Latest News
Last updated: 23 February 2010
Department of Economics Public Lecture: Top incomes in the long run of history
Top Incomes in the Long Run of History
Monday 1 March 2010 6.30pm - 8pm
Old Theatre, Old Building
Speaker: Sir Tony Atkinson, Centennial Professor of Economics
Chair: Professor Alan Manning, Head of the Department of Economics
Top incomes in Britain are in the news, but
todays bonuses and executive remuneration have to be seen in historical
perspective. Are top income shares high by the standards of the past? Is Britain
different from other countries? What can economic theory tell us about the
determinants of top incomes and how they have changed over time? |
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Sir Tony
Atkinson is a British economist and was Warden of Nuffield College, Oxford from
1994-2005. Before that, he held positions at Cambridge, UCL and LSE. He was
elected a Fellow of the Econometric Society in 1974, and an Honorary Member of
the American Economic Association in 1985, was knighted in 2000, and made a
Chevalier de la Legion dHonneur in 2001.
This event is free and open to all with no ticket required; entry is on a
first come, first served basis. For more information, please contact Emma
Taverner, e.taverner@lse.ac.uk
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John von Neumann Award 2010 given to Prof. Tim Besley
The 2010 John von Neumann Award has been given to Prof. Tim Besley for his research on political institutions by the
Rajk László College for Advanced Studies
at Corvinus University of Budapest. The award was established in 1995 and is presented annually to leading scholars whose
influential works have had a substantial impact on the studies and intellectual activity of the students at the College.
Previous award holders include John Harsanyi (UC Berkeley), Hal Varian (University of Michigan), Janos Kornai (Harvard University and Budapest College), Jean Tirole (University of Toulouse), Oliver Williamson (UC Berkeley) Jon Elster (Columbia University), Avinash K. Dixit (Princeton University), Maurice Obstfeld (UC Berkeley), Gary S. Becker (University of Chicago), Glenn C. Loury (Brown University), Matthew Rabin (UC Berkeley), Daron Acemoglu (MIT), Kevin Murphy (University of Chicago) and Philippe Aghion (Harvard University).
Further information on Prof. Besley's research can be found at Tim Besley
with further information on the College and John von Neumann Award available from the
Rajk László College for Advanced Studies
Economics Rankings
The Department is pleased to learn that we've have been placed joint 8th in a recent ranking of the top 100 economics research schools
as published by Tilburg University: see https://econtop.uvt.nl/. Head of Department, Prof. Alan Manninng said this is
"a very good result for us which I am sure reflects all the excellent work being done in the department in recent years".
Similarly, a recent study by Malgorzata Knauff and Rabah Amir on the ranking of economics departments worldwide in terms of
PhD placement has placed us as 10th out of 54 other institutions.
See Ranking economics departments worldwide on the basis of PhD placement
for further information.
Department of Economics Public Lecture: Economics 0, Reality 1
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Economics 0, Reality 1
Thursday 4 February 2010, 6.30pm - 8pm
Old Theatre, Old Building
 Speaker: John Lanchester is a British journalist, novelist and winner of the Whitbread Book Award.
Author of the highly acclaimed The Debt to Pleasure, John is a regular contributor to the London Review of Books and the New Yorker,
with a monthly column in Esquire.
Chair: Professor Alan Manning, Head of the Department of Economics
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Has the credit crunch exposed the futility of academic economics? Has any collective body in the history of the world ever been exposed as "wronger" than economists? Should the LSE be closed down and converted into something more socially productive? In this debate John Lanchester challenges the profession of economics with fundamental questions about its purpose and direction.
For further information, contact Emma Taverner
This event is free and open to all with no ticket required. Entry is on a first come, first served basis.
What kind of economics should we teach? Economics Public Debate, 20 January 2010
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What kind of economics should we teach?
Wednesday 20 January 2010, 6.30pm - 8pm
Sheikh Zayed Theatre, New Academic Building
Speakers: Paul Ormerod (Volterra Consulting); Geoffrey Hodgson, Professor of Business Studies, University of Hertfordshire,
and editor-in-chief of the Journal of Institutional Economics; John Sutton, Sir John Hicks Professor of Economics, Department of Economics, LSE;
Albert Marcet, Professor of Economics, LSE
Chair: Tim Besley, Kuwait Professor of Economics, Director of STICERD, and Director of the Master of Public Administration (MPA), LSE.
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The recent global crisis has lead to questions being asked about whether the kind of economics being taught to students in leading
economics departments was responsible for the widespread failure to predict the timing and magnitude of the events that unfolded in 2008.
Critiques range from an absence of historical context in mainstream teaching of economics to excessive reliance on mathematical models.
The panel brings together four leading economists to debate this issue and to discuss what changes in the economics curriculum and the
way that it is delivered are desirable.
For further information, contact Emma Taverner
This event is free and open to all with no ticket required. Entry is on a first come, first served basis.
LBS/LSE/UCL Trio Seminar in International Macro
Thursday 26 November
12.00 - 1.30
R405, CEP Conference Room, 4th Floor, LSE Research Lab, Lionel Robbins Building, Portugal Street
Jaume Ventura (Universitat Pompeu Fabra)
Organized by Gianluca Benigno (LSE), Nicolas Coeurdacier (LBS), Morten Ravn (UCL) and Hélène Rey (LBS)
Superfreakonomics Lecture: podcast now available
The podcast for the Superfreakonomics lecture (Monday 9th November) is now available from:
Public Lectures and Events: podcasts (Search under November 2009).
For information on the event, please go to Superfreakonomics
EC413 features on BBC R4 Analysis Programme
BBC R4 Analysis programme, broadcast 02 November 2009, featured one of our Ec413 lectures in a
segment on how the economics profession has (or has not) responded to the global economic crisis.
Also appearing are Charlie Bean, Myron Scholes, Robert Skidelsky, Richard Thaler, and others.
See BBC R4 Analysis - The Economist's New Clothes
Markus Gstoettner and Anders Jensen Win IAES Best Undergraduate Research Paper 2009
The Economics Department is thrilled to congratulate
Markus Gstoettner and Anders Jensen on winning the 4th annual EconSources.com Best
Undergraduate Paper Competition that is sponsored by the International Atlantic Economic Society.
Their joint paper entitled "Aid and Public Finance: A Missing Link?" was among four finalists from over 65 entries to the competition.
Their paper has already recieved acclaim having been awarded one of three "Distinguished Participant Awards" in the Georgetown University's prestige undergraduate research conference in Washington DC, the Carroll Round.
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STICERD Public Lecture: Justice and the Moral Limits of Markets
The STICERD Public Lecture will take place on Monday 12th October 2009. For further information on this event and how to obtain tickets, go to
Justice and the Moral Limits of Markets
Economics Academic Winner of the 2009 Upjohn Institute Dissertation Award
 | The Department would like to congratulate Dr Johannes Spinnewijn on winning the 2009 Upjohn Institute Dissertation Award.
The Upjohn Institute is an independent research organisation supporting
and conducting policy-relevant research on employment related problems for which this award is given.
Dr Spinnewijn's dissertation titled "Essays on Optimal Insurance Design", analyzes the optimal design of insurance contracts -
and unemployment insurance in particular - considering different policy-relevant contexts that change the central trade-off between
the provision of insurance and the provision of incentives. In comments on Dr Spinnewijn's paper, the awarding committee found his thesis to
"excel in all four areas that we focused on: policy relevance, technical quality of the research,
potential impact on real-world problems, and presentation". Details of this award will be published in the American Economic Review, the Journal of Economic Perspectives
and the Institute's newsletter, Employment Research. Further information on the award can be found at
Upjohn Institute Dissertation Award
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Yrjö Jahnsson Award in Economics for LSE Economist and LSE PhD Student
The European Economic Association has announced the award of the 2009 Yrjö Jahnsson Award in Economics to
Professor John Van Reenen of LSE, and Fabrizio Zilibotti (former LSE PhD student).
This award is presented by the Finnish Yrjö Jahnsson Foundation and the European Economic Association on a biennial basis to up
to two European economists under the age of 45 and is regarded as the most prestigious
award in European economics, the European equivalent of the American Clark medal.
Prof. Van Reenen's research can be found at John Van Reenen and
Fabrizio Zilibotti's research can be found at Fabrizio Zilibotti
Details of the award can be found at 2009 Yrjö Jahnsson Award in Economics
News Archive
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