The London Consensus: Chile’s Former Finance Minister Andrés Velasco on Why Ideas — Not Interests — Shape the World

April 8th, 2026 · by Dr. Vikas Shah MBE DL
In this interview, I speak to Professor Andrés Velasco — Dean of LSE’s School of Public Policy, Chile’s former Finance Minister, and co-editor of The London Consensus. He argues that ideas, not interests, drive policy and makes the case for principles over prescriptions, wellbeing beyond GDP, narrative as a tool…

 

Paul Collier on Regional Inequality and Economic Recovery

February 3rd, 2026 · by Dr. Vikas Shah MBE DL
World-renowned development economist Paul Collier has spent his life working in neglected communities. In this interview, we discuss his new book Left Behind, where he offers his candid diagnosis of why some regions and countries are falling further behind, and a new vision for how they can catch up. In…

 

Social Status Effects on Society – Professor Toby E. Stuart

August 26th, 2025 · by Dr. Vikas Shah MBE DL
In this interview I speak to one of the world’s foremost experts on social hierarchies, Toby E. Stuart. Professor Stuart is the Leo Helzel distinguished professor of business administration at the Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley, and author of Anointed: The Extraordinary Effects of Social Status in a Winner-Take-Most World. He is…

 

Foreign Lobbying & Global Security with Casey Michel

August 3rd, 2024 · by Dr. Vikas Shah MBE DL
Casey Michel is an author, journalist, and director of the Combating Kleptocracy Program with the Human Rights Foundation. He is the author of American Kleptocracy, named by The Economist as one of the 'best books to read to understand financial crime.' He has also testified in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee on…

 

Naré Vardanyan: AI Transforming Global Finance

February 15th, 2024 · by Dr. Vikas Shah MBE DL
In this interview, I speak to Naré Vardanyan about her incredible entrepreneurship journey- growing up without electricity in Armenia, teaching herself 11 languages by candlelight, and going-on to build a business which is using state of the art AI technologies to equalise trust and access to money globally by broadening…

 

100 Trillion Dollar Wealth Transfer – Ken Costa

August 14th, 2023 · by Dr. Vikas Shah MBE DL
Ken Costa is a seasoned investor and author. Born in South Africa, he was active in the anti-apartheid movement as a student leader in Johannesburg and went on to study law at Queens’ College, University of Cambridge, thereafter becoming Chair of UBS Investment Bank (EMEA) and Lazard International. He is currently chairman…

 

Bjørn Lomborg on 12 Solutions to Global Challenges

August 1st, 2023 · by Dr. Vikas Shah MBE DL
Bjørn Lomborg is President of the Copenhagen Consensus and Visiting Fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution. His new book Best Things First brings together 12 new, peer-reviewed studies which highlight how to make the world a better place, in the best [and most cost-effective] way. These studies show that by…