Climate Change in the Media: Reporting Risk and Uncertainty
Knowledge Economies: Political Causes and Consequences
Chair: David Rueda
At this alumni event on 29 November 2014 a team of Oxford academics presented some of their latest thinking on the political and economic challenges of today.
Topics discussed include the future of the welfare state, immigration and diversity, political corruption, and the financial crisis. The speakers addressed how political choices and institutions shape the economy, and in turn, how economic actors and events shape public policy. The event consists of three panels and one lecture.
Economic and Political Crisis?
Andrew Eggers: ‘The Economic Effects of Economic News’
Ben Ansell: ‘The Political Causes and Consequences of the Housing Bubble’ [Download Powerpoint here]
Desmond King: ‘Did the Fed over help Capital in 2008?’
Chair: David Rueda
Challenging assumptions about macro political economy
Challenging assumptions about individual preferences and behaviour
Global Political Turmoil and the Challenge to the West
Gideon Rachman became chief foreign affairs columnist for the Financial Times in July 2006. He joined the FT after a 15-year career at The Economist, which included spells as a foreign correspondent in Brussels, Washington and Bangkok. He also edited The Economist’s business and Asia sections. His particular interests include American foreign policy, the European Union and globalization. His book Zero-Sum World was published in 2010 and predicted a rise in international political tensions, following the financial crisis of 2008.
Constitutionalism in France: How can Gaullism and the French Popular Front be incorporated into the narrative of French Constitutional history?
New Localism New Finance
As the rhetoric of ‘new localism’ becomes more commonplace and a raft of freedoms and flexibilities are being introduced for many local authorities, a begging question becomes: ‘How should local government funding in the UK be shaped for the 21st Century?’ The real prospect of elected regional assemblies also raises issues of funding and accountability.
The Fiscal Crisis of the United Kingdom
The system for allocating public expenditure to the nations and regions of the UK has never worked properly since the Union of 1707, when Scotland's compensation for joining the Union arrived in Edinburgh in carts guarded by dragoons. Even W.E. Gladstone got it wrong in 1886. Now it has irretrievably broken down. Money goes to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland by the notorious Barnett Formula, but this is collapsing and cannot last long. Money goes to the English regions by poorly-understood formulae that work badly. People in every region think that the system is unfair to them.