Mark Carney - How We Get What We Value [The Reith Lectures]

Episodes

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01From Moral To Market Sentiments2020120220201204 (R4)Mark Carney's Reith 2020 Lectures chart how we have come to esteem financial value over human value and how we have gone from market economies to market societies. He argues that this has contributed to a trio of crises: of credit, Covid and climate. And the former Bank of England Governor will outline how we can turn this around.

In this lecture, recorded with a virtual audience, he reflects that whenever he could step back from what felt like daily crisis management, the same deeper issues loomed. What is value? How does the way we assess value both shape our values and constrain our choices? How do the valuations of markets affect the values of our society?

Dr Carney argues that society has come to embody Oscar Wilde's aphorism: `Knowing the price of everything but the value of nothing.`

Presenter: Anita Anand

Producer: Jim Frank

Editor: Hugh Levinson

Why have financial values come to be considered more important than human ones?

Significant international thinkers deliver the BBC's flagship annual lecture series.

02From Credit Crisis To Resilience2020120920201211 (R4)Mark Carney, the former Governor of the Bank of England, takes us back to the high drama of the financial crisis of 2008, which ended a period when bankers saw themselves as unassailable Masters of the Universe. More than a decade on, how much have the bankers changed their ways? How far has the financial sector changed? Dr Carney says that we must remain vigilant and resist the `three lies of finance.` If we don't, he warns, we will live with a system which is ill-prepared for the next crisis.

Presenter: Anita Anand

Producer: Jim Frank

Editor: Hugh Levinson

Mark Carney assesses what lessons have been learnt from the 2008 financial crash.

Significant international thinkers deliver the BBC's flagship annual lecture series.

03From Covid Crisis To Renaissance2020121620201218 (R4)Mark Carney, the former Governor of the Bank of England, observes that the pandemic has forced states to confront how we value health, wealth and opportunity. During the first few months of the crisis, most states chose to value human life more than the economic well-being of the nation-state. But if that seems to be changing how do we assess value in this sense?

Dr Carney elucidates surprising differences in the financial value put on a human life in different nations - and goes on to argue that this reductionist approach fails to take into account deeper thinking about the worth of human existence.

Presenter: Anita Anand

Producer: Jim Frank

Editor: Hugh Levinson

Mark Carney looks at the tensions between economic and human values during the pandemic.

Significant international thinkers deliver the BBC's flagship annual lecture series.

04From Climate Crisis To Real Prosperity2020122320201226 (R4)Mark Carney, the former Governor of the Bank of England, argues that the roots of the climate change threat lie in a deeper crisis of values. He suggests that we can create an ecosystem in which society's values broaden the market's conceptions of value. In this way, individual creativity and market dynamism can be channelled to achieve broader social goals including, inclusive growth and environmental sustainability.

Presenter: Anita Anand

Producer: Jim Frank

Editor: Hugh Levinson

Production Coordinator: Brenda Brown

Studio Manager: Rod Farquhar

Mark Carney argues that the market can be redirected to alleviating climate change.

Significant international thinkers deliver the BBC's flagship annual lecture series.