Icarus Economics: Why rich economies are struggling – and how to fix them John Rapley

Event details

Every leader comes to power promising growth: think back to the campaigns of Boris, Truss, Sunak, Starmer, Trump. Yet real-term income hasn’t improved in the UK since 2008. Across the West, growth has stagnated for well over a decade, leading to cost-of-living crises, political instability and rising social tensions.

Is real economic growth still possible? And with the climate emergency accelerating beyond repair, should we still be pushing for it?

Acclaimed economist John Rapley, author of Icarus Economics, argues that the problem of growth is inherently tied up with the climate crisis. We often assume that poor countries will bear the brunt of climate change, pandemics and other exogenous shocks, but John will argue the opposite: western societies have more wealth and capital to lose and are less inherently resilient.

Join John as he reveals how rich countries can grow their own economies by helping poor countries to decarbonise - and in the process, mitigate the effects of climate change.

This event will take place live on Zoom Webinar. You will receive a link to join a couple of days before the event and a reminder an hour before. During the event, you can ask questions via a Q&A function, but audience cameras and microphones will remain muted throughout.

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You can buy copies of many of our speakers’ books from Fox Lane Books, a local independent bookseller and Festival partner. In some cases, author signed bookplates are available too. 

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