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u2018Build a better, greener economy after pandemicu2019
u2018Build a better, greener economy after pandemicu2019

‘Build a better, greener economy after pandemic’

Economist Joseph Stiglitz has long argued that gross domestic product is far too broad a measure.
Jo-Mare Duddy Booysen
Manon Billing - Business as usual is not an option once the world emerges from the coronavirus pandemic, according to Nobel laureate economist Joseph Stiglitz, who wants new climate-laced metrics to measure growth beyond the blunt instrument of GDP.

Interviewed by AFP, Stiglitz said the debilitating effects of Covid-19 worldwide offered governments a chance to forge a green recovery with a new emphasis on fairness.

"And it shouldn't be just going back to where we were," he said.

"GDP [gross domestic product] does not take into account the inequalities, the lack of resilience or the lack of sustainability. What we want to do now is to lead the economy in a direction that reflects all these concerns."

Stiglitz, winner of the Nobel prize for economics in 2001 who served as a top adviser at the World Bank and in Bill Clinton's White House, has long argued that gross domestic product is far too broad a measure.

A decade ago, he co-chaired a commission convened by the French government that recommended a new approach encompassing metrics for sustainability and a "green GDP".

"We argued for a dashboard," he told AFP, "We pointed out that if we had had better measures, we would have had a better sense of the damage that the 2008 crisis was doing."

Today, "the most important indicator is the impact of greenhouse gas emissions", Stiglitz said.

"What we've been learning more about is the multiple manifestations of climate change, in terms of for instance how it will affect extreme weather events. What we have learned is the complexity in climate change itself."

Message gaining track

Stiglitz is not alone in demanding a break with the past as the world strives to overcome a pandemic that has so far killed more than 450 000 people and infected at least eight million, according to an AFP tally.

Shutdowns sparked by the outbreak have led to dizzying declines in growth rates and mammoth government bailouts in a number of countries, especially in Europe and the United States.

Some of the rescue packages have come attached with strings demanding companies refocus their investment plans on strategies to fight climate change. An overarching plan was unveiled Thursday by the International Energy Agency and International Monetary Fund.

The project aims to boost GDP growth by 1.1 percentage points, "save or create" nine million jobs, and slash CO2 emissions by 1.5 billion tonnes in each of the next three years.

IEA executive director Fatih Birol said world leaders have a "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity" to reboot their economies and tackle global warming at the same time.

But those goals continue to pull against each other, Birol acknowledged, pointing to lessons learned from the global recession triggered by the 2008 collapse of the US housing market.

‘No spare tyres’

Stiglitz, who has extensively criticised the laissez-faire policies that led up to 2008, said the current crisis had again exposed short-sighted thinking.

"We created an economy without spare tyres, without extra hospital beds, we didn't do pandemic preparedness, we didn't do a lot of the things that would have enabled us to respond to the pandemic," he said.

"It's not that we could have prevented it, but we could have had a much more resilient economy, more able to respond to that."

Stiglitz said there were grounds for hope now, especially in the European Union, whose executive arm is pushing a five-year "Green Deal" as part of a strategy to achieve "carbon neutrality" by 2050.

Hostage

But the plan remains hostage to other financial pressures, as EU leaders squabble over a coronavirus recovery plan worth 750 billion euro (US$843 billion).

The 2050 goal is "attainable" and "very positive", Stiglitz said.

"But it's not enough to have that aspiration. You have to actually start spending the money. And obviously the pandemic is being a big impetus to begin spending the money."

Stiglitz said he backed proposals by both the European Commission and by US presidential contender Joe Biden to impose a tax on carbon-intensive goods from abroad.

"I think this is something that needs to be implemented. Of course it would have to be used in a non-protectionist way," the economist said. – Nampa/AFP

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Nam 2.22 SAME | Oryx Properties Ltd 12.1 UP 1.70% | Paratus Namibia Holdings 11.99 SAME | SBN Holdings 8.45 SAME | Trustco Group Holdings Ltd 0.48 SAME | B2Gold Corporation 47.34 DOWN 1.50% | Local Index closed 677.62 UP 0.12% | Overall Index closed 1534.6 DOWN 0.05% | Osino Resources Corp 19.47 DOWN 2.41% | Commodities: Gold US$ 2 233.12/OZ UP +1.93% | Copper US$ 3.99/lb UP +0.12% | Zinc US$ 2 455.50/T UP 0% | Brent Crude Oil US$ 87.65/BBP UP +1.46% | Platinum US$ 908.62/OZ UP +1.53% Sport results: Weather: Katima Mulilo: 19° | 36° Rundu: 19° | 29° Eenhana: 19° | 29° Oshakati: 21° | 30° Ruacana: 20° | 33° Tsumeb: 19° | 29° Otjiwarongo: 16° | 29° Omaruru: 19° | 32° Windhoek: 17° | 29° Gobabis: 17° | 30° Henties Bay: 16° | 20° Wind speed: 22km/h, Wind direction: S, Low tide: 11:22, High tide: 05:24, Low Tide: 23:26, High tide: 17:46 Swakopmund: 16° | 17° Wind speed: 24km/h, Wind direction: SW, Low tide: 11:20, High tide: 05:22, Low Tide: 23:24, High tide: 17:44 Walvis Bay: 16° | 22° Wind speed: 27km/h, Wind direction: SW, Low tide: 11:20, High tide: 05:21, Low Tide: 23:24, High tide: 17:43 Rehoboth: 19° | 30° Mariental: 23° | 34° Keetmanshoop: 24° | 35° Aranos: 22° | 33° Lüderitz: 15° | 28° Ariamsvlei: 24° | 35° Oranjemund: 14° | 25° Luanda: 27° | 28° Gaborone: 20° | 32° Lubumbashi: 17° | 26° Mbabane: 16° | 21° Maseru: 11° | 29° Antananarivo: 16° | 27° Lilongwe: 17° | 27° Maputo: 20° | 28° Windhoek: 17° | 29° Cape Town: 17° | 28° Durban: 20° | 24° Johannesburg: 16° | 24° Dar es Salaam: 26° | 32° Lusaka: 20° | 30° Harare: 16° | 29° Economic Indicators: Currency: GBP to NAD 23.77 | EUR to NAD 20.35 | CNY to NAD 2.61 | USD to NAD 18.88 | DZD to NAD 0.14 | AOA to NAD 0.02 | BWP to NAD 1.33 | EGP to NAD 0.39 | KES to NAD 0.14 | NGN to NAD 0.01 | ZMW to NAD 0.74 | ZWL to NAD 0.04 | BRL to NAD 3.77 | RUB to NAD 0.2 | INR to NAD 0.23 | USD to DZD 134.15 | USD to AOA 832.63 | USD to BWP 13.71 | USD to EGP 47.35 | USD to KES 130.98 | USD to NGN 1415.13 | USD to ZAR 18.88 | USD to ZMW 25.01 | USD to ZWL 321 | Stock Exchange: JSE All Share Index 74536 Up +0.85% | Namibian Stock Exchange (NSX) Overall Index 1528.69 Up +0.84% | Casablanca Stock Exchange (CSE) MASI 12986.94 Up +0.04% | Egyptian Exchange (EGX) 30 Index 27559.35 Down -2.36% | Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE) DCI Same 0 | NSX: MTC 7.75 SAME | Anirep 8.99 SAME | Capricorn Investment group 17.34 SAME | FirstRand Namibia Ltd 49 DOWN 0.50% | Letshego Holdings (Namibia) Ltd 4.1 UP 2.50% | Namibia Asset Management Ltd 0.7 SAME | Namibia Breweries Ltd 31.49 UP 0.03% | Nictus Holdings - Nam 2.22 SAME | Oryx Properties Ltd 12.1 UP 1.70% | Paratus Namibia Holdings 11.99 SAME | SBN Holdings 8.45 SAME | Trustco Group Holdings Ltd 0.48 SAME | B2Gold Corporation 47.34 DOWN 1.50% | Local Index closed 677.62 UP 0.12% | Overall Index closed 1534.6 DOWN 0.05% | Osino Resources Corp 19.47 DOWN 2.41% | Commodities: Gold US$ 2 233.12/OZ UP +1.93% | Copper US$ 3.99/lb UP +0.12% | Zinc US$ 2 455.50/T UP 0% | Brent Crude Oil US$ 87.65/BBP UP +1.46% | Platinum US$ 908.62/OZ UP +1.53%