Fireside Chat with Diane Coyle

Join economist and former advisor to the UK treasury Diane Coyle as she discusses her new book Cogs and Monsters: What Economics Is, and What It Should Be – an exploration of the enormous problems—but also opportunities—facing economics today if it is to respond effectively to these dizzying changes and help policymakers solve the world’s crises, from pandemic recovery and inequality to slow growth and the climate emergency.

In a fireside chat with Neil Lawrence, DeepMind Professor of Machine Learning at the University of Cambridge, Coyle will discuss whether economic individualism is still valid in the digital economy, whether we need to measure growth and progress in new ways, and whether economics can ever be objective, since it influences what it analyses.

Professor Diane Coyle co-directs the Bennett Institute for Public Policy. [https://www.bennettinstitute.cam.ac.uk/] She was previously Professor of Economics at the University of Manchester. She has held a number of public service roles including Vice Chair of the BBC Trust (2006-2014), member of the Competition Commission (2001-2009), the Migration Advisory Committee (2009-2014), and the Natural Capital Committee (2016-2019). She was awarded a CBE for her contribution to the public understanding of economics in the 2018 New Year Honours.

Professor Neil Lawrence is the DeepMind Professor of Machine Learning in the Department of Computer Science and Technology, University of Cambridge, senior AI fellow at The Alan Turing Institute, visiting Professor at the University of Sheffield, co-host of Talking Machines, and a Guardian contributor. Neil's research interests are in probabilistic models with applications in computational biology, personalised health and developing economies.