Bengaluru: The Ecumenical Christian Centre (ECC) at Whitefield in the city will play host to the International Conference on Dimensions of Poverty and Happiness in Economy on September 9. Prof. Dr. Luigino Bruni, well known economist, will deliver the keynote address.
Luigino Bruni, Ph.D., is Associate Professor of Political Economics, Università di Milano-Bicocca and Resident Faculty at Istituto Universitario Sophia in Loppiano, Italy. He is co-editor of the International Review of Economics (IREC, Springer) and has written numerous books and articles, including the award-winning ‘Civil Happiness: Economics and Human Flourishing in Historical Perspective and The Economy of Communion. He is also the worldwide coordinator of the Economy of Communion. To know more about Prof. Bruni, please click here.
The theme of the Conference is an economist’s search for models of long-run economic growth and short-term fluctuations that occur in the economy. The focus is to drive the economy from disequilibria to sustainable equilibria optimizing the policy decisions and choosing from alternatives given the input and technology. Real GDP growth rate is a sine qua non to alleviate poverty and eradicate unemployment.
However, stories of crony capitalism have led to jobless growth with joyless life. Development economists have moved from growth strategies to multiple dimensions of leisure, sustainability, environment and more inclusion. While economic growth is essential, ethics, equity and building capabilities for performance and governance are conditions required to attain gross national happiness. Increasing the national product is significant for employment and consumption per se, but its impact on distribution, resource exhaustion, social cost and negative spill-overs throw concerns for inter-generation equity across the growth trajectories of economies.
The welfare paradigm aims at moving towards new contours of wellbeing without altering net gains to none. The path for stagnant economies is to outbound the production frontiers through welfare and sustainability. For the third world the development strategies are manifold – knowledge, healthcare, technology, innovation and quality of life. History evidences such economies cannot merely copy the western models which made men to traverse to matter alone. The trade-off costs the glory of the human (elements) that surpasses the matter. Welfare, leisure and happiness belong more to the mind with qualitative dimensions. The economy needs quality dimensions in the quantitative arenas of economic growth that blends growth with elements of development.
The objective is to anatomize the growth trajectories of diverse economies that are fast moving towards dynamic models for searching welfare and happiness criteria. Many think-tanks and economists will come together at this platform to debate and present their models. You are welcome to participate and benefit from the discourse.
The conference is intended for academicians, industrialists, researchers and think-tanks committed to analyze and inquire into deeper dimensions of happiness and human welfare.
For further details regarding the conference, please contact Dr. Mathew Chandrankunnel, CMI, Director, ECC at [email protected]. You can also contact Dr. Xavier V K, Professor of Economics, Jain University on his email : [email protected].
Conference brochure enclosed.
