Should we be optimistic?

02/02/21 • 39 min

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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.

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What’s the point of social science in a pandemic?

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

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Scroungers versus Strivers: the myth of the welfare state

Contributor(s): Professor John Hills | This episode is dedicated to social policy giant Professor Sir John Hills, who died in December 2020. In this episode, John tackles the myth that the welfare state supports a feckless underclass who cost society huge amounts of money. Instead, he sets out a system where most of what we pay in, comes back to us. He describes a generational contract which we all benefit from, varying on our stage of life. His words remain timely after a year of pandemic which has devastated many people’s livelihoods. Many of us have had to rely on state support in ways that we could not have anticipated, perhaps challenging our ideas about what type of person receives benefits in the UK. This episode is based on an interview that John did with James Rattee for the LSE iQ podcast in 2017. It coincided with the LSE Festival which celebrated the anniversary of the publication of the ‘Beveridge Report’ in 1942 - a blueprint for a British universal care system by former LSE Director William Beveridge. Professor Sir John Hills CBE, was Richard Titmuss Professor of Social Policy at LSE and Chair of CASE. His influential work didn’t just critique government policy on poverty and inequality, it changed it. He advised on a wide range of issues including pensions reform, fuel poverty, council housing, income and wealth distribution. Contributors Professor John Hills Research Good Times Bad Times: the welfare myth of them and us. Bristol: Policy Press by John Hills (2015)