SRIJANA MITRA DAS
‘It is beyond belief we’re still subsidising the cause of the climate crisis — we need greater subsidies for renewables over fossil fuels now’
"I think the CBAM, to the extent that it does result in significant revenue from tariffs, should recycle some of those funds in lump sum forms to help countries clean up their production processes and adapt to climate change," says Cameron Hepburn, Battcock Professor of Environmental Economics at the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, Oxford University.
‘G7 could decide to further de-risk its economies from China, which can benefit India'
"Moving these production facilities out of China would benefit Vietnam, Indonesia, Laos and Cambodia — but there would also be a huge opportunity for India in terms of attracting such investment."
A 1°C rise in global temperature causes a 12% decline in world GDP: Adrien Bilal
Adrien Bilal discusses the macroeconomic impacts of global temperature rises in the Anthropocene with Srijana Mitra Das at Harvard University.
‘We are seeing a global blue revolution in food, transport and energy now — booming coastal real estate is a true paradox of climate change’
Martin Smith, the George M. Woodwell Distinguished Professor of Environmental Economics at Duke University, discusses ocean economics with Srijana Mitra Das.
Extreme heat lowers nations’ per capita income — but cities could thrive even in hotter conditions: Matthew E. Kahn
Matthew E. Kahn, Provost Professor of Economics at USC, discusses the impact of climate on economic growth and solutions offered by enterprise in an interview with Srijana Mitra Das.
‘We are witnessing the return of industrial policy now — unlike the past, this is shaped by a globalised world, climate change and AI’
"Right now, in the post-global financial crisis era, and particularly post-Covid, we are seeing the return of industrial policy but it’s taking a different form from the past — it is far more financialised now, it tries to work within the parameters and institutions of a globalised world and it is much more outward-oriented."
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US student protests now reflect a generational change larger than our upcoming elections — aid to Israel no longer gets bipartisan support: Omar Wasow
'In the upcoming US election, the war in Gaza is absolutely a wedge issue in the Democratic party — some parts of it are staunchly pro-Israel and others, particularly younger people and ArabAmericans, are very critical of President Biden’s policies on this. If the war continues, so will these protests — right into the Democratic National Convention. In some ways, this change is even bigger than the election — aid and military assistance to Israel was a relatively bipartisan, broadly supported issue,' says Omar Wasow.
"The world gained from a peace dividend after USSR’s decline— that calm is shrinking now...": Kenneth Rogoff
Kenneth Rogoff, former chief economist of the IMF and Maurits C. Boas Chair of International Economics at Harvard University, discusses the record rise in military expenditure worldwide. He argues that military spending is not good for growth or consumption because it is destructive. The US and Europe are facing pressures today due to Ukraine, the Middle East, and potentially Taiwan, but the defense budgets of the West are tuned to a different era. The US has not prepared its people for greater military expenditure, and voters are talking about universal income, increased transfers, more social spending, etc., but realistically, defense spending will need to increase.
From 1992-2013, poor nations lost 8% of their GDP to extreme heat: Justin S. Mankin
How strongly the economy is affected is linked to average climatological temperature — the warmer you are on average, the more an increase in your five hottest days impacts your economic growth.
‘With demand changing, peak oil can happen soon. Some Indian steel and cement companies are leading the field in reducing emissions’
Jim Skea, chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), discussed essential aspects of the energy transition to address global warming with Srijana Mitra Das. He emphasized the IPCC's findings, advocating for a shift to low-carbon energy sources like renewables and nuclear power, alongside increased energy efficiency and electrification, particularly in transport and industry.
Each generation has business leaders who address the problems of their age — these issues have grown from colonialism to climate change: Geoffrey G. Jones
A. One of the leading causes of environmental pollution is clothing and textiles — hence, the potential for environmental saving there is fantastic. I’ve written about Patagonia, the Californian company, which has done some remarkable things. Socially concerned businesses should apply the following criteria: Is it highly impactful yet? The answer is usually, no, says Geoffrey G. Jones.
People with more financial literacy are less economically fragile — this matters for aggregate shocks from pandemics to climate change: Annamaria Lusardi
Drawing from our data, these are mostly the Nordic countries, Canada and the UK. They have a strong educational system and do well in financial literacy. This does matter — studying microdata across countries, we’ve found people with greater financial literacy are less economically fragile or more able to face shocks. This is particularly important in an era when we face not just normal distur-bances but shocks at an aggregate level, like the pandemic or climate change, says Annamaria Lusardi.
‘Several fossil fuel-owning countries must be motivated to conserve — we need an economics of not extracting resources’
"I define a ‘conservation good’ as an entity which I don’t benefit from consuming — but which I benefit from as long as no one else consumes it. This leads to a new type of market failure. "
‘From debt relief for nature to the biggest environmental beneficiaries paying more for its preservation, policy can help restore ecology’
"We must remember that you can impose a policy — but local individuals have a lot of agency. If conservation actions don’t offer local development, they are likely to fail. Impactful conservation actions tend to be much more consistent with local development benefits."
‘Regulated carbon markets are worth a trillion dollars a year and cover 25% of global emissions — they are raising climate ambition worldwide’
Ruben Lubowski, an environmental economist, discusses economic strategies for tackling climate change, protecting forests, and restoring natural ecosystems. He highlights the success of the Brazilian government in reducing deforestation and the importance of carbon emissions trading schemes and industry-wide standards.
Companies now know climate risks mean financial risks — industrial sectors need swift decarbonisation, says Columbia Business School's Gernot Wagner
The research focuses on climate risk, policy, technology, and the social cost of carbon. It highlights the concept of a 'green moral hazard' and the challenges of pricing climate uncertainty. Reinsurance companies play a crucial role in managing climate risk. The concept of 'climateflation' and its impact on various industries is discussed. Decarbonization of the steel sector is also explored.
21st century economics needs a better goal than ‘growth’: Kate Raworth
Kate Raworth, a Senior Associate at Oxford University’s Environmental Change Institute, discusses the need to reinvent economics to address ecological and development crises. In her book 'Doughnut Economics,' she proposes a new economic model focused on ensuring everyone's essential needs are met without surpassing the Earth's ecological limits.
The world is a tinderbox now — the US faces multiple conflicts but India is a ray of hope: Michael J. Boskin
"India, with its diversity, has remained a democracy. It’s also been growing at 6% to 8% for some time now. By developing economy standards, its inflation rate is also not unreasonable. I think India is a ray of hope — many improvements are taking place in its economy now and foreign companies are looking to invest."
About 25% of inventors and entrepreneurs in the US are foreign-born now — our business leaders must articulately describe how migration benefits America, says Harvard Business School's William Kerr
About 70% of H-1B visa applicants are male, reflecting in part the heavy use of the program for technical and computer-related occupations which remain unfortunately imbalanced on gender. That said, today, skilled immigration globally is higher among women than men — therefore, policy makers and business leaders should pay close attention to their destinations being attractive for women migrants, says Kerr.
Once an unquestioned majority, many Americans now feel insecure about non-Whites seeking more power — this boosts Donald Trump: Matthew Baum
The great irony of misinformation is that the vast majority of it is actually about selling stuff, from weird dietary supplements to other shady products. The overwhelming proportion of bad information, especially online, including political misinformation, is about commercialisation. Consider Alex Jones, a prominent right-wing conspiracy theorist who propounded that even the Sandy Hook shooting was a false flag, for which he was sued. A huge majority of such misinformation-spreading is based on the business of selling products — here, politics and outrage are also used to attract people to merchandise, says Matthew Baum.
We need ‘thin’ globalisation now — this accepts nations having their own agendas and rebalances their autonomy: Dani Rodrik
"Many hoped that hyper-globalisation would lead to China becoming more democratic and, in turn, the US and other major powers would become more interested in the gains from trade rather than in zero-sum geopolitical competition. Neither of these expectations has materialised."
To achieve net zero, companies must learn climate science: Jaideep Prabhu, Judge Business School
In the past, there was some deniability over whether water, air or ecosystems were getting polluted by commercial operations — without adequate measurements, businesses could pass the buck. But today, there is much greater traceability.
Air pollution impacts decision-making — it can cause corporate professionals to commit errors affecting their company: Juan Palacios
The focus of my work is understanding how buildings and indoor environments impact us — this includes health and wellbeing in multiple ways which are also important economically, as in labour market and financial outcomes. I’ve researched how homes, schools and workplaces, through poor building, ventilation systems, etc., can lead to impaired learning and damaged health and performance outcomes. I use econometric techniques and economic theory to study this — air quality is a core focus here, says Juan Palacios.
Carbon’s social cost higher than estimated but a carbon tax doesn’t address climate justice at all: Billy Pizer
We’ve studied how when a country or jurisdiction acts ambitiously on climate mitigation by itself, it’s likely some of the emissions reductions in the ambitious jurisdiction will reappear in trading partners. If A, for instance, starts using less fossil fuels, that could lower the price and other economies then buy more of them — that’s one kind of carbon leakage.
Startups have a unique ‘extrapolation’ phase — with the right leadership methods, growth can become exponential here, says Jeffrey Rayport
"Ways by which scaling ventures organise themselves contribute to success — one is maintaining a commitment to agility and flexibility by using modular forms of organisation, with a firm operating, for instance, as a set of small teams as opposed to growing into an inflexible, hierarchical bureaucracy," says Jeffrey F. Rayport.
‘For the first time in decades, inequality isn’t rising in the US — the tech sector aside, hiring is high across the economy’
"Low-wage workers have in fact had the fastest wage growth recently. Unemployment is close to a 50-year-low with job openings at a record high," says Lawrence Katz, an economics professor at Harvard University
Trust matters in every economic sense, from a business to a country: Harvard Business School's Sandra Sucher
Trust impacts nations as well. Some years ago, a study across 29 market economies asked the question — ‘Generally speaking, would you say most people can be trusted?’ A 10% increase in a population’s positive response yielded a 0.8% increase in GDP.
A new global economy driven by size is emerging — the UK has lost a key advantage while India is rising: Christian H. M. Ketels
It is a sign of India rising — and this will only continue. The Indian economy will probably become the world’s third largest in the foreseeable future. The demographics are beneficial. India has a lot of people ready to enter the labour force in the next few years. India is also becoming more attractive to foreign investors for its own market.
Financial investments like stocks can realign people’s incentives to have peaceful societies: Saumitra Jha
This idea, of realigning the incentives of critical groups and making them pro-development, is very powerful — and financial markets are an excellent way to do this at scale, says Saumitra Jha.
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