Immigration policy: challenges and options

Join us for the 2026 Lionel Robbins Memorial Lectures which this year will be delivered by Alan Manning. This lecture is one of three based on the newly published book, Why Immigration Policy Is Hard.

In this third and final lecture Alan Manning offers solutions to the challenges facing immigration policy, and how to navigate among the often-competing claims of the economy, culture, justice, and democracy.

Meet our speaker, discussant and chair

Alan Manning is Professor of Economics at LSE and is director of the Centre for Economic Performance's labour programme. From 2009-2012 he was Head of the Economics Department at LSE; from 2004 to 2011 he was a member of the NHS Pay Review Body and from 2016-2020 the Chair of the Migration Advisory Committee.

Brian Bell is Professor of Economics and Head of the Economics Department at King's Business School and Research Associate at the CEP. He is Chair of the Migration Advisory Committee and was a member of the Police Pay Review Body from 2014-17. He is a trustee of the Nuffield Foundation.

Richard Layard is a labour economist who has worked for most of his life on how to reduce unemployment and inequality. He is also one of the first economists to work on happiness, and his main current interest is how better mental health could improve our social and economic life. He is founder-director of LSE's Centre for Economic Performance, and is co-director of the Centre's programme on Wellbeing.

More about this event

The Centre for Economic Performance (@CEP_LSE) carries out policy-focused research on the causes of economic growth and effective ways to create a fair, inclusive and sustainable society.

Join us on campus or register to watch the event online at LSE Live. LSE Live is the home for our live streams, allowing you to tune in and join the global debate at LSE, wherever you are in the world. If you can't attend live, a video will be made available shortly afterwards on LSE's YouTube channel.

The other two lectures will be on 2 February and 9 February.

Hashtag for this event: #LSEEvents

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