
LSE IQ
LSE IQ is a monthly podcast from the London School of Economics and Political Science in which we ask some of the smartest social scientists - and other experts - to answer intelligent questions about economics, politics or society. #LSEIQ
Latest episodes

Apr 8, 2025 • 33min
How do we avoid falling for online scams?
Contributor(s): Dr Suleman Lazarus, Professor Andrew Murray, Lisa Mills, Nikki MacLeod | This episode of LSE iQ looks at how we can avoid falling for online scams. We think it couldn’t happen to us, but incidents of online fraud are escalating at an alarming rate, affecting all areas of our day-to-day lives, from social media and dating apps to banking and business.
As AI deepfakes and impersonation tactics become more advanced, scammers are finding new ways to exploit us, leaving victims emotionally and financially devastated.
In this episode Oliver Johnson talks to a victim of a devastating romance scam, he hears about what motivates some of the fraudsters and what legal protections we have in the battle against the scammers.
Contributors: Dr Suleman Lazarus, Professor Andrew Murray, Lisa Mills, Nikki MacLeod
Research:
Fraud as Legitimate Retribution for Colonial Injustice, Dr Suleman Lazarus et al
Examining fifty cases of convicted online romance fraud offenders Dr Suleman Lazarus et al
Information Technology Law Professor Andrew Murray
Rethinking the Jurisprudence of Cyberspace Professor Andrew Murray et al
LSE iQ is a university podcast by the London School of Economics and Political Science. We’re keen to find out more about our audience so we can better tailor our content to suit your interests. With this in mind, we would be grateful if you could please take the time to fill out this short survey and share your feedback.

Mar 4, 2025 • 30min
Are we in danger of losing our communities?
Contributor(s): Professor Shani Orgad, Dr Divya Srivastava, Dr Julia King, Dr Olivia Theocharides-Feldman | With the cost-of-living crisis leading to the closure of community spaces around the UK, and the pressures on urban development projects, this episode of LSE iQ asks, are we in danger of losing our communities?
Speakers: Professor Shani Orgad, Dr Divya Srivastava , Dr Julia King, Dr Olivia Theocharides-Feldman
Research links:
“Listening in times of crisis: The value and limits of radio phone-in shows” by Shani Orgad, Divya Srivastava, and Diana Olaleye https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/01634437241308729?af=R
Making Space for Girls project, with Dr Julia King and Olivia Theocharides-Feldman https://www.lse.ac.uk/Cities/research/cities-space-and-society/Making-Space-For-Girls
LSE iQ is a university podcast by the London School of Economics and Political Science.
We’re keen to find out more about our audience so we can better tailor our content to suit your interests. With this in mind, we would be grateful if you could please take the time to fill out this short survey and share your feedback.

Feb 4, 2025 • 29min
Do we need to drive?
Contributor(s): Dr Phillip Rode, Professor Rachel Aldred, Dr Chris Tennant, Indira Ray | This episode of LSE iQ looks at whether we should still be driving, whether public transport in cities has helped alleviate the need to drive and how driverless cars are still a distance away from really helping solve the issue of the number of cars on the road. Speakers: Dr Phillip Rode, Professor Rachel Aldred, Dr Chris Tennant and Indira Ray.
LSE iQ is a university podcast by the London School of Economics and Political Science.
We’re keen to find out more about our audience so we can better tailor our content to suit your interests. With this in mind, we would be grateful if you could please take the time to fill out this short survey and share your feedback.

Jan 7, 2025 • 33min
Why are our rivers and seas polluted by sewage?
Contributor(s): Professor Gwyn Bevan, Dr Kate Bayliss, Jo Bateman | This episode of LSE iQ explores a national scandal: widespread illegal sewage dumping by our privatised water companies, and why they are all under criminal investigation.
Speakers: Professor Gwyn Bevan, Dr Kate Bayliss, Jo Bateman
Research links:
How Did Britain Come to This? A century of systemic failures of governance by Gwyn Bevan: https://press.lse.ac.uk/site/books/m/10.31389/lsepress.hdb/
Reports of my death are greatly exaggerated: The persistence of neoliberalism in Britain by Kate Bayliss et al, European Journal of Social Theory: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/13684310241241800
LSE iQ is a university podcast by the London School of Economics and Political Science.
We’re keen to find out more about our audience so we can better tailor our content to suit your interests. With this in mind, we would be grateful if you could please take the time to fill out this short survey and share your feedback.

Nov 20, 2024 • 30min
Who owns outer space?
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.
LSE iQ is a university podcast by the London School of Economics and Political Science.
We’re keen to find out more about our audience so we can better tailor our content to suit your interests. With this in mind, we would be grateful if you could please take the time to fill out this short survey and share your feedback.

Oct 1, 2024 • 34min
What’s it like to win a Nobel Prize?
Contributor(s): Professor Esther Duflo, Elizabeth Lewis Channon, Khari Motayne, Professor Sir Christopher Pissarides | While there are always rumours about who might win a Nobel Prize every year, there is no short list for the globally revered academic awards. This means that winning one always comes as a complete surprise. In this episode of LSE iQ, we explore what it’s like to win the prestigious prize and how it changes your life.
The Nobel Prizes were established in 1900 at the behest of Alfred Nobel, a Swedish Chemist, Inventor and Industrialist, known in particular for his invention of dynamite. In his will he stated that his fortune was to be used to reward those who have made the most significant contributions to humanity. The prizes would recognise achievements in physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature and peace. The prize for economics would come much later in 1968. The prizes are awarded in October every year.
Sue Windebank and Charlotte Kelloway talk to two Nobel Laureates, Professor Esther Duflo and Sir Christopher Pissarides, as well as to the family of the first black person to win the Nobel Prize in Economics, Sir Arthur Lewis.
Contributors
Professor Esther Duflo
Elizabeth Lewis Channon
Khari Motayne
Sir Christopher Pissarides
Research
Professor Esther Duflo published papers
Sir Christopher Pissarides published papers
Economic Development with Unlimited Supplies of Labour , Manchester School, by Sir W. Arthur Lewis
The theory of economic growth, University Books, by Sir W. Arthur Lewis
We’re keen to find out more about our audience so we can better tailor our content to suit your interests. With this in mind, we would be grateful if you could please take the time to fill out this short survey and share your feedback.

Sep 3, 2024 • 29min
How can we solve the gender pay gap?
Contributor(s): Nina Rousille, Camille Landais, Jane Garvey | This episode of LSE iQ explores whether gender pay gap reporting, pay transparency and tackling gender norms can reduce the gender pay gap.
On average across the globe, for every pound earned by a man, a woman earns around 80 pence, according to a 2023 report from the United Nations.
But despite huge advances in access to education, the labour market, and the introduction of the UK Equality Act of 2010, which guarantees equal pay for men and women doing equal work, those figures have pretty much remained the same for the past two decades. Still, the gender pay gap - the difference between the average earnings of men and women - endures. So, how can we solve it?
Anna Bevan talks to broadcaster Jane Garvey about the impact of gender pay gap reporting and what happened to her after the BBC was forced to publish its gender pay gap report.
She also speaks to Nina Rousille, the Executive Director of LSE’s Hub for Equal Representation and Assistant Professor of Economics at MIT, about the role of the Ask Gap and pay transparency, and Camille Landais, Professor of Economics at LSE about the Child Penalty.
Research
The Role of the Ask Gap in Gender Pay Inequality by Nina Rousille
The Child Penalty by Camille Landais, Henrik Kleven and Gabriel Leite-Mariante, also displayed here
Who has the power to address the child penalty globally? LSE Festival online exhibition
LSE iQ is a university podcast by the London School of Economics and Political Science.
We’re keen to find out more about our audience so we can better tailor our content to suit your interests. With this in mind, we would be grateful if you could please take the time to fill out this short survey and share your feedback.

5 snips
May 21, 2024 • 35min
Will the US remain the world’s superpower?
Elizabeth Ingleson, John Van Reenen, and Ashley Tellis discuss the potential decline of America's superpower status. Topics include winner's take all industries, US foreign policies, reshoring manufacturing, and evolving power dynamics with China and India.

Apr 9, 2024 • 19min
China, war and the civilizational state
Contributor(s): Professor Christopher Coker | For the late Professor Christopher Coker the answer lay in the rise of a new political entity, the civilizational state. In an episode of LSE iQ which explored China’s position in the world in the coming century, Professor Coker talked about this, the potential for war between the United States and China and what that might look like.
Christopher Coker, was Professor of International Relations at LSE for almost four decades, and co-Director of LSE IDEAS, LSE’s foreign policy think tank. He was a scholar of war and warfare. This episode of LSE iQ is a lightly edited version of our 2019 interview recorded before the COVID pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It is dedicated to his memory.
Contributors
Professor Christopher Coker
Research
The Rise of the Civilizational State by Christopher Coker
The Improbable War, China, the United States and the Logic of Great Power Conflict by Christopher Coker
LSE iQ is a university podcast by the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Mar 5, 2024 • 0sec
Are we on the verge of a weight-loss revolution?
Contributor(s): Nikki Sullivan, Paul Frijters, Sarah Appleton, Helen | Joanna Bale talks to Helen, who found Ozempic ‘life-changing’, Clinical Psychologist Sarah Appleton, and LSE’s Nikki Sullivan & Paul Frijters.
LSE iQ is a university podcast by the London School of Economics and Political Science.
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