Just a quick post to let people know that we’re holding two more seminars on The Politics of Public Behaviour – exploring the public implications of private-decision making. We’ve got great guest speakers for both sessions. On October 8th Daniel Finkelstein, of Comment Central fame, and Patrick Diamond from Policy Network will be along to talk about the relationship between laws and social norms. And on October 20th Jeff French, from the National Consumer Council and Dr Fiona Adshead from the Dept for Health will be here to talk about foregrounding the future in the decisions we make as individuals and as a society. More details for the seminars are below – drop me an email if you would like to come along.

Laws and social norms, 8th October, 12pm
There is a growing recognition among policymakers that changing the law does not neccessarily change society. New legislation can be passed, whilst social values, norms and expectations remain the same. But when people call for ‘change culture’, how and when does this happen in practice? Do laws shape social norms, or are they more likely to be shaped by them?

Foregrounding the future, 22nd October, 12pm
Across a range of issues, the relationship between current decisions and future consequences shapes the success or failure of policy: curbing current spending to boost future savings; curbing current household waste to save the future environment; adapting current lifestyle choices for future well-being. Successful policy requires a more sophisticated understanding of how we view the future. Do most of us think of the future with hope, with trepidation, with willful abandon…or not at all? And, importantly, under which circumstances does that perspective shift?

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