Blavatnik School of Government

Is it good talking to people who think you can't? No, I could do that at home.

But we spoke, when we took on the five issues, we spoke to Professor Sir Paul Collier from Blavatnik School of Government, who... had lots of examples of stuff that had happened locally out of that, the kind of fertilization between enabling central government and communities and wider areas that wanted to develop economically alongside the stories of people being left behind and talking about this terrible growth of...

Well, let's call it hate and racism on social media, talking about what it meant like to have the right policy framework to set up local responsible media that brought people together and spread information rather than misinformation, what it looks like.

And to pay tribute to Kinesi's work in Grimsby, there's all the difference in the world between a town that's angry about everything because that's a vulnerable town in a funny way, and a town that's angry about two things that people can fix, like the housing.

I'm, um, a senior research fellow at the, uh, Institute for New Economic Thinking, uh, here at the University of Oxford.

Uh, and also I'm part of the teaching staff for economics for public policy at the Blavatnik School of Government and, uh, also part of the, uh, Children and Climate initiative that we have here, uh, also, um, at the Blavatnik School of Government.

Thank you.

Um, yeah, it's really good to have that background so, so the person listening knows where each person is coming from and their area of expertise.

Rachel is one of the world's leading voices on international climate policy and diplomacy, from heading up the UN Secretary General's Sustainable Energy for All initiative to holding senior positions at the World Bank and International Finance Corporation.

She's also a professor at Oxford University's Blavatnik School of Government and Dean Emerita at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts.

We'll be talking about her role as the government's climate envoy, how she interacts with investors and how the world should respond to ever increasing extreme weather.

Rachel, welcome to the podcast.

Yeah, thank you for the opportunity.

Noam Angrist is the academic director of the What Works Hub for Global Education at the Blavatnik School of Government at the University of Oxford.

You can find a link to the Policy Forum article we discussed at science.org slash podcast.

That concludes this edition of the Science Podcast.

So I didn't know that before I got here, but when I came here, I realized this is where you can learn about how to use private sector resources to finance really essential social services when governments were running out of money and people are so skeptical in those days, and maybe now still, about where their tax dollars go and how effective the public sector and government is in delivering these essential services.

We're here at the Blavatnik School of Government, so I realize I'm probably offending you deeply by saying this, but-

[chuckles]

... at the time, I felt I was in the right place, and that's why I chose to stay.

Is there a book or a movie that you recommend?

Well, the nice thing is you've sent me this in advance, so I have thought this one through.

Um, and particularly 'cause this is Oxford and the Blavatnik School of Government, the one I'm gonna use is a TV show from many, many years ago, even before my time, called Yes Minister.

Mm.

I'm with Isabella Notarpietro, and today we're delighted to welcome Professor Eric Beinhocker.

Eric is a professor of public policy in practice here at the Blavatnik School of Government.

He's also the founder and executive director of the Institute of New Economic Thinking at the Oxford Martin School, a Supernumerary Fellow in economics at Oriel College, and an external professor at the Santa Fe Institute.

Before Oxford, Eric had a very illustrious career at McKinsey & Company, where he was a partner and also held leadership positions in the sustainability and climate change practice, the strategy practice, and the McKinsey Global Institute, and it's a real pleasure to have him here on the Policy Pod today.