The COVID-19 pandemic ushered in an economic crisis that reverberated around the globe leaving many wanting to rethink economics for the 21st century.
To showcase a new approach rapidly picking up momentum, the University of Â鶹´«Ã½ , in partnership with the Â鶹´«Ã½ Book and Music Festival and ʻĀina Aloha Economic Futures, will feature a live online conversation with Oxford economist Kate Raworth, a bestselling author arguing for a new set of metrics to replace the traditional focus on growth.
Raworth argues in her book Doughnut Economics: Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st-Century Economist that new economics need to be better aligned with human needs and planetary limits. It’s a concept that has garnered her more than 4 million views on TED Talks and has even captured the attention of the Pope.
The live online event, “Doughnut Economics: How circular economies can make Â鶹´«Ã½ more just and sustainable,” will be held on Thursday, October 7, at 8:30 a.m. The livestream event is open to the public. ()
UH ²Ñ¨¡²Ô´Ç²¹ Professor Kamanamaikalani Beamer, the Dana Naone Hall Endowed Chair in Hawaiian Studies, Literature and the Environment will serve as moderator. In response to the COVID-19 economic crisis, Beamer co-founded the ʻĀina Aloha Economic Futures initiative to help develop a new vision for the state¡¯s economic future that is grounded in Native Hawaiian values.
- Related UH News story: Beamer selected as inaugural endowed chair at Â鶹´«Ã½nuiākea, May 11, 2021
“We are at a critical moment when redesigning our economy to be more just and equitable to our people and our ?¨¡ina has never been more important,” said Beamer, who holds joint appointments at and the . “Kate¡¯s work is helping to inform these conversations around the world while we at home are looking to build on our ancestral foundation of aloha ʻāina.”
Â鶹´«Ã½ State Representative Amy Perusso, a UH alumna, underscores the importance of revamping ±á²¹·É²¹¾±ʻ¾±¡¯²õ economic model. “Neoliberal economics has clearly failed us,” Perusso said. “We need a new approach grounded in ecological and communitarian principles. Raworth¡¯s work is critical in this respect, and it resonates with the ʻāina aloha and circular economy work being done in Â鶹´«Ã½. Rethinking our assumptions and rewriting our narratives about economics will help facilitate a similar paradigm shift in our thinking about politics.”
More on Raworth
Raworth is a senior associate at Oxford¡¯s Environmental Change Institute. She has worked for the United Nations Development Programme and currently serves on the World Health Organization¡¯s Council on the Economics of Health for All.
The Better Tomorrow Speaker Series is a joint venture of the Â鶹´«Ã½ Community Foundation, Kamehameha Schools and . Event sponsors include the UH ²Ñ¨¡²Ô´Ç²¹ and the William S. Richardson School of Law.
For more information, see the or email btss@hawaii.edu.