Public Policy and the Power of Networks

16th Nov 2010; 18:30

Listen to the audio

(full recording including audience Q&A)
Please right-click link and choose "Save Link As..." to download audio file onto your computer.

RSA Keynote

Implicit in the coalition government’s Big Society narrative is that individual members of the public, as well as voluntary and community groups, will be incentivised to do more in the civic sphere.

Yet it remains unclear to what extent this vision is underpinned by deeper thinking about motivation, informed by emerging knowledge of both behavioural economics - and how policy can “nudge” citizens to make better choices - and the role that social networks play in influencing our attitudes and behaviours.

In a recent essay for the RSA, economist Paul Ormerod argued that any effective policy framework for the 21st century should draw on insights from both fields and that, in fact, the impact of network effects is potentially considerably greater than that of ‘nudge’.

In order to meet today’s pressing social challenges it seems clear that we will often need to induce dramatic mass behaviour change – and to do this we need to get better at harnessing the contagious power of networks.

Yet are policymakers ready to open themselves to the complexity and unpredictability of network effects?

Join Paul Ormerod to discuss the power of networks and the challenge to policymakers.

Speaker: Paul Ormerod, economist and author of "N Squared: Public Policy and the Power of Networks" (RSA Pamphlet, 2010)

Chair: Matthew Taylor, RSA Chief Executive

Suggested hashtag for Twitter users: #rsansquared

Download the Report

N squared - Public policy and the power of networks
Paul Ormerod (RSA Pamphlets, 2010)

Listen Live

You can listen to this event live.

Get the latest RSA Audio

Subscribe to iTunes | RSS | Mixcloud

You are welcome to link to, download, save or distribute our audio/video files electronically. Find out more about our open access licence.