Past Public Events

Below is a list of past events hosted by POID or featuring our academics at LSE or other events.

15 March 2023 - Economics Seminar
Location: University of Surrey (Hybrid)

POID Director John Van Reenen presented on "FDI and Superstar Spillovers: Evidence from Firm-to-Firm Transactions".

14 March 2023 - Economics Seminar
Location: University of Padova, Italy (Online)

POID Director John Van Reenen presented on "FDI and Superstar Spillovers: Evidence from Firm-to-Firm Transactions".

8 March 2023 - MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy
Location: MIT, USA (Online)

POID Director John Van Reenen presented on "The Impact of Regulation on Innovation".

2 March 2023 - Keystone Strategy's Antitrust, Regulation and the Political Economy Conference
Location: Belgium (Hybrid)

POID Director John Van Reenen presented at this Conference on "The Rise of Superstar Firms: Causes and Consequences". Watch the recording of the session here.

1 March 2023 - Department of Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT)
Location: DCMS, London (Online)

POID Director John Van Reenen presented to the DSIT at DCMS on "The Rise of Superstar Firms: Causes and Consequences".

9 February 2023 - Economic Analysis of Regulation Conference, Spring 2023
Location: NBER, USA (Online)

POID Director John Van Reenen presented on "The impact of regulation on innovation".

25 January 2023 - Future of Work and Wellbeing Conference
Location: London (Hybrid)

POID Director John Van Reenen participated in a session on "Innovation and firms" at this Conference which is a collaboration between the Institute for the Future of Work, Imperial College London and Warwick Business School, funded by the Nuffield Foundation. The Conference will explore the latest perspectives from research, policy and practice on how automation technologies are transforming work, society and the economy

23 January 2023 - OECD High Level Symposium on Pro-Competitive Policies for a Sustainable Economic Recovery
Location: Paris (Online)

POID Director John Van Reenen participated in a panel discussion on "Competition, Innovation and Industrial Policy for Sustainable Growth" alongside senior policymakers and economists from several policy communities. The objective of the Symposium is to discuss the relevance of the role of competition policy in the context of a sustainable economic recovery as part of a whole-of-government approach. Read presentation here.

17 January 2023 - Growth for Good: reshaping capitalism to save humanity from climate catastrophe
Location: LSE (In person)

POID Deputy Director Anna Valero joined Alessio Terzi in the discussion of his new book "Growth for Good" which deals with climate change and sustainable development. Historically, industrialisation, capitalism, and affluence have contributed to the emissions that are warming the planet's atmosphere. As humanity starts to grapple with the Herculean challenge of climate change, should economic growth be abandoned to stand a chance of success?...

14-15 December 2022 - Empirical Management Conference
Location: IFC, Washington, USA (Hybrid)

POID Director John Van Reenen presented at this two-day conference on empirical management which focused on recent empirical research on measuring and exploring management and organizational practices. Watch the recording of his keynote presentation titled "The Natural Laws of Management" and see slides here.

3 December 2022 - Workshop on "Economic dynamism and distributive justice: Wealth concentration, economic inequality and innovation"
Location: Stone Centre, University College London (Hybrid)

POID Director John Van Reenen presented on "Democratising Entrepreneurship" at this Stone Centre at UCL workshop in London.

14 November 2022 - Labor and Public Finance Seminar
Location: University of Michigan, USA (Hybrid)

POID Director John Van Reenen presented on "The Impact of Regulation on Innovation" at this seminar in Michigan, USA.

7 November 2022 - Applied Economics Seminar
Location: Tel Aviv University, Israel (Hybrid)

POID Director John Van Reenen presented on "FDI and Superstar Spillovers: Evidence from firm-to-firm transactions" at this seminar in Israel.

26 October 2022 - Economic Seminar
Location: DG COMP, European Commission (Hybrid)

POID Director John Van Reenen presented on "The Rise of Superstar Firms: Causes and Consequences". The tech titans have become the centre of much interest by competition authorities, policymakers and the general public. John Van Reenen will show that the growth of such "superstar firms" in the last few decades stretches well beyond the high tech sector and is a more general phenomenon in advanced economies. Reviewing his own work and that of many others, he documents these trends, evaluates their causes and some consequences. Technological change seems very important in understanding the rise of the superstars and this raises many policy issues in antitrust and beyond.

25 October 2022 - LSE Economics Society Sen Club
Location: LSE (Hybrid)

POID Director John Van Reenen presented on "Have Producivity and Pay Decoupled in the UK?" to the Sen Club - a group of undergraduate students at LSE interested in research and academia looking to utilize the engaging environment to get a taste of diverse topics within the field of Economics.

4-7 October 2022 - Reimagining the Economy Project
Location: Harvard Kennedy School, USA (Hybrid)

POID Director John Van Reenen gave a presentation on "Reimagining the Economy: Harvard Kennedy School Discussion" at this year's HKS launch and workshop on 'Firm Support Policies' in the USA.

30 September 2022 - Applied Microeconomics Seminar
Location: University of Oklahoma, USA (Online)

POID Director John Van Reenen gave an online presentation at the University of Oklahoma on "The Impact of Regulation on Innovation".

21 September 2022 - Ray of Hope? Innovation and the Climate Crisis
Location: LSE

Dealing with climate change will require innovation and diffusion of new technologies. But how can we craft policies to best deliver this?

As part of LSE Environment Week, POID Director John Van Reenen presented at this panel discussion alongside Robin Burgess (LSE), Pol Simpson (LSE) and Mar Reguant (Northwestern University). The panel discussed new thinking and evidence from leading thinkers and practitioners on this vital subject, including detailed studies of one of the possible success stories - solar power. Does the rapid rise in the use of solar energy represent a ray of hope in addressing the climate crisis?

20 September 2022 - Whatever It Takes - Is There A Plan B For Climate Change?
Location: LSE

Plan A for climate change should be to change our growth model to reduce emissions sufficiently to stop global warming through a mixture of carbon pricing, regulation, and technology subsidies. Should we also consider a Plan B of encouraging new technological solutions? And if so, what kind of solutions are there and how would we act upon them? This event brings together some new thinking on this issue.

As part of LSE Environment Week, POID Deputy Director Anna Valero was a panellist alongside Clare Balboni (MIT), Lord Deben (UK Climate Change Committee), Shaun Fitzgerald (Centre for Climate Repair@Cambridge) and David Keith (HKS).

13-15 September 2022 - Seminars in Sweden
Location: Sweden (Hybrid)

POID Director John Van Reenen gave a series of seminars in Sweden, in particular at:

22-26 August 2022 - EEA-ESEM 2022 Congress
Location: Bocconi University, Milan

POID Director John Van Reenen presented at the in-person EEA-ESEM 2022 Congress in Milan. See both presentations here: "The Case for Growth: Threats and Opportunities" and "Do tax incentives for research increase firm innovation? An RD Design for R&D".

15-21 July 2022 - Innovation Research Boot Camp, Summer 2022
Location: NBER, Boston

POID Director John Van Reenen presented a series of lectures at the NBER Innovation Research Boot Camp this summer. For more information on these lectures, read the material here:

8 July 2022 - 2022 Annual Conference of the OECD Global Forum on Productivity (GFP)
Location: Brussels, Belgium

POID Director John Van Reenen gave a keynote speech titled "The Case for Growth: Threats and Opportunities" at OECD's 2022 Annual Conference - Global Forum on Productivity (GFP) on "Challenges for productivity growth in the post COVID-19 era".

28 June 2022 - Economic Seminar
Location: London (Hybrid)

POID Director John Van Reenen joined Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves MP to discuss the prospects for the UK economy over the next year and what that means for economic policy.

28 June 2022 - Joint Research Centre, European Commission
Location: Ispra, Italy (Online)

POID Director John Van Reenen presented on "OPENing up Military Innovation: An Evaluation of Reforms to the U.S. Air Force SBIR Program".

22 June 2022 - Annual Research Conference 2022
Location: The Productivity Institute, Manchester (Hybrid)

At this Conference titted "Digital Transformation, technology diffusion and Net Zero transition: what does it mean for productivity?", POID Deputy Director Anna Valero gave a research keynote on "Innovation for productivity and Net Zero: informing a sustainable growth strategy.".

20 June 2022 - IWH Research Seminar
Location: Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH), Germany (Hybrid)

POID Director John Van Reenen presented on "The Impact of Regulation on Innovation" at Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH).

17 June 2022 - Departmental Research Seminar
Location: University of Kent

POID Director John Van Reenen presented and based his discussion on his joint paper "The Impact of Regulation on Innovation" (with Philippe Aghion and Antoine Bergeaud).

16 June 2022 - NYU-LMU Panel "Superstar Firms and Innovation"
Location: NYU Stern School of Business (Online)

POID Director John Van Reenen presented at the jointly hosted NYU's Center for the Future of Management-LMU's Institute for Strategy, Technology and Organization panel titled "Superstar Firms and Innovation".

9-10 June 2022 - CEPR Annual Symposium in Labour Economics 2022
Location: LSE (Hybrid)

POID Director John Van Reenen gave the keynote lecture titled "Inequalities among firms: Implications for Labour Markets" at this year's CEPR Annual Symposium in Labour Economics.

27-28 May 2022 - The Chicago/LSE Crime Conference 2022
Location: LSE (Hybrid)

POID Director John Van Reenen presented and based his discussion on this NBER Working Paper titled "Policing and Management".

26 May 2022 - Launch of the UCL Stone Centre
Location: Church House, London

The UCL Stone Centre launched in London with new insights into economic inequality, mobility and wealth concentration. POID Director John Van Reenen presented on the bigger gaps between superstar firms and laggards to declining productivity growth, highlighting a theme taken up by the panel about the connection between inequality and innovation. See slides here.

19-20 May 2022 - 2022 Coase Project Inaugural Conference
Location: University of Chicago, USA

As part of The Coase Project, POID Director John Van Reenen presented in a panel titled "Global Diffusion of Solar Power and the Role of China". See his presentation slides here.

The Coase Project was formed by the University of Chicago economist Michael Greenstone and London School of Economics economist Robin Burgess to deepen and elevate the fields of climate, energy, and environmental economics at a time when these fields are critical to confronting the global energy and environment challenge.

22-23 April 2022 - Megafirms and the Post-COVID Economy
Location: Boston, USA (Hybrid)

In collaboration with NBER.

24 March 2022 | 10:20 - 11:40 GMT - Technology and the Future of Labour: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives Conference
Location: The Britsh Academy (Hybrid)

Automation, artificial intelligence and big data will have a dramatic effect on future economies. New technology provides opportunities for growth and prosperity, but it also has potentially disruptive effects on the labour market, making existing skills and tasks obsolete...POID Director John Van Reenen presented on "Technology, Labour Markets and Firms".

15 March 2022 | 17:00 - 18:15 GMT - Bidenomics: Lessons for the UK
Location: The Resolution Foundation (Hybrid)

The UK needs to reset its own economic strategy for the 2020s, but what can we learn from the US about the successes and risks of trying to adopt a radical, progressive economic agenda? What are the biggest achievements the President can lay claim to, and does the President's agenda add up to a significant shift in the American economic model?

4 March 2022 - Economy 2030 Inquiry Workshop
Location: LSE (Hybrid)

This one-day event examined the impact of economic change on people, firms and places over this coming decade. This event was held as part of the Economy 2030 Inquiry, a collaboration between the CEP and the Resolution Foundation. POID Director John Van Reenen presented on "Economy 2030: Firms".

3 March 2022 - Firms, market power, innovation and inequality
Location: Institute for Fiscal Studies (Online)

Firms are at the centre of our economy: they make the things we buy, set prices, invent new things and provide jobs. They also differ widely in their size, their productivity, their innovativeness, and the wages and conditions they offer. See POID Director John Van Reenen's presentation titled "Deaton Review: Firms and Inequality" and watch the video recording here.

27 January 2022 - Policies to Raise Pay and Productivity: Innovation and Diffusion
Location: London

POID Director John Van Reenen presented to the Policy Unit and senior economists at No. 10 on Policies to Raise Pay and Productivity.

13-14 January 2022 - Toulouse School of Economics - Special Keynote
Location: TSE, France (Online)

POID Director John Van Reenen gave the Suzanne Scotchmer lecture on "The Rise of Superstar Firms" on 14 January at the Toulouse School of Economics, France. The video recording is available here.

15 November 2021 | 09:30 - 10:45 GMT - E2030 | Open for business?: Assessing the performance of British firms
Location: The Resolution Foundation, London (Hybrid)

British firms have had a tumultuous decade - from the financial crisis to the Covid-19 pandemic. The 2020s brings new challenges as they grapple with post-Brexit trade and regulatory changes, the net zero transition, and improving the UK's woeful productivity record. But what is the state of British business as it heads into this decisive decade? POID Deputy Director Anna Valero joined Jonathan Haskel (MPC member), Rebecca Riley (Director of the UK Economic Statistics Centre of Excellence) and Torsten Bell (Chief Executive of the Resolution Foundation).

The Economy 2030 Inquiry is a collaboration between the Resolution Foundation and the Centre for Economic Performance at the London School of Economics. It is funded by the Nuffield Foundation.

12 November 2021 | 11:30 - 13:00 GMT - IARIW-ESCoE Conference on Intangible Assets
Location: RSA House, London (Hybrid)

POID Deputy Director Anna Valero chaired a panel discussion on "Productivity and Intangibles II". Star speakers include Chiara Criscuolo (OECD), Jonathan Haskel (Imperial College and the Bank of England), Corby Garner (US Bureau of Labor Statistics and Bart van Ark (University of Manchester).

9 November 2021 | 14:00 - 15:00 GMT - The price we pay for carbon: can taxes take us to net zero?
Location: Institute of Fiscal Studies, London

As part of The 2021 Festival of Social Science, POID Deputy Director Anna Valero participated in a panel of experts exploring the most pressing economic challenges facing the UK on the road to net zero.

3 November 2021 | 16:00 - 17:00 GMT - E2030 | Gaining from growth: when the economy grows, do wages?
Location: Resolution Foundation, London (Hybrid)

POID Director John Van Reenen was joined by Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves MP to discuss the relationship between GDP and pay, and ask how we can establish strong, sustainable and equitable growth during the upcoming decade. Read the report "Have productivity and pay decoupled in the UK?" published by the London School of Economics' Programme on Innovation and Diffusion (POID).

The Economy 2030 Inquiry is a collaboration between the Resolution Foundation and the Centre for Economic Performance at the London School of Economics. It is funded by the Nuffield Foundation.

26 October 2021 | 11:00 - 12:15 CET - The Academy and the Economy: Connecting Higher Education and Economic Development
Location: University Wisconsin-Madison (online)

POID Director Anna Valero presented on the connection between higher education and economic development. This event discussed the economic impact of the university, challenges in improving the connection of higher education and economic development, and possible leadership solutions.

14 October 2021 | 14:00 - 15:00 CET - 10th CompNet Annual Conference
Location: Banque de France, Paris (online)

POID Director John Van Reenen gave a keynote presentation titled "The Impact of Labor Regulation on Innovation" at this year's CompNet 10th Annual Conference, together with Banque de France as co-host, which took place in Paris. The topic of the conference was "Firm-dynamics, factors reallocation and organization of production in the context of COVID-19".

29 September 2021 - ECB Forum on Central Banking 2021
Location: Sintra, Portugal (online)

POID Director John Van Reenen was panel discussant on "Productivity and business dynamics through the lens of COVID-19: the shock, risks and opportunities" in the session on Structural change and the implications of climate change for monetary policy. He was joined by Chiara Criscuolo (OECD) and Luis de Guindos (ECB).

• Keynote: Chiara Criscuolo, Head of Productivity Innovation and Entrepreneurship Division, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development: slides

• Discussant: John Van Reenen, Professor, London School of Economics: slides

• Chair: Luis de Guindos, Vice-President, European Central Bank

22 September 2021 | 10:00 - 11:15 GMT - Seizing sustainable growth opportunities from carbon capture, usage and storage (CCUS) in the UK
Location: LSE (online)

This event brought together the authors of a new report, Seizing Sustainable Growth Opportunities from Carbon Capture, Usage and Storage in the UK, and leading figures working on CCUS, to discuss the report's analysis of the UK's productive and innovative strengths along the CCUS value chain and the implications for growth across the country. The panel discussion was chaired by POID Deputy Director Anna Valero.

15 September 2021 | 16:00 - 17:30 GMT - Reimagine Management and Productivity in a Post-pandemic World
Location: The University of Nottingham (online)

In this PrOPEL Hub panel hosted by the University of Nottingham, Professors John Van Reenen, POID Director, Paul Mizen, Nick Bloom and Rebecca Riley, leading experts on management practices, business performance and industrial policy, explored future trends in management practices and productivity.

14 September 2021 - DEW Annual Economic Policy Conference 2021
Location: Dublin (online)

POID Director John Van Reenen gave a keynote presentation at the Dubin Economic Workshop session "Is it time to rethink Ireland's economic model?", joined by Frances Ruane, Dermot Coates, Adrian Hurley and Rory Geary.

27-28 August 2021 - European Association for Research in Industrial Economics (EARIE) 2021 Location: The University of Bergen, Norway (online)

POID Director John Van Reenen chaired and presented in a plenary panel discussion on "The Role of the State in the Post COVID Economy" on August 28th. Star speakers included Philippe Aghion (LSE and College de France), Wendy Carlin (UCL), Betsey Stevenson (Michigan) and Monika Schnitzer (Munich). The presentations covered thinking of a new framework for economic policy, industrial policy, the "knife edged" nature of economic policies actually enacted, how economists could be more influential, the risks of an over-extended industrial policy, the complementarity between policies towards growth and equality and the need for a new Marshall Plan to help the world recover from COVID.

• Wendy Carlin: The role of the state in the economy after Covid-19

• Philippe Aghion, Celine Antonin and Simon Bunel: Rethinking capitalism and the role of the state in Europe post-Covid

• John Van Reenen: The Covid recovery and beyond: going for growth

9-12 June 2021 - The Economics of Creative Destruction
Location: College de France (online)

College de France and Banque de France hosted a 4-day conference in honour of POID member Philippe Aghion. This event featured numerous luminaries of the economic field including our own John Van Reenen and Christopher Pissarides.

23 April 2021 - Going for Growth: The COVID Recovery and Beyond
Location: ECB (online)

POID Director John Van Reenen presented - view the slides here

18-19 February 2021 - Economics and Politics of Mega-Firms
Location: NBER (online)

This NBER online conference organised by Chad Syverson (University of Chicago) and POID Director John Van Reenen aimed to promote research on the evolving role of large corporations in economic activity, and in particular on the implications of this trend for public policy.

8 February 2021 - Going for Growth
Location: LSE (online)

POID Director John Van Reenen set out ways to increase growth during recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic in this public lecture to celebrate 30 years of the Centre for Economic Performance.

16 December 2020 - Technology and the labour market
Location: LSE (online)

POID's Christopher Pissarides examined the advances in AI, robotics and the impact on working life at this public panel event to mark the 10 year anniversary of his Nobel Prize win.

9-10 December 2020 - 7th Empirical Management Conference
Location: Cornell Dyson, NY (online)

This two-day conference on empirical management, focused on recent empirical research on measuring and exploring management and organizational practices.

24 November 2020 - Covid-19 and business technology adoption
Location: LSE (online)

This event featured John Van Reenen (LSE & POID), Anna Valero (LSE and POID) Tera Allas (McKinsey & Co) and Rain Newton Smith (CBI) discussing what we know about the barriers to technology adoption and how policy can address these, in the context of Covid-19.