How can economic policies be made more effective in a world where populism rules and ‘evidence-based’ policy and ‘experts’ are out of favour; where complex global links and digital technology mean no government can control their own nation’s destiny; and where economics itself is under challenge?

Economists have been urged to show more humility about the limits of their knowledge, but would strongly argue that there are economic realities and valid economic knowledge. So what are those limits and how can economic evidence be translated into effective policies? Why do politicians so often ignore economists’ advice when they should act on it? How should economists be engaging with people and politicians? Is there something fundamentally flawed about the process of making and implementing economic policy?

Photo of Carol Graham.

Panel

Carol Graham is the Leo Pasvolsky Senior Fellow in Global Economy and Development at Brookings Global . Her research focuses on poverty, inequality, public health, and novel measures of well-being. Her projects have included a focus on the developing world and Latin America.

Adam Lent is the European Director for Research and Innovation at Ashoka – the global network of over 3,000 leading social innovators and entrepreneurs. Previously he was Head of Economics for the UK Trade Union Congress, Director of the RSA Action and Research Centre and a Fellow in the Department of Politics at Sheffield University. He is the author of British Social Movements Since 1945: Sex, Colour, Peace and Power. His new book is Small is Powerful: Why the Era of Big Government, Big Business and Big Culture is Over.

Paul Ormerod is a partner at Volterra Partners consultancy and a visiting professor at University College London. He is the author of The Death of Economics, Butterfly Economics and Why Most Things Fail, which was named a US Business Book of the Year in 2006 by Business Week magazine. His latest book is Positive Linking: How Networks and Incentives Can Revolutionise the World.

Emily Skarbek is Lecturer in Political Economy at King’s College. Her research has been published in academic journals such as Public Choice, Journal of Institutional Economics, and American Journal of Economics and Sociology. In 2014, she was awarded the Gordon Tullock prize for best article published in Public Choice by a junior scholar. She is also a contributing author to several books including After Katrina: The Political Economy of Disaster and Community Rebound and Hayek and the Modern World. Follow her on Twitter: @EmilySkarbek

Sarah Smith is Professor of Economics and Head of the Department of Economics at the University of Bristol. Her research interests are in the micro-economic analysis of public policy, focusing on welfare and public services. She formerly worked at the Institute for Fiscal Studies and in government.