Public Events
Hayek Programme Launch Event
Abolishing the Political Class, From Aristotle to Hayek
Date and time: Wednesday 16 November 2022 at 6:30-8:00pm
Hosted by the Hayek Programme in Economics and Liberal Political Economy
Speaker: Lord Sumption
Discussants: Professor Martin Loughlin, LSE Law School, and Dr Munira Mirza
Chair: Professor Nicola Lacey, LSE Law School
This event is the formal launch of the Hayek Programme in Economics and Liberal Political Economy at LSE and picks up on themes in Hayek's writings and that of many thinkers through the ages.
It will examine the desire among some members of the public to have a democracy without parties or professional politicians, an idea which has its roots in the ancient world. Jonathan Sumption will first discuss such arguments after which there will be a panel discussion.
The event is free and open to all. Find out more here.
Friedrich Hayek and Adam Smith on the Concept of Liberty
Date and time: Tuesday 01 November 2022 at 6:30-8:00pm
Hosted by the Department of Economics
Speaker: Professor Barry R Weingast, Ward C. Krebs Family Professor and Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution
Chair: Professor Cheryl Schonhardt-Bailey, Department of Goverment, LSE
Both Hayek and Smith differ from more recent attempts to define liberty. Indeed, the term, "liberty", has largely disappeared from traditional economics. As part of a larger study of Adam Smith's politics, Barry Weingast suggests why this is the case.
The reason for this disappearance is that modern economics assumes away the problem that liberty solves, namely, in Hayek and Smith's terms, that of arbitrary power, and in modern terms, that of government predation.
The event is free and open to all. Find out more here.
3rd Joint LSE Hayek Programme - Department of Social Policy Behavioural Limits of the State Symposium
Date: Friday 10 June 2022
Speakers:
- Virgil Storr (George Mason): 'Beyond our parochialism'
- Malte Dold (Pomona) and Paul Lewis (Kings): 'A neglected topos in behavioral public policy: Opportunities and capabilities'
- Elke Weber (Princeton): 'Human behavior as cognition in context: How the power of physical and social context to shape behavior limits the influence of state actors.'
- Eric Johnson (Columbia): 'Reactions to choice architecture'
- Adam Oliver (LSE): 'Curtailing freedoms to protect freedom: Regulating against behavioural-informed infringements on a fair exchange.'
Knowledge as a Source of the Great Divergence
Date and time: Thursday 17 June 2021 at 6:30-7:30pm
Speaker: Professor Joel Mokyr, Northwestern University and University of Tel Aviv
Chair: Professor Mary Morgan, Department of History of Economics, LSE
Joel Mokyr will discuss the Great Divergence, the rapid economic and technological growth between c. 1500 and 1950, that gave the West the opportunity to dominate (and often oppress and exploit) the rest of the world. The lecture will answer a simple but haunting question: how were they able to do that?
The event is free and open to all but pre-registration is required. Find out more here.
Hayekian Behavioural Economics
Date and time: Monday 18 January 2021 at 4:00pm
Speaker: Professor Cass R Sunstein, Harvard Law School
Chair: Professor Tim Besley, STICERD and Department of Economics, LSE
Friedrich Hayek argued for freedom of choice based on outsiders knowing much less than choosers so that interferences with personal freedom will make choosers worse off. This lecture will explore the challenge to that argument that comes from behavioural economics and discusses an ongoing program of research which has created a form of Hayekian behavioural economics.
The event is free and open to all. Find out more here.
View the video of the event on YouTube.
Civil Liberties in Times of Crisis
Date and time: Friday, 18 September at 16:45
Speaker: Professor Stefanie Stantcheva, Department of Economics, Harvard University
Chair: Professor Tim Besley, STICERD and Department of Economics, LSE
Professor Stantcheva will discuss her recent work exploring how far citizens are willing trade off civil liberties during COVID-19, and whether citizens are induced to hold onto their rights and freedoms even during times of crisis because of worries about the long-term erosion of civil liberties.
The event is free and open to all. Please sign up here.
View the video of the event on YouTube.