The case for humble activism: how wicked social problems are solved and outgrown
Can social problems be solved? Are they like problems in maths or engineering that just need to be analysed in the right way in order to...
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Geoff Mulgan
- Mar 9, 2022
- 6 min
The Contribution Reward Fund: an answer to pay inequality and the neglect of essential work
The gap between the social value of people’s work and their monetary reward is wide and widening. In the US, for example, nearly half of...
Geoff Mulgan
- Feb 17, 2022
- 7 min
The Decline of Transparency. Is the World Becoming More Opaque?
Have we passed peak transparency? Are we moving into an era when more of the things that shape our lives will be opaque? And if so, how...
Geoff Mulgan
- Feb 4, 2022
- 2 min
ALGOV - a matrix for algorithmic governance
I had a go in late 2020 at creating a matrix for thinking about algorithmic governance (to feed into discusions at UCL led by my...
Geoff Mulgan
- Feb 3, 2022
- 9 min
Does 'levelling up' match up - or why we should think of this as Version 1
It’s easy to be dismissive of the government’s long-awaited plans for levelling up, published this week. Earlier statements were feeble....
Geoff Mulgan
- Dec 1, 2021
- 25 min
The Synthesis Gap: reducing the imbalance between advice and absorption in handling big challenges
Good synthesis results in higher-value options and actions. This paper focuses on how governments should synthesise inputs from many...
Geoff Mulgan
- Nov 16, 2021
- 4 min
Blair, Brown and the judgements of history – some thoughts on the recent TV series
I’ve just finished watching the fascinating TV series on Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, screened on BBC. I’m one of the handful of people...
Geoff Mulgan
- Nov 10, 2021
- 1 min
Social capital and civil society through the pandemic
I've done a blog with Rachel France looking at the role of social capital and civil society through the pandemic - to kick off a...
Geoff Mulgan
- Nov 5, 2021
- 3 min
FIGHTING BUREAUCRATIC INFLATION AND THE CURSE OF WEEDS
I’ve spent a fair bit of my life as a bureaucrat. This may be why I have a deepening antipathy to unnecessary bureaucracy. I keep seeing...
Geoff Mulgan
- Oct 20, 2021
- 1 min
AI and climate change
I did a piece for Project Syndicate on how AI could contribute to action on climate change ahead of the COP gathering in Glasgow. I'm...
Geoff Mulgan
- Oct 20, 2021
- 1 min
Exploratory social science
The New Institute has just published my paper on exploratory social science - how social science could play a more central role in...
Geoff Mulgan
- Sep 16, 2021
- 14 min
COVID-19 inquiries: how should they be run?
Boris Johnson has announced a UK inquiry into COVID-19 to start in 2022, a parallel one is being planned in Scotland, and many more will...
Geoff Mulgan
- Sep 14, 2021
- 5 min
Risky
This is a piece run by the Conversation - looking at how we think of risk, before, during and after the pandemic Life is risky and tends...
Geoff Mulgan
- Sep 7, 2021
- 3 min
Bullshit and intellectual fog
When I was younger I was often impressed with people who could speak confidently, in sweeping, quite abstract terms about big questions....
Geoff Mulgan
- Jul 24, 2021
- 1 min
How can the 2020s be progressive?
I was committed to write a paper for the recent Progressive Governance Summit that brought together leaders like Justin Trudeau, Helle...
Geoff Mulgan
- Jul 21, 2021
- 5 min
Spectating or doing: the challenge for the UK's ruling clique
The most powerful clique in the UK at the moment are linked to the Spectator magazine. They congregate around it and the Telegraph,...
Geoff Mulgan
- May 24, 2021
- 1 min
Public finance for the long-term
I've been working over the last year on a new framework for public finance - helping it to cope with long-term tasks, such as education,...
Geoff Mulgan
- May 13, 2021
- 1 min
Collective intelligence and the SDGs
I've been working quite a bit over the last few years on applying collective intelligence methods to global challenges, partly through...
Geoff Mulgan
- Apr 21, 2021
- 5 min
Collective mental health: the case for new measures and maps and a DSM5 for groups
The COVID-19 crisis has seriously damaged mental health all over the world. A high price has been paid by many children who’ve missed...
Geoff Mulgan
- Mar 23, 2021
- 5 min
Currys Law: how everything that can go wrong, will go wrong (& why Amazon will rule the world)
This is a boring blog. You can jump a few paragraphs down to the punchline if you like (and the latest update, from October 2021). It's...
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