Past Events

LSE Workshop 'Unelected Power' 29th November 2018

Thursday 29 November 2018

A half-day workshop hosted by the Mouradian Foundation, the Department of Economics and the Centre for Analysis of Risk and Regulation (CARR). Sir Paul Tucker of the Harvard Kennedy School (and former deputy governor of the Bank of England), reflected on the themes raised in his book Unelected Power.

The book covers a range of issues in economics and politics particularly raising issues around the move towards the greater use of experts to make and inform policy decisions.

The discussion focused on three central themes: design precepts and unelected power; regulators and central banks in the “emergency state” and central bank independence.

The workshop was chaired by Professor Sir Tim Besley and Professor Martin Lodge.

Paul Tucker

Sir Paul Tucker is the chair of the Systemic Risk Council, (LINK) the independent body of former top central bankers, government officials and financial experts dedicated to a stable financial system, and a Research Fellow of the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government (LINK) at the Harvard Kennedy School.

He spent more than three decades in central banking, occupying senior positions in the international policymaking world, and was knighted by Britain in 2014.

As Deputy Governor at the Bank of England from 2009 to October 2013, he was at the centre of efforts to contain the financial crisis and to reshape the international regulatory framework for financial stability.

Tim Besley

President of the International Economic Association

Tim Besley served on the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee from September 2006 to August 2009 and is School Professor of Economics and Political Science and W. Arthur Lewis Professor of Development Economics at the London School of Economics.

He is a member of the Institutions, Organizations and Growth Program of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research and his research interests are focused on aspects of economic policy formation.

Martin Lodge

Professor of Political Science and Public Policy, Department of Government

Martin Lodge joined the Government Department in September 2002. Previously he was ESRC Senior Research Officer at the LSE's Centre for Analysis of Risk and Regulation (CARR) and Lecturer in Public Policy at the University of Ulster at Jordanstown. His undergraduate and PhD degrees are from the LSE.