LSE: Public lectures and events

Contributor(s): Paul Nowak | The protracted cost of living crisis has seen a resurgence of industrial action across almost every sector of the British economy. To discuss the political implications of this renewed activism in the labour movement, we are joined by Paul Nowak, General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress.

Contributor(s): Professor John Foot | But how much does the contemporary period of political upheaval compare to the past? And what does this mean for the left in Italy and beyond? To find out, we're joined by John Foot to discuss his new book Blood and Power: The Rise and Fall of Italian Fascism.

Contributor(s): Baroness Shafik, Juan Manuel Santos, Professor Amartya Sen | What should a social contract for the 21st century look like? Launching her new book, What We Owe Each Other, LSE Director Minouche Shafik draws on evidence from across the globe to identify key principles for a social contract for every society. She will be in conversation with Juan Manuel Santos and Amartya Sen. The social contract governs all aspects of society, from politics and law to our families and communities. Accelerating changes in technology, demography, climate and global health, as we have seen over the last year, will reshape our world in ways we have yet to fully grasp. How do we pool risks, share resources and balance individual with collective responsibility? What part do we each have to play? You can order the book, What We Owe Each Other: a new social contract, (UK delivery only) from our official LSE Events independent book shop, Pages of Hackney. Meet our speakers and chair Minouche Shafik is Director of LSE. Prior to this she was Deputy Governor of the Bank of England. An economist by training, Baroness Shafik has spent most of her career straddling the worlds of public policy and academia. After completing her BSc in economics and politics at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, she took an MSc in economics at LSE before completing a DPhil in economics at St Antony’s College at the University of Oxford. In 2020 the UK Government announced that she would be made a Life Peer in the House of Lords. Juan Manuel Santos Calderón (@JuanManSantos) is the former President of the Republic of Colombia, serving two terms, from 2010 to 2018. He was Colombia’s first Foreign Trade Minister, has been Minister of Finance and before being elected President, was Minister for National Defence. Prior to entering politics, President Santos was deputy director of El Tiempo newspaper, and wrote a weekly opinion column. He was awarded the King of Spain International Journalism Award and named president of the Freedom of Expression Commission for the Inter American Press Association (IAPA). In 2016 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. He is a member of The Elders and a Honorary Graduate of LSE. President Santos studied for a Master of Science in the Department of Economics at LSE in 1975. Amartya Sen is Thomas W Lamont University Professor and Professor of Economics and Philosophy at Harvard University and an LSE Honorary Fellow. His research has ranged over social choice theory, economic theory, ethics and political philosophy, welfare economics, theory of measurement, decision theory, development economics, public health, and gender studies. Amartya Sen’s books have been translated into more than thirty languages and his awards include the Nobel Prize in Economics. Tim Besley is School Professor of Economics of Political Science and W Arthur Lewis Professor of Development Economics in the Department of Economics at LSE. He is also a member of the National Infrastructure Commission. He is a Fellow of the Econometric Society and British Academy. He is also a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Economic Association and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Contributor(s): Shri Shaktikanta Das, Dr Swati Dhingra, N K Singh, Martin Wolf | In this event, the Governor of the Reserve Bank of India and the Chair of the 15th Indian Finance Commission will discuss the challenges facing the economy of India and what we can expect from it in the future. Meet our speakers and chair Shri Shaktikanta Das (@DasShaktikanta), former Secretary, Department of Revenue and Department of Economic Affairs, Indian Ministry of Finance, assumed charge as the 25th Governor of the Reserve Bank of India in December 2018. Immediately prior to his current assignment, he was acting as Member, 15th Finance Commission and G20 Sherpa of India. Swati Dhingra (@swatdhingraLSE) is Associate Professor in Economics at LSE, and associate of the Centre for Economic Performance. She is currently a member of the UK’s Trade Modelling Review Expert Panel and LSE’s Economic Diplomacy Commission. She is Research Fellow at CEPR, and on the editorial boards of Journal of International Economics and Review of Economic Studies. N K Singh (@NKSingh_MP) is a prominent Indian economist, academician, and policymaker. He is the President of the Institute of Economic Growth and the Chairman of the 15th Finance Commission. Prior to this position, he presided as Chairman of the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Review Committee. He also served as a member of the Upper House of the Parliament, the Rajya Sabha, from 2008 to 2014. Martin Wolf (@martinwolf_) is Associate Editor and Chief Economics Commentator at the Financial Times, London. He was awarded the CBE (Commander of the British Empire) in 2000 for services to financial journalism. His most recent publication is The Shifts and The Shocks: What we’ve learned – and have still to learn – from the financial crisis (London and New York: Allen Lane, 2014). Andrés Velasco (@AndresVelasco) is Professor of Public Policy and Dean of the School of Public Policy at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Minouche Shafik is Director of the London School of Economics and Political Science and will deliver opening remarks. Nick Stern (@lordstern1) is the IG Patel Professor of Economics and Government and will deliver closing remarks. More about this event The LSE School of Public Policy (@LSEPublicPolicy) is an international community where ideas and practice meet. Our approach creates professionals with the ability to analyse, understand and resolve the challenges of contemporary governance.

Contributor(s): Dr Mohammed Kroessin, Loretta Minghella, Professor Nick Robins | This online event will be a live discussion focused on climate finance and the role faith communities might play in global system change, both in the strategic use of their capital assets and their moral and social capital. Speakers will outline the priorities and transition pathways required in our global financial system at the macro and micro levels to support and advance measures to combat climate change and reflect upon potential future opportunities for faith communities at all levels to contribute to the global emergency productively and strategically. Mohammed R. Kroessin is a development economist with 20 years’ experience of working with Islamic development and financial institutions on strategies for sustainable development and social impact. He has formerly worked for Chambers of Commerce and the Centre for Enterprise in the UK, was Asst. CEO of Muslim Aid and is now heading Islamic Relief’s Global Islamic Microfinance Unit. He holds a Masters in international political economy (Kent) and a Masters in development management (Westminster Business School). He has completed his PhD at the University of Birmingham on the political economy of Islamic finance. He previously was a research associate at the University of Birmingham, working on the DFID funded Religions & Development Research Programme, and a Visiting Research Fellow at Aston Business School where he focused on social entrepreneurship. He is currently a lecturer in Islamic Microfinance at the Frankfurt School of Finance Management. Loretta Minghella (@LMinghella) took up the role of First Church Estates Commissioner in November 2017. As the First Church Estates Commissioner, she is a member of the Church Commissioners' Board of Governors, the General Synod of the Church of England, and the Archbishops' Council. Her main duty is serving as Chair of the Assets Committee of the Church Commissioners which is responsible for stewardship of an investment portfolio of circa £8 billion. Formerly Chief Executive of Christian Aid between 2010-2017. A Lawyer by training with a career in financial regulation, Loretta was previously the Head of Enforcement Law, Policy and International Cooperation for the Financial Services Authority and former CEO of Financial Services Compensation Scheme. Loretta is a Non-Executive Director of the Banking Standards Board and is also Sarum Canon at Salisbury Cathedral. Nick Robins (@NVJRobins1) is Professor in Practice for Sustainable Finance at the Grantham Research Institute at LSE. The focus of his work is on how to mobilise finance for a just transition, the role of central banks and regulators in achieving sustainable development and how the financial system can support the restoration of nature. From 2014 to 2018, Nick was co-director of UNEP's Inquiry into a Sustainable Financial System. Before this, he was head of the Climate Change Centre of Excellence at HSBC from 2007 to 2014. He has also worked at Henderson Global Investors, IIED and the European Commission. Nick is a board member of Investor Watch and a member of a number of advisory boards including Carbon Tracker, the Climate Bonds Initiative and CreditEnable. Robert Falkner (@robert_falkner) is Research Director of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment. The LSE Faith Centre (@LSEFaithCentre) runs innovative programmes and events promoting religious literacy and transformational interfaith leadership supporting students to explore, challenge and question religious differences. Its work extends beyond student programming to its public engagement with governments, universities and civil society groups to build global interreligious cohesion and understanding resourced by LSE’s world class research. The Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment (@GRI_LSE) was established by the London School of Economics and Political Science in 2008 to create a world-leading centre for policy-relevant research and training on climate change and the environment, bringing together international expertise on economics, finance, geography, the environment, international development and political economy.