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	Barbara Bergmann, Professor Emerita of Economics, University of Maryland and American University
	Global Warming and the Limits to Growth 27 October 2008, 7 p.m. Venue: Renner-Institut, Hoffingergasse 26, 1120 Vienna, Bruno Kreisky Saal (entrance: Gartenhotel Altmannsdorf - Hotel 1)

Lecture organized by Renner Institute in cooperation with wiiw.

Agreement on cutting world carbon emissions will not be possible without plans that contemplate allowing the populations of China and India to eventually achieve living standards comparable to those in the developed west. These two countries currently have eight times the population of the United States, so even keeping total emissions of those three countries at a level equal to today's emissions would most likely require a cut in US per capita income, even if a huge cut in emissions per dollar of GDP could be achieved. Further growth of economies in South America and Africa, and population growth must also be accommodated. In any case, a slowdown or stopping or reversal of growth must be contemplated in the US and later the rest of the world. Up to now, 'growth' has been used as a synonym for 'prosperity', but it would be worthwhile to start thinking of the techniques required to tolerably manage an economy with little or no growth. The benefits to growth include (1) ability to bring lower income groups to a higher standard, (2) freedom to accommodate changes in technology, new products, and tastes without excessive regulation and (3) low levels of unemployment. Maintaining these benefits without much or any growth would require entirely new forms of management.

Barbara R. Bergmann writes on economic and social policy, with recent works on Social Security, child care, poverty, women's place in the economy and the family, and the labuor market problems of women and African Americans. She is Professor Emerita of Economics at the University of Maryland and at American University in Washington, DC. Dr. Bergmann served as a senior staff member of the President's Council of Economic Advisers during the Kennedy Administration. Other government experience includes service as Senior Economic Adviser with the Agency for International Development, and as an economist with the Bureau of Labor Statistics. She has served on advisory committees to the Congressional Budget Office and the Bureau of the Census. In the 1980s, she wrote a monthly column on economic affairs for the New York Times Sunday Business Section. Her recent publications include The Economic Emergence of Women (2nd ed., 2006), America's Child Care Problem: The Way Out (with Suzanne Helburn, 2002), Is Social Security Broke?( 2000).


		top last update: October 2008