Investing always involves bets on an uncertain future, but venture capitalists face uncertainty of an extreme sort. How do they decide which startups have a chance of making it? How do they impact the economy and society? And why is venture capital spreading globally? 

Meet our speaker and chair

Sebastian Mallaby (@scmallaby) is the Paul A Volcker Senior Fellow in International Economics at the Council on Foreign Relations. A contributor to the Financial Times, the Atlantic, the Washington Post and other publications, he is the author of the New York Times bestselling More Money Than God: Hedge Funds and the Making of a New Elite. His new book is The Power Law: Venture Capital and the Art of Disruption.

Minouche Shafik is Director of the London School of Economics and Political Science. Prior to this, she was Deputy Governor of the Bank of England. She is an alumna of LSE. Her new book, What We Owe Each Other: A New Social Contract, is out now.

More about this event

The Systemic Risk Centre (@LSE_SRC) was set up to study the risks that may trigger the next financial crisis and to develop tools to help policymakers and financial institutions become better prepared.

You can order the book, The Power Law: venture capital and the art of disruption, (UK delivery only) from our official LSE Events independent book shop, Pages of Hackney.

Twitter Hashtag for this event: #LSEPowerLaw

Podcast & Video

A podcast of this event is available to download from The Power Law: venture capital and the art of disruption.

A video of this event is available to watch at The Power Law: venture capital and the art of disruption.

Podcasts and videos of many LSE events can be found at the LSE Public Lectures and Events: podcasts and videos channel.