LSE Public Policy Group (PPG) is an independent consultancy and research organisation.
PPG provides thorough analysis and recommendations for a variety of clients; providing an interface between academia, the private, public and 'third' sector.
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New LSE Public Policy Group event:
Growing the Productivity of Government Services
Date: Thursday 28 February 2013
Time: 6.30-8pm
Venue: Hong Kong Theatre, Clement House
Speakers: Leandro Carrera, Professor Patrick Dunleavy
Respondents: Joe Grice, Edwin Lau, Barry Quirk
For many decades there has been little effective analysis and guidance on how to improve the organizational productivity of government bodies consistently over time. Yet unless this can be achieved, the relative price of public services is doomed to rise ineluctably (the 'Baumol disease' problem).
Leandro Carrera and Patrick Dunleavy's new book Growing the Productivity of Government Services| (published by Edward Elgar) provides the first in-depth empirical treatment of the organizational productivity of unique national government agencies, focusing on UK taxation, social security and regulatory agencies. In addition, they also show how productivity analysis for decentralized services can include salient and managerially useful variables, looking at how IT and management modernization help shape the productivity of NHS hospitals. The first rule of productivity growth in public services is to focus hard on consistently measuring and improving productivity performance. The second rule is to embrace IT modernization carried out in tandem with genuinely effective and well-considered business process reorganization.
This lecture will discuss ideas for the improvement of public sector productivity from a local, national and international government perspective.
Leandro Carrera is a senior researcher at the Pensions Policy Institute.
Patrick Dunleavy is professor of political science and public policy at LSE.
Joe Grice is chief economist at the Office for National Statistics.
Edwin Lau is head of the Reform of the Public Sector Division in the OECD Public Governance and Territorial Development Directorate.
Barry Quirk is chief executive at the London Borough of Lewisham.
Suggested hashtag for this event for Twitter users: #LSEworks
This event is free and open to all with no ticket required. Entry is on a first come, first served basis. For any queries email events@lse.ac.uk| or call 020 7955 6043.
More details about this event are available here|.
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Innovative LSE blogs win UK award for delivering powerful social science impact
An innovative series of academic blogs from LSE have found new ways of stimulating interest in the socal sciences, scooping LSE Public Policy Group the Times Higher Education award for the best knowledge exchange initiative in higher education during 2011.
Judges at the THE’s Leadership and Management Awards praised the four LSE blogs for the "subtle and powerful" way they influence society and policy in stimulating comment and debate. Judges said that by encouraging hundreds of academics from the School and other universities to share their research and thinking with a wider audience, the blogs showed real impact.
The first of the blogs to be established, British Politics and Policy at LSE, is the highest-ranked university blog in the UK and the second-most read economics blog in the country. The Impact of Social Sciences blog - created to disseminate research from a project funded by the Higher Education Finding Council for England – has grown to become a leading international forum for debate on digital scholarship, government policy and publishing models, with around 5,000 visitors a week.
The PPG team, headed by Patrick Dunleavy, Professor in Government at LSE, also runs two newly created blogs - the European Politics and Policy blog (whose brand name is EUROPP ) and the LSE Review of Books. All four blogs bring together expertise from academics, policy-makers and analysts in order to promote social science debate, expressed though high-quality writing and editing.
Philip Graham, business alliance manager at Queen’s University Belfast and one of the judges, said that the LSE group had illustrated that knowledge exchange can be much wider than technology transfer and taken academics out of their 'comfort zone'. . He said:: “Their high-quality blog highlights real and important issues
“The comments and debates it generates influences stakeholders and policymakers in a much more subtle and powerful way than traditional lobbying. This is a real example of how social scientists do have, and can demonstrate, real impact.”
Professor Dunleavy said: "We are very pleased that the judges recognized the importance of multi-author blogs (and now Twitter) in finding new ways of connecting serious academic work with people who think deeply about social issues in business, government and the professions. It is a particular coup for the social sciences to win this award against strong competition from physical science projects with a great deal more funding than we have."
Jane Tinkler, manager of the Public Policy Group, said: "There is a huge appetite amongst well-educated graduates in the UK and overseas for reading and debating the latest thinking on public policy and social change. Our team would like to thank all the several hundred blog authors in LSE, other universities, think tanks and society who’ve helped build the readership of our blogs. "
Three of the blogs are funded by the LSE’s HIEF5 programme for Knowledge Exchange, and the ‘Impact of Social Sciences’ blog is directly funded as part of a Higher Education Funding Council for England research programme.
For more details see the four blogs at:
British Politics and Policy http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/ |
Impact of Social Sciences http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/ |
LSE Review of Books http://www.lsereviewofbooks.com/|
European Politics and Policy http://www.europp.eu/|
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LSE Public Policy Group ranked among world's most influential think tanks
On 25 January 2012, the LSE Public Policy Group was jointly named the world's fourth-best university think tank in a global survey. The rankings, in the annual report of the Think Tank and Civic Society Program of the University of Pennsylvania, compared more than 5,300 think tanks from 120 countries.
Think tanks were assessed on categories including their ability to produce rigorous research, contribute socially innovative ideas and to bridge the gap between policymakers and the public. Reputation among academics, peers and the media was also a factor in the outcome.
Professor Patrick Dunleavy, chair of the Public Policy Group, said: 'Our work is, by definition, about helping to develop better government and public administration so it is pleasing that the benefits the team bring to society have been recognised. Academic work must have public impact to be truly valuable.'
The foreign affairs centre LSE IDEAS was also named jointly as the world's fourth-best university think tank in the survey.
Professor Michael Cox, co-director of IDEAS, said: 'We created IDEAS four years ago to try and make a difference by infusing the best academic thinking into global debates on world affairs and it is very gratifying that others feel we've done this. I am especially pleased that this reflects the hard work put in by all our colleagues over this and past years.
Professor Arne Westad, co-director of IDEAS, said: 'Our job is just beginning though – world affairs are moving as fast as we can track them and the need for rigorous analysis and insight is greater than ever.'
The report's publishers said their main aim was to bring international recognition for the important role played by think tanks around the world
The Think Tank and Civic Society Program announced the rankings at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Full details of the report.|
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The LSE Public Policy Group recently hosted two seminars on Newsmax Media and the American Right and the Presidential Election of 2012.
Newsmax Media and entrepreneurialism in digital media
In this talk, on Monday, 14 November, Christopher Ruddy discussed his experience in setting up Newsmax, and looked at the possibilities inherent in digital-first journalism for existing news outlets and for the social and web media entrepreneurs of the future.
More details and podcast of the event|
The American Right and the Presidential Election of 2012
With the 2012 US presidential election looming large, the challenge for Republicans is to find a convincing candidate to oppose Barack Obama - someone who can translate disaffection with high levels of unemployment and the general economic malaise into votes for the conservative candidate. As founder and CEO of Newsmax Media, the most prominent and popular online conservative news media organisation in the US, Chris Ruddy has unique insight into the current state of American politics and the prospects for the Republican party to take back the White House.
Listen to the podcast of the event.|
Date: Tuesday 15 November 2011
Speaker: Christopher Ruddy
Discussant: Dr Cheryl Schonhardt-Bailey
Chair: Professor Patrick Dunleavy
For more information, see the LSE Events listing|.
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The End of the Peer Show?: A debate on the future of the House of Lords
On July 18, 2011, the Constitution Society, CentreForum and British Government @ LSE held a debate on The future of the House of Lords, to celebrate the publication of "The End of the Peer Show?", a collection of responses to the recent draft House of Lords Reform Bill.
Click here for more details, to hear the podcast of the event, and to download "The End of the Peer Show?"
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Moving Social Security Online
Wednesday 29 June 2011
Speakers' presentations and podcasts of the event are now available here|.
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Investigating Academic Impact Conference
Monday 13 June 2011
Presentations and podcasts from the event are now available! - More details
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PPG Email List
Click here| if you would like to join the PPG email list
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