Misbehaving: A Conversation with Lord Gus O’Donnell & Professor Richard Thaler

Please join us on 27 September for a fireside chat with Nobel Prize winner Richard Thaler, the Charles R. Walgreen Distinguished Service Professor of Behavioral Science and Economics at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, and Lord Gus O’Donnell, former UK Cabinet Secretary and Chair of Trustees of Pro Bono Economics.

Their wide ranging conversation will cover how various behavioural economic concepts can be applied to policy making, financial planning, healthcare, climate change, AI and pensions (as well as perhaps golf, sports and the good life). There will be an opportunity for audience questions and a networking reception afterwards.

Pro Bono Economics is a charity that uses economics to empower the social sector and to increase wellbeing across the UK. We invite you to join us on campus for this fascinating discussion, and to learn more about Pro Bono Economics and Chicago Booth.

Agenda:
5:30pm - Arrival and Registration
6:00pm - Introduction by Jenny Scott followed by Fireside Chat with Prof Richard Thaler and Lord Gus O’Donnell
7:00pm - Networking Reception with Drinks and Canapés
8:00pm - Event Concludes
 
RICHARD THALER
Richard Thaler is the Charles R. Walgreen Distinguished Service Professor of Behavioral Science and Economics at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Professor Thaler was awarded the Nobel Prize for Economic Sciences in 2017 and is considered one of the founding fathers of behavioural economics. As co-author of the best-selling book Nudge (2008), he uses concepts of behavioural economics to tackle many of society’s major problems. His research focuses on the intersectionality between behavioural economics, finance and the psychology of decision making, challenging the standard economic assumption that everyone in the economy is rational and selfish. 
 
LORD GUS O'DONNELL
Lord Gus O’Donnell is a former British senior civil servant and economist, who between 2005 and 2011 served as the Cabinet Secretary, the highest official in the British Civil Service. From joining the Treasury as an economist, and serving in the British Embassy in Washington, involved with the IMF and World Bank, he became Permanent Secretary of the Treasury in 2002. In 2010, he oversaw the creation of the Behavioural Insights Team, known as the Nudge Unit, in the Cabinet Office. This idea was proposed to David Cameron when he was leader of the Opposition by Richard Thaler. After leaving the civil service in 2011, and being appointed a Life Peer in 2012, he has been involved in many areas: the chair of Frontier Economics, a visiting professor to the London School of Economics and University College London, a trustee of the Economist Group, a strategic adviser to the chief executive of Toronto Dominion Bank, on the main board of Brookfield asset management, President of the Council of the Institute of Fiscal Studies, and Chair of Trustees of Pro Bono Economics. 

JENNY SCOTT
Jenny Scott is a founder partner at Apella Advisors and a senior advisor to North Star Transition. Jenny began her career as an economist at the Bank of England before becoming an economic journalist for a number of years, first with Reuters and then with the BBC where she was a regular correspondent across television and radio. Jenny then returned to the Bank of England as Executive Director for communications throughout the financial crisis and Brexit referendum. Jenny is a trustee for Pro Bono Economics and also for a meditation charity.