Hello everyone,
A lot of attention is being paid to what the head of IMF said recently in a speech at King's College, Cambridge. Kristalina Georgieva said that the only way to boost global economic growth over the next century is by tackling soaring inequality to achieve a ninefold increase in living standards.
Here's the full article in the Guardian.
Kristalina Georgieva referred to the great economist John Maynard Keynes. The head of IMF said that Keynes had been right to predict that technology gains could deliver and eightfold increase in living standards in 100 years' time (this was back in 1930s) but hat he had been too optimistic about how the benefits of growth would be shared (referring to his essay Economic Possibilities for Our Grandchildren). And it is up to us to correct that. To bring a more equitable and equal future.
While i wholeheartedly agree that we should strive to equality and just transition and just societies and economies, when i read that we can increase the living standards ninefold, I cannot help but think about the amount of energy that will be needed to support that growth. And that leads to the thought of the amount of emissions to afford that growth.
The two should not be mutually exclusive I then realise. Perhaps I should remain hopeful. With the rise of AI and Quantum Computing, but most importantly with the determination of all stakeholders (industrial companies, investors and financiers, science and academia, governments, NGOs, all the supply chain, all of us) we should be able to manage these these two priorities. I am not a grandmother yet, but I hope to be.
Equal and just economies and growth for all and a livable healthy planet.
What do you think?
P.S. Here's Keynes's work
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Aya Pariy
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