Policy Choices and Contagion: The Covid Pandemic and the Climate Crisis

Wednesday, May 26, 2021
12 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. EDT
via Zoom

Behavioral contagion refers to how ideas and behaviors often spread in ways that resemble the spread of infectious disease. Exposure to others infected by a virus, for example, makes people more likely to become infected, just as people are more likely to drink excessively when they spend more time with heavy drinkers. But there are also important differences between the two types of contagion. One is the effect of visibility. Solar panels that are visible from the street, for instance, are more likely to stimulate neighboring installations. In contrast, we try to avoid others who are visibly ill. Another difference is that viral contagion is almost always a bad thing, but behavioral contagion can be either negative—as with smoking—or positive, as with solar installations. The seminar will discuss the policy choices we face when individually rational behavior is collectively irrational, as often happens under both types of contagion.

This webinar was moderated by IIEP Co-Director James Foster, with introductory remarks by IIEP Distinguished Visiting Scholar Sunil Sharma and welcome remarks by Ann Florini of ASU-Thunderbird. This event was co-sponsored by the Thunderbird School of Management, Arizona State University, and the Institute for International Economic Policy at GWU.

Meet the Presenter:

Robert H. Frank (@econnaturalist) is the HJ Louis Professor of Management and Professor of Economics, Emeritus, at Cornell’s Johnson School of Management.  His “Economic View” column has appeared in The New York Times since 2005. He received his B.S. in mathematics from Georgia Tech, then taught math and science for two years as a Peace Corps Volunteer in rural Nepal.  He holds an M.A. in statistics and a Ph.D. in economics, both from the University of California at Berkeley.

His books, which include Choosing the Right Pond, Passions Within Reason, Microeconomics and Behavior, Principles of Economics (with Ben Bernanke), Luxury Fever, What Price the Moral High Ground?, Falling Behind, The Economic Naturalist, The Darwin Economy, Success and Luck, and Under the Influence have been translated into 24 languages. The Winner-Take-All Society, co-authored with Philip Cook, received a Critic’s Choice Award, was named a Notable Book of the Year by The New York Times, and was included in Business Week‘s list of the ten best books of 1995. He received the 2004 Leontief Prize for Advancing the Frontiers of Economic Thought, the Johnson School’s Stephen Russell Distinguished teaching award in 2004, 2010, 2012, and 2017, and its Apple Distinguished Teaching Award in 2005.

Meet the Discussant:

Dr. Roland Kupers is an advisor on Complexity, Resilience and Energy Transition, a Professor of Practice at the Thunderbird School of Global Management, Arizona State University, and a fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies at the University of Amsterdam.

A theoretical physicist by training, Roland spent a decade at AT&T and then a decade at Royal Dutch Shell in various senior executive functions, including Vice President for Sustainable Development and Vice President Global LNG, where he was integrally involved with strategy and scenario planning.

His numerous publications include most recently his pathbreaking book on A Climate Policy Revolution: What the Science of Complexity Reveals about Saving Our Planet (Harvard University Press, 2020). His previous works include such co-authored books as The Essence of Scenarios (Amsterdam University Press, 2014) and Complexity and the Art of Public Policy (Princeton University Press 2014), along with an edited volume: Turbulence: A Corporate Perspective on Collaborating for Resilience (Amsterdam University Press, 2014) and articles in Harvard Business Review and in Project Syndicate.

Meet the moderator:

Sunil Sharma is a Distinguished Visiting Scholar at the Institute for International Economic Policy, Elliott School of International Affairs, The George Washington University, Washington, D.C., USA, and a Senior Associate at the Council on Economic Policies, Zurich, Switzerland. He was Assistant Director in the IMF’s Research Department from 2015-2018, and the Director of the IMF- Singapore Regional Training Institute (STI) in Singapore from 2006-2015. Before moving to Singapore in 2006, he was Chief of the IMF Institute’s Asian Division in Washington, D.C. Prior to joining the IMF in 1992, Dr. Sharma was on the Economics faculty at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He has a Ph.D. and M.A. in Economics from Cornell University, a M.A. from the Delhi School of Economics, and a B.A. (Honors) from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi University. His current interests include rethinking capitalism and democracy, systemic hazards, complex systems, the international financial architecture, and the institutional structure and design of financial regulation.

Welcome Remarks by:

Ann Florini is Clinical Professor at the Thunderbird School of Global Management, Arizona State University, where she directs programs at the Washington, D.C. campus. She was previously Professor of Public Policy at Singapore Management University founding director of the Centre on Asia and Globalisation at the National University of Singapore; and a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution. She has spearheaded numerous international initiatives on global governance, energy and climate policy, and cross-sector collaborations including government, civil society, and the private sector. Her many books and articles have addressed governance in China, transparency in governance, transnational civil society networks, and the role of the private sector in public affairs. Dr. Florini received her Ph.D. in Political Science from UCLA and a Masters in Public Affairs from Princeton University.

James E. Foster is the Oliver T. Carr, Jr. Professor of International Affairs, Professor of Economics, and Co-Director of the Institute for International Economic Policy at the George Washington University. He is also a Research Associate at the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative at Oxford University. Professor Foster’s research focuses on welfare economics — using economic tools to evaluate and enhance the wellbeing of people. His work underlies many well-known social indices including the global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) published annually by the UNDP in the Human Development Report, dozens of national MPIs used to guide domestic policy against poverty, the Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI) at USAID, the Gross National Happiness Index of Bhutan, the Better Jobs Index of the InterAmerican Development Bank, and the Statistical Performance Index of the World Bank. Prof. Foster received his PhD in Economics from Cornell University and has a Doctorate Honoris Causa from Universidad Autonoma del Estado Hidalgo (Mexico).

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