2018
What was the cause of the Great Recession: Bankers or Policy-Makers?—Lord Lamont and Prof. Tim Congdon
23rd January 2018
Tim Congdon
Prof. Tim Congdon is the editor of the recently published “Money and the Great Recession – did a crash in global money growth cause the global slump?” in association with the Institute of Economic Affairs. Lord Lamont wrote the foreword and will be introducing Professor Congdon’s talk.
Banks and free markets are still held entirely culpable for the financial crisis despite evidence pointing in other directions. This book examines the role that monetary policy operated by central banks played in the great recession. Edited by Professor Tim Congdon, the authors of the book use their experience to marry theory and practice, demonstrating their understanding of the real underlying causes of the slump following the financial crisis. Parallels are drawn with central bankers’ similar mistakes in the Great Depression in the US.
Royal Overseas League, St James’s Street, SW1A 1LR. 6.30pm – 8pm.
Dame Minouche Shafik, Director, London School of Economics
28th February 2018
Dame Minouche Shafik
Dame Minouche will be Director of the London School of Economics from September 2017. She was Deputy Governor for Markets and Banking at the Bank of England, where she had responsibility for the Bank’s balance sheet and its interaction with financial markets. She is a member of the Monetary Policy Committee, the Financial Policy Committee and the Board of the Prudential Regulation Authority. Prior to joining the Bank, she was Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund from 2011-2014 where she was responsible for policy and programmes in Europe and the Middle East. Prior to that she was Permanent Secretary of the UK’s Department for International Development. She has held academic appointments at the Wharton Business School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Economics Department at Georgetown University and published on a variety of economic topics.
Royal Overseas League, St James’s Street, SW1A 1LR. 6.30pm – 8pm.
‘Rethinking the Economics of Land and Housing’ with Josh Ryan-Collins and Laurie MacFarlane
28th March 2018
Josh Ryan-Collins
Laurie Macfarlane
Josh Ryan-Collins is Senior Research Associate at the Centre for Innovation and Public Purpose at UCL. Laurie MacFarlane is the Economics Editor of opendemocracyUK. Together they will be discussing their book, ‘Rethinking the Economics of Land and Housing’, described by the Financial Times as “a lucid exposition of the dysfunctional British housing market”..
Why are house prices in many advanced economies rising faster than incomes? Why isn’t land and location taught or seen as important in modern economics? What is the relationship between the financial system and land?
In this accessible but provocative guide to the economics of land and housing, the authors reveal how many of the key challenges facing modern economies – including housing crises, financial instability and growing inequalities – are intimately tied to the land economy. Looking at the ways in which discussions of land have been routinely excluded from both housing policy and economic theory, the authors show that in order to tackle these increasingly pressing issues a major rethink by both politicians and economists is required.
Royal Overseas League, St James’s Street, SW1A 1LR. 6.30pm – 8pm.
‘Platform Capitalism’ with Nick Srnicek
24th April 2018
Nick Srnicek
Nick Srnicek is currently a faculty member at King’s College London and author of ‘Platform Capitlism’.
What unites Google and Facebook, Apple and Microsoft, Siemens and GE, Uber and Airbnb? Across a wide range of sectors, these firms are transforming themselves into platforms: businesses that provide the hardware and software foundation for others to operate on. This transformation signals a major shift in how capitalist firms operate and how they interact with the rest of the economy: the emergence of ‘platform capitalism’.
Nick Srnicek critically examines these new business forms, tracing their genesis from the long downturn of the 1970s to the boom and bust of the 1990s and the aftershocks of the 2008 crisis. He will show how the foundations of the economy are rapidly being carved up among a small number of monopolistic platforms, and how the platform introduces new tendencies within capitalism that pose significant challenges to any vision of a post-capitalist future. This book will be essential reading for anyone who wants to understand how the most powerful tech companies of our time are transforming the global economy.
Innovate or Stagnate: Can Technology keep the NHS Healthy at 70?
May 15th @ 6 pm – 9 pm
2018 marks the 70th anniversary of the formation of the NHS, the largest single-payer health system in the world. Now facing unprecedented challenges, the NHS is under pressure from not just an ageing population but the need to deliver ever more preventative, personalised, innovative and integrated care cost-effectively. Without doubt, the next ten years will deliver a myriad advanced therapies, from cell and gene therapies, to a revolution in AI, the utilisation of blockchain and potential for a human Internet of Things. Can the NHS afford these? What role will technology play and can it keep the NHS healthy at 70?
This evening event brought together some of the leading minds at the forefront of technological transformation in healthcare, who delved into these themes and explore the opportunities and trials ahead.
Confirmed speakers include:
- Sir Muir Gray CBE, Director, Better Value Health Care
- Dr Nadine Haram, Surgeon and co-founder of Proximie
- Tom Miller, CEO Greybird Ventures
The speakers shared their insight on the following topics:
- Investing in Technology to Release Value
- Optimising Care Pathways to Deliver Maximum Benefit
- Getting More for our Money on the Frontline
Royal Overseas League, St James’s Street, SW1A 1LR. 6.30pm – 8pm.
Shanker Singham, Special Trade Commissioner at Legatum Institute
26th June2018
Shanker Singham
Shanker Singham leads the Legatum Institute’s work on the Economics of Prosperity and is Chairman of their Special Trade Commission. He is a leading expert on international trade, and a regular commentator on the UK’s future trade relationships after Brexit. He has advised governments and companies around the world on trade initiatives, including the accession of Poland and Hungary to the EU and of China and Russia to the WTO. Shanker has served as a trade advisor to the United States government and to a host of US political candidates, including working with Mitt Romney on his 2008 and 2012 Presidential campaigns. Prior to joining the Legatum Institute, he was head of market access at Squire Sanders and Managing Director of the Competitiveness and Enterprise Cities project at Babson Global. He is the author of A General Theory of Trade and Competition: Trade Liberalisation and Competitive Markets (Cameron May Publishing, 2007) and a Bretton Woods Committee member.
‘Egalitarian Capitalism’ with Gavin Oldham
11th September 2018
Gavin Oldham
Gavin Oldham is the founder of The Share Centre, having previously established Barclayshare (now Barclays Stockbrokers) for Barclays Bank. Gavin plays an active role in business affairs and is a regular contributor to radio and TV. He received the Editor’s award for services to private investors from the FT/investors Chronicle in 2013. In 2005 he founded The Share Foundation and in 2014 founded Share Radio Limited. He is managing director of both those organisations and also an elective lay member of the General Synod, a Church Commissioner and a member of its Assets Committee.
Royal Overseas League, St James’s Street, SW1A 1LR. 6.30pm – 8pm.
Non-members can book Early Bird tickets here for £15 (£10 for students). Members can reserve their free place by emailing us info@nullercouncil.org.
‘Your Property: Boom or Bust?’
A Debate on the Future of Housing
23rd October 2018
Your Property: Boom or Bust?
Based on the popular event of the same title last year, the Economic Research Council are hosting a sixth discussion to debate the future of housing and house prices, and what we can expect to happen to the UK’s property market in the future. Last year we examined the Build-to-Rent sector, but this year’s event will return to a consumer focus- what will happen to the value of your home? Will you ever be able to afford a home? Which areas are booming?
This year’s event will once again feature expert speakers who shall each offer a different perspective on the property market. More will be announced soon but the below are confirmed:
- Camilla Dell – Managing Partner and founder of Black Brick Property Solutions LLP.
- Marcus Dixon – Head of Research at LonRes, the property data system.
- Chris Baldwin – Partner, Corporate Finance Real Estate, Deloitte
The ERC’s Sixth Annual “Boom or Bust” Property Debate, kindly supported by Deloitte Real Estate
Deloitte Real Estate, 2 New Street Square, EC4A 3BQ. 6.30pm – 9pm.
Populism, Turmoil & the End of Central Bank Support:
What lies ahead for markets?
with Michael Mackenzie,
Markets Editor, Financial Times
21st November 2018
Michael Mackenzie
The 8th Annual Clash of the Titans
5th December 2018 from 7pm
Economic Forecasting Competition in association with KPMG
Melanie Baker – Senior Economist, Royal London Asset Management
Melanie Baker is RLAM’s Senior Economist with over 18 years’ experience in the financial sector. She started her career at Morgan Stanley where she was an economist analysing currencies. She was Senior UK Economist at Morgan Stanley and analysed the UK economy and political risk events for more than a decade. Her period covering the UK included the aftermath of the financial crisis, Scotland’s Independence referendum and Brexit. She is a CFA charterholder and is also a Trustee of a local charity providing community childcare. She attended Edinburgh University and has a master’s degree in Economics from University College London.
Professor Jagjit Chadha – Director, National Institute of Economic and Social Research
Jagjit Chadha is the Director of NIESR and an expert on financial markets and monetary policy, as well as aspects of monetary and financial history. He has written widely on the design of monetary, fiscal and financial policies. His main research interests are developing the links between finance and macroeconomics in general equilibrium models and has published widely in economics journals. He is also editor of the Cambridge University Press series on economics, Modern Macroeconomic Policymaking and an associate editor of several journals. He has recently published a book on Developments in Macro-Finance Yield Curve Modelling by Cambridge University Press and a number of papers related to the impact of quantitative easing on financial market prices. He is Professor of Economics at the University of Kent, and also part-time Professor of Economics at Cambridge. He was previously Professor of Economics at the University of St Andrews and Fellow at Clare College, Cambridge. He has worked at the Bank of England as an Official working on Monetary Policy and as Chief Quantitative Economist at BNP Paribas, and has served as Chair of the Money, Macro, Finance Study Group. He has also acted as Specialist Adviser to the House of Commons Treasury Committee and academic adviser to both the Bank of England and HM Treasury, and to many central banks as well as the Bank for International Settlements, and held the post of Gresham Professor of Commerce from 2014-2018.
Dr Adrian Paul – Chief UK Economist, Goldman Sachs
Adrian Paul is an economist in the European Economics team. He first joined Goldman Sachs as an economist in 2009 and rejoined the firm after leaving in 2012 to return to university. Adrian received a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Oxford, having completed an M.Phil. in Economics in 2014. During his doctoral studies, he was a Lecturer in Economics at St. Hugh’s College, Oxford. Adrian earned an M.Sc. in Finance from the London School of Economics, and an M.A. and a B.A. in Economics from the University of Cambridge.
Our host for the evening is Yael Selfin, Chief Economist at KPMG.
Yael is Chief Economist at KPMG in the UK. Her research centres on the impact major issues including Brexit and other geopolitical events are likely to have on the economy as well as on individual businesses. Prior to joining KPMG in 2014 she worked at two independent economic consultancies as well as at PwC for over 14 years, where she set up and led their Macro Consulting business, as well as oversaw their international economic research. She has a BSc in Economics from UCL and did further studies in Advanced Econometrics at LSE. She also has a Chartered Accountant qualification.
2017
‘India & China: Rivals or Partners?’
with Dr Jonathan Ward
Wednesday 18th January
Jonathan Ward has recently completed his DPhil at the University of Oxford specialising in China-India relations with a dissertation on the China-India Border War of 1962. He studied Philosophy, Russian and Chinese at Columbia University in New York City as an undergraduate, and continued his language studies at Beijing University in China and St. Petersburg State University in Russia. From 2006 – 2011 he lived and traveled extensively in Russia, China, Latin America, and the Middle East, and speaks Russian, Chinese, Spanish and Arabic. He consults on China-India relations, the Indian Ocean Region, and Maritime Asia for Oxford Analytica, and is a member of the International Institute for Strategic Studies and the Energy Institute. Prior to beginning his doctoral studies, he completed a master’s degree in Global and Imperial History at the University of Oxford.
‘Why are so many economists opposed to Brexit?’
with Paul Ormerod
Volterra Partners
Monday 20th February
Paul Ormerod is a partner of Volterra Partners and a Visiting Professor in the Centre for Decision Making at University College London (UCL). He has written 4 bestselling books, Death of Economics, Butterfly Economics, Why Most Things Fail and Positive Linking. He was elected a Fellow of the British Academy of Social Sciences in 2006, and has been awarded an honorary DSc by Durham University for ‘the distinction of [his] contribution to economics’. After reading economics at Cambridge and taking the MPhil in economics at Oxford, Paul started his career as a macroeconomic forecaster at the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR). He was a founder of the Henley Centre for Forecasting in the 1980s, which the founders sold to Martin Sorrel’s WPP Group in the 1990s.
‘What do Brexit and Trumponomics mean for Markets?’
with Keith Wade
Chief Economist, Schroders
Wednesday 29th March
‘Central Bank Engagement with Society’
with Andrew Haldane
Chief Economist, Bank of England
Tuesday 25th April
Andrew has an Honorary Doctorate from the Open University, is Honorary Professor at the University of Nottingham, a Visiting Fellow at Nuffield College, Oxford, a member of the Economic Council of the Royal Economic Society, a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences and a Member of the Research and Policy Committee at Nesta. Andrew is Chairman and co-founder of Pro Bono Economics, a charity that matches volunteer economists with charitable projects.Andrew has written extensively on domestic and international monetary and financial policy issues and has published over 150 articles and four books. In 2014, TIME magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world.
‘The Unintended Effects of Quantitative Easing’
with Baroness Dr Ros Altmann
Tuesday 24th May
‘What do Brexit, Corbyn and Trump tell us about Inequality?’
with Dr Faiza Shaheen
Director, Centre for Labour and Social Studies
Tuesday 13th June
Dr Faiza Shaheen is Director of CLASS, joining in February 2016. Prior to this, Faiza was Head of Inequality and Sustainable Development at Save the Children UK, where she led on the development of a new global campaign on inequalities in child outcomes, and Senior Researcher on economic inequality at the New Economics Foundation (NEF).
Faiza is an economist, writer, activist and commentator. She is the author of a range of materials and publications covering the most salient social and economic debates of our times, including inequality, austerity, immigration, youth unemployment and social mobility. Faiza is a regular contributor to debates on popular news programmes including Newsnight and Channel 4 News, and has worked with Channel 4 and the BBC to develop documentaries on inequality.
Faiza was born and raised in East London. She has a BA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from St John’s College, Oxford University, and both an MSc in Research Methods & Statistics and a PhD from the University of Manchester. Her PhD charted the changing geography of poverty between 1971 and 2001 in the UK, and modelled the economic, demographic and societal factors driving these trends.
‘Northern Rock, 10 years on: Is UK banking sound?’
with Professor Kevin Dowd
Thursday 14th September
‘Called to Account’
with Dame Margaret Hodge MP
Tuesday 7th November
The book is about her time as Chair of the Public Accounts Committee. After five years following the taxpayers’ pound, Dame Hodge has written about the ‘unconscionable amounts of waste and inefficiency’ she observed, in particular on watching ‘too many big companies, aided by advisers, banks and lawyers get away without paying their fair share of tax’.
Dame Hodge will share her stories from the frontline and give you her take on the lessons that should be learnt for the future so that all taxpayers get better value for money.
2016
20/01/16: Jon “JB” Beckett
Author of New Fund Order, New Fund Order: Dysfunctions and Disrupters in the City
08/03/16: John Whiting & Angela Knight
Tax Director and Chair of Office of Tax Simplification, Simplifying the UK Tax System
19/04/16: Richard Murphy
Director of Tax Research UK, The Joy of Tax
03/05/16: EU Referendum Debate
Andrew Lilico and Charles Grant debate Brexit: The Economic Arguments For and Against
08/06/16: Fourth Annual Boom or Bust Property Discussion
Ed Mead (Douglas & Gordon), Camilla Dell (Black Brick), Dan Bayley (BNP Paribas), and Neal Hudson(Savills)
12/09/16: Stuart Block
The Economic Cyclist: Cycling to China along Silk Roads Old and New
11/10/16: Sir Charles Bean
Making Economic Statistics fit for the 21st Century
07/11/16: Larry Elliott and Dan Atkinson
Europe isn’t Working: How the Failure of the Single Currency led to Brexit
2015
27/01/15: Matthew Elliott
Chief Executive of Business for Britain, Business and the EU: The Underlying Divisions
25/02/15: Felix Martin
Author of Money: The Unauthorised Biography”, The Ends of Monetary Policy
24/03/15: Richard Blundell
Research Director at the IFS and Professor of Economics at UCL, Wages, Inequality and Living Standards
20/04/15: John Gapper
Chief Business Commentator at the Financial Times, Technology and the Economy
18/05/15: Pete Comley
Author of Inflation Matters”, Inflationary Wave Theory
16/06/15: Third Annual Boom or Bust” Property Discussion
Peter Rollings (Marsh & Parsons), Charlie Ellingworth (Property Vision), Paul McFadyen (Regis Group), and Lucian Cook (Savills)
14/10/15: Ruth Lea
Economic Adviser to the Arbuthnot Group, A New Relationship for the UK with the EU
02/11/15: Sir Vince Cable
Former Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, Another Storm Ahead?
02/12/15: Clash of the Titans V
Andrew Sentance, Rain Newton-Smith, Dr Sean Holly, Jonathan Portes
2014
20/01/14: Musa Okwonga
Author and Broadcaster, The Football Crash: Are Footballers the Bankers of Professional Sports?
24/02/14: David Craig
Author, The Great Savings and Pensions Scandal
25/03/14: James Hindhaugh
Managing Director of Trufflenet, The Chancellor vs. The People: A Social Media Analysis of the Budget
29/04/14: Jan Skoyles
Head of Research at the Real Asset Co., Gold, Bitcoin and the Future of Money
28/05/14: EU Debate
Tim Congdon and Charles Grant debate Is the British Economy Better Off In or Out of the EU?
11/06/14: Second Annual Boom or Bust Property Discussion
Grainne Gilmore (Knight Frank), Matthew Pointon (Capital Economics), and James Wyatt (Parthenia)
10/09/14: Katie Morley
Finance Writer (Investors Chronicle) and FT Columnist, A Generation that is Young, Rootless and Broke
06/10/14: John Mills and David B. Smith
Britain’s Economic Future: There is an Alternative
18/11/14: Martin Wolf
Chief Economics Commentator at the Financial Times, The Shifts and the Shocks
18/12/14: Clash of the Titans IV
Andrew Sentance, John Llewellyn, Kate Barker, and Michael McMahon
2013
09/01/13: Stuart Block
Economist and Teacher, The Economic Cycle: An Economist’s Journey by Bicycle from South Africa to London
05/02/13: Richard Fleming
Head of Advisory and Restructuring, KPMG, The Prospects for British Business
09/04/13: Tom Chatfield
Author, Virtual Economics: Bitcoins and Beyond
08/05/13: Mark Schneider
President of College Measures, Is Higher Education Worth the Cost?
04/06/13: Your Property: Boom or Bust? 2013
Yolande Barnes (Savills), James Wyatt (John D Wood & Co), Liam Bailey (Knight Frank) and James Ferguson (The Macrostrategy Partnership LLP)
11/09/13: Andrew Smithers
Chairman of Smithers & Co., The Road to Recovery: How and Why Economic Policy Must Change
09/10/13: Hayek vs Keynes Debate
Guy Fraser-Sampson and Michael Kitson debate Whose theories can best deliver recovery and growth in the UK – Hayek or Keynes?
06/11/13: Sarah Harper
Director of the Oxford Institute of Population Ageing, The Economic and Political Effects of an Ageing Population
10/12/13: Clash of the Titans III
Andrew Sentance, Kevin Daly, Stephen King, and Ros Altmann
2012
09/01/12: Nigel Hawkins and Michael Laughton
Publication Launch Event, The Future of Energy Policy in the UK
07/03/12: Nick O’Donohoe
CEO of Big Society Capital, Social Impact Investments: A Revolution in Financial Markets?
04/04/12: Panel Discussion
Michael Drummond, Mike Delaney and Jacque Mallender, Payment by Results in Public Services
09/05/12: Chi Onwurah MP
Shadow Minister for Innovation, Science and Digital Infrastructure, The New Innovation Economy
13/05/12: James Wyatt
Head of Valuation at John D. Wood & Co., Bubbles and Asset Prices
04/09/12: Dr Gerard Lyons
Chief Economist at Standard Chartered Bank, The Shift in the Balance of Economic and Financial Power
02/10/12: Guy Fraser-Sampson
Senior Fellow at Cass Business School, The Mess We’re In
06/11/12: John Kay
Author and Financial Times journalist, The Future of Equity Markets
04/12/12: Clash of the Titans II
Lord Lamont, Linda Yueh, Michael Kitson and Ethan Ilzetzki
2011
17/02/11: Andrew Smith
Chief Economist at KPMG, The Economic Outlook for 2011
07/04/11: Steve Moore
Director of the Big Society Network, Big Society: The Whole Equation
09/05/11: John Hawksworth
Chief Economist of PricewaterhouseCoopers, The Shift in Global Economic Power to the E7
13/09/11: James Wyatt
Head of Valuation at John D. Wood & Co., The Outlook for the Housing Market and the Implications for the Wider Economy
05/10/11: Michael Johnson
Centre for Policy Studies, Public Sector Pensions: DC is Inevitable
15/11/11: John Mills
Chairman of JML Ltd., The Exchange Rate
06/12/11: Clash of the Titans I
Lord Lamont, John Muellbauer, Hashem Pesaran and Danny Quah
2010
16/09/10: Patience Wheatcroft
Editor-in-Chief of Wall Street Journal Europe, What is the Future for Corporate Britain?
09/11/10: Jon Moulton and Jamie Constable
From Better Capital and rCapital, Will there be a double-dip recession?
09/12/10: Panel Discussion
Lord Lamont, John Peet and John Stevens, The Future for Europe
