CEP 21st Birthday Lecture Series

Thursday 4th November 2010, 6.30pm – 8.00pm

The State of the World Economy

Speaker: Olivier Blanchard, Chief Economist at the IMF
Venue: Sheikh Zayed Theatre, Lower Ground Floor, New Academic Building, Lincolns Inn Fields

Overview: A strong and sustained world recovery requires two rebalancing acts. Internal, with a shift, in advanced countries, from fiscal support to private demand. External, with an increase in net exports in deficit countries, notably the US, and a decrease in net exports in surplus countries, notably China...
About the speaker: Olivier Blanchard is Economic Counsellor and Director of the Research Department at the IMF and has worked closely with the CEP over the last 25 years.

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Listen to Blanchard Interviewed by CentrePiece Editor, Romesh Vaitilingam (mp3)

Tuesday 16th November 2010, 6.30pm – 8.00pm

Restoring Growth

Speaker: Prof John Van Reenen, director of the CEP
Venue: Old Theatre, Ground Floor, LSE Old Building, Houghton Street

Overview: The financial crisis and the great recession dealt the global economy a massive shock. How can growth be put back on a sustainable path? What policy lessons have we learned? And how should Britain respond?
About the speaker: John Van Reenen is professor of economics at LSE and the director of the Centre for Economic Performance.

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Tuesday 15th March 2011, 6.30pm - 8.00pm

Changes in Labour Market Inequality

Speaker: Professor Stephen Machin, Director of Research CEP, and UCL
Venue: LSE Old Theatre, Old Building, Houghton St

Overview: Stephen Machin surveys significant research findings on wage inequality that have emerged from the Centre over the past three decades.
About the speaker: Stephen Machin is Director of Research at the Centre for Economic Performance, LSE, Director of the Centre for the Economics of Education and Professor of Economics at University College London.

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Tuesday 22nd March 2011, 6.30pm - 8.00pm

Exhorbitant Privilege: The Rise and Fall of the Dollar

Speaker: Professor Barry Eichengreen, University of California, Berkeley
Venue: LSE Hong Kong Theatre, Clement House, Aldwych

Overview: Is the dollar now poised to lose its exorbitant privilege as the leading international currency? Barry Eichengreen discusses why it will remain at the heart of the global financial system.
About the speaker: Barry Eichengreen is Professor of Political Science and Economics at the University of California, Berkeley.

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Tuesday 31st May 2011, 6.30pm - 8.00pm

Health Care Reform in the US

Speaker: Dr Peter Orszag, Vice Chairman of Global Banking, CitiGroup
Venue: Sheikh Zayed Theatre, New Academic Building, Lincoln's Inn Fields

Overview: Spiraling health care costs are currently threatening the future of the U.S. economy. Orszag offers insight on the possible approaches to reduce health-care costs over time without impairing the quality of medical care or outcomes.
About the speaker: Peter Orszag is Vice Chairman of Global Banking at CitiGroup and a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.

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Tuesday 21st June 2011, 6.30pm - 8.00pm

Too Many People In Britain? Immigration and the housing problem

Speaker: Professor Steve Nickell, Warden, Nuffield College Oxford & Office of Budget Responsibility
Venue: Sheikh Zayed Theatre, New Academic Building, Lincoln's Inn Fields

Overview: Why does housing not keep up with population growth? More generally why do we find it so hard to house our population decently?
About the speaker: Steve Nickell is Warden of Nuffield College Oxford and a Member of the Budget Responsibility Committee at the OBR.

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Tuesday 15th November 2011, 6.30pm - 8.00pm

Thinking Fast and Slow: Daniel Kahneman In Conversation with Richard Layard

Speaker: Professor Daniel Kahneman, Eugene Higgins Professor of Psychology and Professor of Public Affairs Emeritus at Princeton University.
Venue: LSE Old Theatre, Old Building, Houghton Street

Overview: Why do smart people make bad decisions? How come the best laid plans can go so wrong? What really makes us happy? Kahneman will discuss these questions and more with Richard Layard.
About the speaker: Daniel Kahneman the Eugene Higgins Professor of Psychology Emeritus at Princeton University, and a fellow of the Center for Rationality at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

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Tuesday 28th November 2011, 6.30pm - 8.00pm

Herd Behaviour and Keeping up with the Joneses

Speaker: Professor Andrew Oswald, University of Warwick & IZA Bonn
Venue: LSE Old Theatre, Old Building, Houghton Street

Overview:Herd behaviour is very often natural and individually rational, but it has the potential to be disastrous for the group. In this lecture, Andrew Oswald will discuss human herd behaviour and its links to ‘Keeping up with the Joneses’.
About the speaker: Andrew Oswald is Professor of Economics at the University of Warwick in the UK, a Visiting Fellow at the IZA Institute in Bonn in Germany, and a member of the Board of Editors of the journal Science.

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Monday 5th December 2011, 6.30pm - 8.00pm

The Price of Civilization: Economics and Ethics After the Fall

Speaker: Professor Jeffrey Sachs, Columbia University
Venue: LSE Old Theatre, Old Building, Houghton Street

Overview: The world economy remains in a precarious state after the global recession - where quick fixes were implemented instead of sustainable solutions to systemic problems. Jeffrey Sachs will discuss why we must - and how we can - change our entire economic culture in the time of crisis.
About the speaker:Jeffrey Sachs is Director of The Earth Institute, Quetelet Professor of Sustainable Development, and Professor of Health Policy and Management at Columbia University.

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Tuesday 28 February 2012, 6.30pm - 8.00pm

Comparing Real Wages: the McWage Index

Speaker: Professor Orley Ashenfelter, Princeton University
Venue: LSE Sheikh Zayed Theatre, New Academic Building, Lincoln's Inn Fields

Overview: Real wages measure worker welfare and the cost of labor. After providing some historical background and the basis for their interpretation, Professor Ashenfelter reports the results of a decade long study of wage rates at McDonald's restaurants in over 60 countries
About the speaker: Orley Ashenfelter is Joseph Douglas Green 1895 Professor of Economics and director of the Industrial Relations Section at Princeton University.

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Tuesday 6 March 2012, 6.30pm - 8.00pm

Mental Health: The New Frontier for the Welfare State

Speaker: Professor Richard Layard, Director of Wellbeing Programme, CEP
Venue: LSE Sheikh Zayed Theatre, New Academic Building, Lincoln's Inn Fields

Overview: CEP founder Richard Layard will close this series of lectures with a discussion on the economic and social costs of mental illness.
About the speaker: Richard Layard is Emeritus Professor of Economics at LSE. He is the head of the Centre for Economic Performance’s Programme on Well-Being.

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