As part of the consideration of Economics & Investment within the 5KL initiative, Tim Jackson will speak about the shifting paths for achieving prosperity in our lives. While economic growth was once essential in reaching our current level of development, perhaps continued growth not only sees diminishing returns, but also detracts from our present happiness and future prosperity. In a world with finite ecological limits, how do we make what we need, get it to the people who need it, and nurture what we already have?

A conversation with New York Times journalist Eduardo Porter will follow Jackson’s talk.

Tim Jackson is the author of Prosperity without Growth: Economics for a Finite Planet. He is Professor of Sustainable Development at the University of Surrey and Director of RESOLVE—a research group on lifestyles, values, and the environment funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).

For over twenty years, Jackson has been at the forefront of research on the relationship between economic growth and the environment. During the ‘90s and ‘00s he worked extensively on the development of “adjusted” national accounts (“green GDP”) at both national and regional levels in the United Kingdom. He has also written extensively on the conceptual and empirical dimensions of the relationship between economic growth, wellbeing, and sustainability. In 2004 he was appointed Economics Commissioner on the UK Sustainable Development Commission, where he led a program of work entitledRedefining Prosperity.

Eduardo Porter is a journalist with The New York Times, where he writes the Economic Scene column. He was formerly a member of The Times’ editorial board, writing on business, economics, and a mix of other matters.

Porter began his career in journalism over two decades ago as a financial reporter forNotimex, a Mexican news agency, in Mexico City. He was deployed as a correspondent to Tokyo and London, and in 1996 moved to São Paulo as editor of América Economía, a business magazine. In 2000, he went to work at The Wall Street Journal in Los Angeles to cover the growing Hispanic population, and joined The New York Times in 2004 to cover economics.

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