Does income generate happiness and how much? Why do a growing obesity epidemic and cutting down a pristine forest both increase GDP? Is our way of thinking and measuring economic growth and development at all meaningful? These and many other questions are increasingly talked about in political, academic, and civic society circles.
Why? Because it has long been known that GDP is an imperfect measure of economic welfare, much less well-being. Although it continues to be recited like a mantra by politicians, the media, and corporate heavyweights, the tide is starting to turn – and not just because of the complaints of environmentalists and social grass root campaigners. Even the European Union and leading economists such as Nobel laureates Joseph Stiglitz and Amartya Sen are arguing that it is high time to develop and use alternative – better – measures of prosperity, well-being and progress. Several indicators and metrics have been proposed and are finding their way into the thinking and planning of our countries’ leaders.
These and other questions are the topic of a moderated roundtable discussion organised by Ecologic Institute and American Voices Abroad in Berlin. The event is free and takes place at Ecologic Institute. Detailed event information is given below.
We plan to discuss the why, how and what of the new “Beyond GDP” movement and highlight the controversial issues and various developments in Europe and the US. We hope to inspire you to think about these issues look forward to your participation in an evening of informal presentations and discussions.
Participants:
Lisa Pettibone (moderator) is a PhD candidate at the Environmental Policy Research Centre (FFU) at the Freie Universität Berlin, where she is studying the effects of sustainability indicators on the policy-making process in U.S. and German cities. Her work is funded by the German Federal Environmental Foundation (DBU).
Lucas Porsch is an Economist and Fellow at Ecologic Institute. In his work, Lucas focuses on impact assessments, evaluations and alternative welfare indicators. He was previously employed as an economic advisor and consultant in the United Kingdom at the Matrix Knowledge Group, the Department of Health and Europe Economics. Most of his work concentrated on policy evaluations and impact assessments for the European Commission and British public authorities and covered a wide field of policies from health to public procurement and social policy.
Rich Rosen is a Senior Fellow at the Tellus Institute in Boston, a non-profit research and policy organization focusing on resource and environmental strategies. He has thirty years of experience in energy sector resource planning and management and environmental compliance. In recent years, Dr. Rosen’s research has focused on the economics and feasibility of restructuring the electricity utility industry. Currently he is working on establishing principles for a New Economy that could lead to sustainable development.
Tanja Srebotnjak is an environmental statistician and completed her doctoral research on index development in environmental policy. She is particularly interested in developing meaningful and scientifically sound measurement tools for monitoring and decision-making in environmental and health policy. This work has taken her from the United Nations Environment Statistics Section back to graduate school and subsequent post-doctoral research at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. She is currently a senior fellow at Ecologic Institute, a non-profit environmental policy and research think tank, where she is an active member of the “Zahlenfüchse” group, which provides statistical and quantitative services to Ecologic’s clients.
New Ways to Measure Human Prosperity – Beyond GDP
August 16, 2011, 7 p.m.
Ecologic Institute
Pfalzburger Strasse 43/44, Berlin
Room 406
In English
Free admission
How to get to Ecologic Institute
Keywords: Beyond GDP, sustainability, economic growth, welfare indicators