

LSE: Public lectures and events
London School of Economics and Political Science
The London School of Economics and Political Science public events podcast series is a platform for thought, ideas and lively debate where you can hear from some of the world's leading thinkers. Listen to more than 200 new episodes every year.
Episodes
Mentioned books

May 2, 2024 • 60min
Addressing climate inequality
Contributor(s): Professor Esther Duflo, Shweta Banerjee | Head of BRAC International, India, Shweta Banerjee joins the Abdul Latif Jameel Professor of Poverty Alleviation and Development Economics, Esther Duflo to examine how funds might be best spent to protect vulnerable populations against the effects of climate change.

May 1, 2024 • 60min
Lessons for monetary policy from the latest inflationary-disinflationary episode
Contributor(s): Pablo Hernández de Cos | In the last few years, central banks across the globe have faced a formidable surge in inflation, stemming from a succession of supply and demand shocks. In response, they have embarked on an extraordinarily sharp monetary policy tightening cycle. Governor Hernández de Cos looks at the lessons learned.

Apr 30, 2024 • 60min
Is the risk of nuclear war increasing?
Contributor(s): Dr Lauren Sukin, Professor Jeffrey Legro, Dr Fred Kaplan | Russia’s war in Ukraine, breakthroughs in artificial intelligence, and mounting rivalry between the US and China in East Asia have raised anew concerns about the risks of nuclear war. Is the risk of nuclear war increasing?

Apr 29, 2024 • 60min
This time no mistakes
Journalist Will Hutton discusses his book 'This Time No Mistakes' at LSE, critiquing neoliberalism, advocating for sustainable public investment, re-engaging with Europe post-Brexit, promoting an agile state, and highlighting hopes and challenges for the Labour Party's future.

Apr 23, 2024 • 60min
The future-proof career: strategies for thriving at every stage
Contributor(s): Isabel Berwick, Dr Grace Lordan | Dr Grace Lordan discusses hybrid work, workplace equality, and today’s evolving workplace with the host of Financial Times’ Working It podcast, Isabel Berwick at the launch of her new book, The Future-Proof Career.

Apr 15, 2024 • 1h 38min
Approximation is the new optimal
Contributor(s): Professor Michal Feldman | The internet has become a huge computational platform for many heterogeneous, complex markets. These complex markets require the design of fast algorithms that take into account the economic, game theoretic, and computational considerations in a unified way.
In this talk, Michal Feldman will discuss some of the challenges and opportunities that arise in this domain, through the lens of approximation.

Mar 27, 2024 • 1h 30min
What it means to be human in a world changed by AI
Contributor(s): Madhumita Murgia | On the surface a British poet, an UberEats courier in Pittsburgh, an Indian doctor, and a Chinese activist in exile have nothing in common. But they are in fact linked by a profound common experience—unexpected encounters with artificial intelligence.

Mar 26, 2024 • 1h 28min
The search for democracy in the world's largest democracy
Guest speakers Priyanka Kotamraju, Tarun Khaitan, Christophe Jaffrelot, and Alpa Shah discuss the collapse of democracy in India, focusing on the Bhima Koregaon case, authoritarianism, wealth inequality, and erosion of democratic values. They explore societal turmoil, workers' activism, cross-caste solidarity, defense of the moral Constitution, civil liberties, urban Naxals, and the political landscape in India.

Mar 25, 2024 • 1h
From probabilities to decisions
Contributor(s): Professor Anna Mahtani | In deciding whether to carry out a particular healthcare policy for example, the process for reaching a decision will almost certainly involve a calculation of credences. Drawing from the Philosophy of Language, Anna Mahtani argues that objects of credence are "opaque". It matters then how the relevant object is described or designated.

Mar 21, 2024 • 1h 28min
The trading game
Contributor(s): Gary Stevenson, Rebecca Gowland | Whilst studying at LSE, Gary won a competition run by a bank: "The Trading Game". The prize: a golden ticket to a new life, as the youngest trader in the whole city. A place where you could make more money than you'd ever imagined. Where your colleagues are dysfunctional maths geniuses, overfed public schoolboys and borderline psychopaths, yet they start to feel like family. But what happens when winning starts to feel like losing? Would you stick, or quit? Even if it meant risking everything? Gary's book is an outrageous, unvarnished, white-knuckle journey to the dark heart of an intoxicating world - from someone who survived the game and then blew it all wide open.