Growth for good: reshaping capitalism to save humanity from climate catastrophe
Economic growth is wrecking the planet. It’s the engine driving climate change, pollution, and the shrinking of natural spaces. To save the environment, will we have to shrink the economy? Might this even lead to a better society? Alessio Terzi takes these legitimate questions as a starting point for a journey into the socioeconomic, evolutionary, and cultural origins of our need for growth. It’s an imperative, he argues, that we abandon at our own risk. Economic expansion is deeply interwoven with the human quest for happiness, well being, and self-determination. Growth is underpinned by core principles and dynamics behind the West’s rise to affluence. It contributes to the stability of liberal democracy, the peaceful conduct of international relations, and the very way our society is organized through capitalism. Abandoning growth would also sow chaos, exacerbating conflict within and among societies. This does not mean we have to choose between chaos and environmental destruction. The Colloquium presents a credible agenda to enroll capitalism in the fight against climate catastrophe. With the right policies and the help of engaged citizens, global decarbonization and good jobs can go hand in hand.
Speaker: Alessio Terzi, economist at DG ECFIN of the European Commission and lecturer at HEC Paris and Sciences Po (Lille). Prior to this, he was an Affiliate Fellow at Bruegel and a Fulbright Scholar at the Harvard Kennedy School, and worked in the EU institutions division of the European Central Bank and in sovereign risk analysis at BMI Research (Fitch Ratings). Alessio obtained a PhD from the Hertie School with a thesis on economic growth, under the supervision of Henrik Enderlein, Dani Rodrik, and Jean Pisani-Ferry. He holds an MPA from the London School of Economics, and a BSc from Bocconi University.
Introduction: Francesco Nicoli (lecturer in Political Science, Politecnico di Torino)