Did you know we can go “Beyond GDP” to measure both the economic progress of nations and the sustainability of the planet?
Find out how we can measure economic progress and sustainability with practical illustrations in this free, one-hour workshop with leading experts on measuring sustainable development, Giles Atkinson and Matthew Agarwala.
In this session you will:
- Learn what is at the heart of this topic - “Beyond GDP” is easy to say, but what does it actually mean to move beyond Gross Domestic Product as the primary way that nations use to measure economic and social development?
- Find out how thinking about "nature as capital" is a key step in this journey and why, more generally, focusing on national and planetary wealth is a better guide to economic and social development prospects.
- Discover which countries and organisations are doing what to go “Beyond GDP” around the world.
- Begin to be able to distil a picture of whether national economies are sustainable, using a handful of available indicators.
Meet our speakers and chair
Giles Atkinson is Professor of Environmental Policy at the LSE Department of Geography and Environment. He has published a large number of highly-cited books and articles on sustainability economics and measuring sustainability as well as teaching on these topics including on LSE’s Online Certificate Course in Sustainability. Giles has also been a member of various advisory bodies including the UK Natural Capital Committee and expert committees for the World Bank and UK Office for National Statistics.
Matthew Agarwala leads the Bennett Institute’s research on sustainability, green productivity, and wellbeing at the University of Cambridge where he has been based since completing his PhD at LSE. He is a member of The Productivity Institute, Senior Policy Fellow at Yale University’s Tobin Center for Economic Policy, and Honorary Professor at Scotland’s Rural College. Matthew regularly contributes to international television, radio, and print media.
More about the event
This event is part of the LSE Festival: Power and Politics running from Monday 10 to Saturday 15 June 2024, with a series of events exploring how power and politics shape our world. Booking for all Festival events will open on Monday 13 May.
Hashtag for this event: #LSEFestival
Podcast & Video
A podcast of this event is available to download from How do we know if national economies are sustainable? A guide to going "Beyond GDP".
Podcasts and videos of many LSE events can be found at the LSE Public Lectures and Events: podcasts and videos channel.