Contributor(s): Professor Sir Tim Besley, Professor Amartya Sen | An effective state promotes freedom and the well-being of its citizens. This lecture will discuss the importance of norms, values and institutions in supporting state effectiveness drawing on recent developments in social science. As well as making connections to Amartya Sen's ideas, the lecture will reflect on some of the major policy challenges that the world faces in the turbulent times that we are living through. Tim Besley is School Professor of Economics of Political Science and Sir W. Arthur Lewis Professor of Development Economics in the Department of Economics at LSE. He is also a member of the National Infrastructure Commission and was President of the Econometric Society in 2018. He has published widely on a wide variety of topics, mainly with a policy focus. Amartya Sen is Thomas W Lamont University Professor and Professor of Economics and Philosophy at Harvard University. He is the recipient of the 1998
