Video: Sustainable Economic Development that Works

In April 2011, more than 100 people convened at Boston University for Development That Works, an all-day conference that brought together leading scholars and practitioners to discuss development ideas that have the potential to lead to sustainable and effective growth worldwide.
The fourth and final session brought together a panel of leading economists that examined evidence on economic development. Chaired by Dilip Mookherjee, a CAS professor of economics and director of the BU Institute for Economic Development, speakers included Abhijit V. Banerjee, a Ford Foundation international professor of economics and director of the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab at MIT; Mark Rosenzweig, a Frank Altschul professor of international economics and director of the Economic Growth Center at Yale University; and Asim Ijaz Khwaja, a professor of public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. Panel members discussed the impact of development interventions and highlighted the need for deeper and more systematic enquiries on the matter.

Sponsored by the BU Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future, in collaboration with the BU Global Development Program, the conference was organized by Mookherjee, Kevin Gallagher, a CAS associate professor of international relations, Jonathon Simon, an SPH professor of international health and director of the BU Center for Global Health & Development, and Adil Najam, a CAS professor of international relations and director of the Pardee Center. Panel leaders discussed everything from global development policy to local programs that deliver education, health, and poverty alleviation services to rural villages in Africa and Asia.

Hosted by the Pardee Center for the Study of Longer-Range Future, in conjunction with the Boston University Global Development Program, on March 31, 2011.

© 2011, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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Sustainable Growth Excludes Fossil Fuels

Sustainable economic growth is utterly impossible as long as oil, coal and natural gas provide nearly 88 percent of the world's energy needs. According to EIA (the US Energy Information Administration), total world consumption of marketed energy will increase by 49 percent between 2007 to 2035. The International Energy Agency predicted that Chinese energy demand would soar 75 percent by 2035, accounting for more than a third of the growth in global consumption.

The most egregious source of energy is coal, in India, more than 50% of commercial energy demand is met with coal and according to 2008 statistics, coal accounts for 71 percent of China's energy mix. The US is not much better with 23 percent of its total energy demand being met with coal.

We simply cannot afford economic growth that is so reliant on dirty energy like coal. Although growth is a serious environmental threat, it could also be a valuable opportunity to radically expand the clean energy economy. New innovative applications of sustainable technologies can significantly reduce emissions and old inefficient technologies can be replaced with cleaner greener technologies.

Renewable energy is the great hope for the planet because it is sustainable energy, but renewable energy is not cost competitive cheap and abundant coal. Therefore, cost considerations alone will not drive the move away from coal.

The increasing price of oil and the uncertainty of the fossil fuel markets is something that business are increasingly considering and it is only a matter of time before we remove oil subsidies. However, until we see climate change energy legislation and regulation, business have an opportunity to show leadership by voluntarily replacing coal with renewable energy.

Economic growth that includes fossil fuels precludes the possibility of a living planet.

© 2011, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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Republican Gubernatorial Gains and the Clean Energy Economy

The big loser in the 2010 Gubernatorial elections is America’s clean energy economy. Overall, the Republicans picked up 11 governorships from the Democrats: Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Michigan, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Wisconsin and Wyoming. The GOP also gained back the Florida governorship. By comparison, the Dems only picked up California, Hawaii and Vermont.

The race is still officially undecided in Connecticut, although reports indicate that the Republican candidate is ahead, and in Minnesota the winner has yet to be announced, but the Republican candidate is said to be leading.

The governors of Illinois, New Mexico, Kansas, Florida, Oklahoma, and Wyoming are global warming deniers and conspiracy theorists who are getting ready to lead a crusade against a rational approach to climate change.

In Iowa, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Wyoming, four Democratic governors who have supported clean energy were replaced by Republicans who are beholden to the old energy economy.

Republican governors are now virtually unanimous in their dismissal of global warming. They do not recognize the threat posed by climate change, nor do they support clean energy.

By denying the fact of global warming, Republican governors preclude the need to respond. However, what seems like a clever political strategy may in fact prove to be disastrous. By eschewing clean energy opportunities these governors risk turning their states into economic wastelands.


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