Podcast
LSE: Public lectures and events
Hosted by LSE Film and Audio Team · EN
The London School of Economics and Political Science public events podcast series is a platform for thought, ideas and lively debate where you can hear from some of the world's leading thinkers. Listen to more than 200 new episodes every year.
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Episodes
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On natural capital: the value of the world around us
Sep 2901:28:49Summary readyContributor(s): Professor Sir Partha Dasgupta | How should we measure economic progress in an age of ecological crisis? Join us for a conversation with Partha Dasgupta, Emeritus Professor of Economics at the University of Cambridge, as he discusses his latest book On Natural Capital where he lays out a seminal and groundbreaking new approach to economics. Challenging everything that has come before, he asks, what if we were to put a value on nature just as we value everything else?
SummaryClimate finance and investment in low-income countries
Sep 2401:29:23Summary readyContributor(s): Melinda Bohannon, Dr Vera Songwe, Dr Sudarno Sumarto, Professor Chris Woodruff | Climate finance is a critical tool in supporting low-income countries as they face the growing impacts of climate change. These nations, despite contributing the least to global emissions, are often the most vulnerable to climate-related shocks such as extreme weather, rising sea levels, and food insecurity. Yet, they frequently lack access to the capital needed to adapt, build resilience, and pursue low-carbon development. Unlocking investment for climate action in low-income countries requires a coordinated effort between governments, development banks, private investors, and international organisations.
SummaryValuing nature in a changing climate: rethinking natural capital
Sep 2401:29:30Summary readyContributor(s): Professor Juliano Assunção, Jim Leape, Professor Rohini Pande | As climate change accelerates, the economic case for protecting and investing in natural capital has never been clearer. This event brings together leading economists and policymakers to explore how the degradation of ecosystems – from forests and wetlands to oceans – is not only an environmental crisis but a profound market failure. Natural capital – the world’s stock of natural assets like soil, air, water, and biodiversity – underpins global economies yet remains largely invisible in traditional financial systems. In the face of rising climate risks, we must rethink how we measure, value, and invest in nature.
SummaryInvesting in our future: COP30 and the sustainable growth agenda
Sep 2201:32:24Summary readyContributor(s): Professor Patrick Bolton, Professor Michael Greenstone, Sherry Rehman, Professor José Scheinkman | As the world prepares for COP30 in Brazil, this event provides a forward-looking platform to explore priorities, challenges, and opportunities for accelerating and aligning climate ambition with sustainable economic growth. As countries prepare to submit enhanced nationally determined contributions (NDCs), our panel explores how climate action can drive innovation, job creation, and long-term resilience, particularly in emerging and developing economies.
SummaryLSE: The Ballpark | Who is liable for AI? With Dr Anat Lior
Sep 2200:45:46Tap to summarizeAI has legal consequences. Who is responsible when AI makes a mistake which causes harm or financial loss? What role does government regulation play, and do we need to revise our legal frameworks in the face of increasingly capable AI?
Transcribe →Do we need to pay our debts?
Sep 2000:28:34Tap to summarizeContributor(s): | Exploring the reasons people might find themselves with problematic levels of debt, the options open to those in financial trouble and how bankruptcy laws could be used more impactfully to the benefit of both individuals and society; this month we revisit an episode from 2023 which asks, “Do we always need to pay our debts?” It's a question that has come back into focus recently as the UK continues to grapple with elevated interest rates and the lingering effects of inflation, putting increasing pressure on household budgets and reigniting debates around debt and repayment. Jess Winterstein talks to: Dr Joseph Spooner, Associate Professor in the LSE Law School and author of Bankruptcy: the case for relief in an economy of debt, and Sara Williams, founder of debt advisory website Debt Camel. https://debtcamel.co.uk/
Transcribe →Global inequality in historical and comparative perspective
Sep 1900:55:35Summary readyContributor(s): Thomas Piketty | Presenting new research produced by the World Inequality Lab, Thomas Piketty discusses recent trends in global inequality, analysing the historical movement toward equality and future prospects for more redistribution. This lecture includes preliminary results from the Global Justice Project. Combining comparative historical data series from the World Inequality Database with global input-output tables, environmental accounts, labour force surveys and other sources, the Global Justice Project explores what a just distribution of socio-economic and environmental resources could look like at the global level from 2025 to 2100 – both between and within countries – in a way that is compatible with planetary boundaries. The project partly builds on the analysis and proposals set out in Thomas Piketty’s Brief History of Equality, extending them into a broader and more comprehensive global framework.
SummaryLSE: The Ballpark | The Administrative State with Professor Kimberley S. Johnson
Aug 6, 202500:36:29Tap to summarizeIn July 2025 the Phelan US Centre spoke to Professor Kimberley S. Johnson about the recent history of the US administrative state and racial representation in the US government and administration
Transcribe →Can we be great again? Why a dangerous world needs Britain
Jul 21, 202501:27:02Tap to summarizeJoin us for this talk by Jeremy Hunt in which he will talk about his new book, Can We Be Great Again?: Why a Dangerous World Needs Britain.
Transcribe →Exile economics – what happens when globalisation fails
Jul 9, 202501:02:54Tap to summarizeJoin us for this conversation between journalist and author Ben Chu and LSE's Richard Davies about Ben's new book Exile Economics: What Happens if Globalisation Fails.
Transcribe →