time, but we didn’t have the space. Now, it feels right to bring you a lightly edited version of the interview.   Contributors David Graeber   Research   The Utopia of Rules: On Technology, Stupidity, and the Secret Joys of Bureaucracy, published by Melville House.   ‘On the Phenomenon of Bullshit jobs: A work rant’, STRIKE! Magazine   Bullshit Jobs: A theory, published by Allen Lane

Contributor(s): Dr Thomas Curran | Jess Winterstein speaks to Dr Thomas Curran about the potential pitfalls of wanting to be perfect. Our society values perfection, but is the concept of perfect really that good for us? The latest episode of LSE IQ explores perfectionism. In this bitesized episode of the LSE IQ podcast, Jess Winterstein speaks to Dr Thomas Curran, Associate Professor in the Department of Psychological and Behavioural Science at LSE. While aspiring to perfection may still be viewed positively by many, Dr Curran’s research reveals that the drive to be the best can potentially do more harm than good. Are the potential downsides worth it when balanced against the possible achievements that can come from being a perfectionist? In a discussion which explores the realities of being a perfectionist, we ask, is perfection really worth it?   Contributors   Dr Thomas Curran https://www.lse.ac.uk/PBS/People/Dr-Tom-Curran   Research  A test of social learning and parent socialization perspectives on the development of perfectionism by Thomas Curran, Daniel J Madigan, Andrew P Hill and Annett Victoria Stornæs https://www.researchgate.net/publication/339433945_A_test_of_social_learning_and_parent_socialization_perspectives_on_the_development_of_perfectionism Perfectionism Is Increasing Over Time: A Meta-Analysis of Birth Cohort Differences From 1989 to 2016 by Thomas Curran and Andrew P. Hill http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/101352/1/Curran_Hill2018.pdf

Contributor(s): Paul Krugman, Andy Summers, Dr Luna Glucksberg | The coronavirus crisis has devastated economies and brought existing inequalities into sharper focus. Will it result in higher taxes on income and wealth, as we saw after the Great Depression and WWII? Or will the top 1 per cent continue to pull away from the rest of society? Exploring the question, ‘Can we afford the super-rich?’, Joanna Bale talks to Paul Krugman, Andy Summers and Luna Glucksberg. Research links: Arguing with Zombies: Economics, Politics, and the Fight for a Better Future by Paul Krugman. Capital Gains and UK Inequality by Arun Advani and Andy Summers. A gendered ethnography of elites by Luna Glucksberg.

Contributor(s): Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah, Dr Ute Collier, Dr Sefi Roth, Dr Thomas Smith | Seven million people die of air pollution, worldwide, every year. This episode of LSE IQ asks how this invisible killer can be tackled.  Sue Windebank speaks to Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah about her campaigning work for both clean air and a new inquest into the causes of her daughter’s death. In 2013, her daughter Ella Roberta died from a rare and severe form of asthma – she was just nine years old.  According to an expert report there was a "real prospect” that without unlawful levels of air pollution near their home, Ella would not have died.  As well as the impact on health, the episode looks at the effects of air pollution on crime and education. It also examines air pollution on the London Underground, forest fires and clean cooking.   Addressing these issue are: Dr Ute Collier, Head of Energy at Practical Action; Dr Sefi Roth, Assistant Professor of Environmental Economics at LSE; and Dr Thomas Smith, Assistant Professor in Environmental Geography at LSE.     Contributors   Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah  Dr Ute Collier  Dr Sefi Roth  Dr Thomas Smith    Research  ‘Crime is in the Air: The Contemporaneous Relationship between Air Pollution and Crime’ by Malvina Brody, Sefi Roth and Lutz Sager, a discussion paper by IZA Institute of Labor Economics.   ‘The Long-Run Economic Consequences of High-Stakes Examinations: Evidence from Transitory Variation in Pollution’ by Avraham Ebenstein, Victor Lavy and Sefi Roth in the American Economic Journal: Applied Economics.   ‘Spatial variability of fine particulate matter pollution (PM2.5) on the London Underground network’ by Brynmor M Saunders, James D Smith, T.E.L Smith, David Green and B Barratt in the journal Urban Climate.   ‘Review of emissions from smouldering peat fires and their contribution to regional haze episodes’ Yuqi Hu, Nieves Fernandez-Anez, T.E.L Smith and Guillermo Rein in the International Journal of Wildland Fire.

Contributor(s): Dr Stephen Roberts, Dr Leeza Osipenko, Professor Barbara Prainsack, Dr James Somauroo | With more and more information about us available electronically and online, this episode of LSE IQ asks, ‘Is big data good for our health?’ Advances in bio-medical technologies, along with electronic health records and the information we generate through our mobile phones, Smart Watches or Fit bits, our social media posts and search engine queries, mean that there is a torrent of information about our bodies, our health and our diseases out there. Alongside this, the tremendous growth in computing power and data storage means that this ‘Big Data’ can be stored and aggregated and then analysed by sophisticated algorithms for connections, comparisons and insights. The promise of all of this is that big data will create opportunities for medical breakthroughs, help tailor medical interventions to us as individuals and create technologies that will speed up and improve healthcare. And, of course, during the COVID-19 pandemic we’ve also seen some countries use data, generated from people’s mobile phones, to track and trace the disease. All of this poses opportunities for the tech giants and others who want to be part of the goldrush for our data -  and to then sell solutions back to us What are the risks in handing over our most personal data? Will it allow big data to deliver on its hype? And is it a fair exchange? In this episode, Oliver Johnson speaks to Dr Leeza Osipenko, Senior Lecturer in Practice in LSE’s Department of Health Policy; Professor Barbara Prainsack, Professor of Comparative Policy Analysis at the University of Vienna and Professor Sociology at King’s College London; Dr Stephen L. Roberts, LSE Fellow in Global Health Policy in LSE’s Department of Health Policy; and Dr James Somauroo, founder of the healthtech agency somX and presenter of The Health-Tech Podcast.   Research Blockchain’s potential to improve clinical trials by Leeza Osipenko Big Data, Algorithmic Governmentality and the Regulation of Pandemic Risk by Stephen Roberts Personalized Medicine: Empowered Patients in the 21st Century? by Barbara Prainsack     Contributors Dr Leeza Osipenko Professor Barbara Prainsack Dr Stephen L. Roberts Dr James Somauroo

Contributor(s): Clare Wenham | A special bite-sized episode of LSE IQ asks, “What does gender have to do with pandemics?” Cholera, Ebola, Influenza, MERS, SARs, Smallpox, Yellow fever, Zika and of course novel Coronavirus – these are just some of the pandemic, epidemic diseases listed by the World Health Organisation. And until a few months ago, many of us – particularly in the West – had remained comfortably unaffected by these terrible diseases. Yet today it seems dreadfully routine to consume daily infection rates and sobering death tolls. And while the exact figures are unclear – men seem to be dying at a far higher rate. So it might be strange to be focus on women at a time like this. But in this episode Sue Windebank speaks to Dr Clare Wenham, Assistant Professor of Global Health Policy at LSE about why it’s so important to think about gender when responding to epidemics and pandemics.

Contributor(s): Bob Ward, Svenja Surminski, Ivan, XR | This month’s episode of the LSE IQ podcast asks if the climate crisis can be averted. If you can, cast your mind back a few months. Can you remember a time when toilet roll wasn’t a prized possession? Or when going out meant more than a trip to the supermarket? You may recall talk of another crisis, one that threatened millions of lives and livelihoods. In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, this episode turns its attention back to this other threat to our world: climate change. One of the few positives to emerge from the pandemic is a dramatic decline in greenhouse gas emissions. Both China and Europe are forecast to emit 25% less greenhouse gases in 2020 and in New York carbon monoxide levels have already dropped by 50%. As city smogs lift, fewer people are predicted to suffer strokes, or contract heart disease and lung cancer. While this drop will only be temporary, does the pandemic point to how bold action on the climate is possible? Or is it inevitable that hundreds of millions of people face hunger, drought and flooding? In this episode we talk to Ivan, a member of Extinction Rebellion, Bob Ward, Policy and Communications Director of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, LSE, and Svenja Surminski, Head of Adaptation Research at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, LSE.