SEBS Virtual Science Cafe: Achieving Sustainability in a Divided Political Climate
One common definition of sustainability is that the political system should give equal weight to the objectives of economic welfare, social equity, and environmental conservation. This relatively non-controversial statement of fundamental 21st century values is complicated by the question of whether these objectives support or conflict with each other.
In his talk, Dr. Paul Gottlieb, Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics, will argue that opinions on the question of trade-offs or synergies across the three sustainability objectives have become ideological rather than scientific. The political left tends to assume that the objectives synergize with or complement each other, while the political right tends to assume they involve difficult trade-offs. Neither side, of course, is always correct. In addition to presenting numerous examples, he will connect the discussion to the decision toolkit of economics and to his own research on regional development policy. Expect a lively discussion on this topic.