"New economic and moral foundations for the Anthropocene" with Prof Eric Beinhocker

Past Event

Date
 20 June 2019, 5:00pm - 6:00pm

Location
 Lecture Theatre, Oxford Martin School
34 Broad Street (corner of Holywell and Catte Streets), Oxford, OX1 3BD

Event Recording:

The biosphere and econosphere are deeply interlinked and both are in crisis. Industrial, fossil-fuel based capitalism delivered major increases in living standards from the mid-18th through late-20th centuries, but at the cost of widespread ecosystem destruction, planetary climate change, and a variety of economic injustices.

Furthermore, over the past 40 years, the gains of growth have flowed almost exclusively to the top 10%, fuelling populist anger across many countries, endangering both democracy and global action on climate change.

This talk will argue that underlying the current dominant model of capitalism are a set of theories and ideologies that are outdated, unscientific, and morally unsound. New foundations can be built from modern understandings of human behaviour, complex systems science, and broad moral principles. By changing the ideologies, narratives, and memes that govern our economic system, we can create the political space required for the policies and actions required to rapidly transform to a sustainable and just economic system.

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Professor Eric Beinhocker
Executive Director, The Institute for New Economic Thinking at the Oxford Martin School

Eric Beinhocker is a Professor of Public Policy Practice at the Blavatnik School of Government and the Executive Director of the Institute for New Economic Thinking at the Oxford Martin School. Beinhocker is also a Supernumerary Fellow in Economics at Oriel College, and External Professor at the Santa Fe Institute.

Prior to joining Oxford, Beinhocker had an 18-year career at McKinsey & Company where he was a partner and held leadership roles in McKinsey’s Strategy Practice, its Climate Change and Sustainability Practice, and the McKinsey Global Institute. Beinhocker writes frequently on economic, business, and public policy issues and his work has appeared in the Financial Times, Bloomberg, The Times, the Guardian, The Atlantic, Newsweek, Democracy, and he is the author The Origin of Wealth: The Radical Remaking of Economics and What It Means for Business and Society. Beinhocker is a graduate of Dartmouth College and the MIT Sloan School, and is originally from Boston, Massachusetts.