Distinguished Speaker Seminars

Progress in economics and other social disciplines may allow for the reexamination of excluded phenomena in our framework for studying economics.

M. Ali Khan, Abram Hutzler Professor of Economics at Johns Hopkins University, gave a lecture entitled “Identity, Backwardness and Tolerance: On Undisciplining the Discipline” on 4 December 2008. Mr. Khan examined various frameworks for studying the importance of tolerance and identity, which have been excluded from mainstream economics since the 1950s. With the progress attained in various fields of study, scholars may be in a position to reconsider these exclusions, as, until now, people still grapple with questions on why people act the way they do. The question on backwardness and commerce was related to the extent to which commerce promotes, impedes, or enhances basic concerns on identity and tolerance, a subject not squarely grappled with in economics, and one which may be of direct relevance to development economics and resulting policy prescriptions.

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Technological solutions should be explored in our efforts to combat climate change.

On 19 February 2009, Bindu N. Lohani, ADB Vice-President of Finance and Administration, discussed “The Challenge of Climate Change: What are the Priority Actions for Policy Makers in Asia? What is the Asian Development Bank Doing?” Mr. Lohani emphasized ADB's commitment to environmentally sustainable economic recovery in its long-term strategic framework, Strategy 2020, even at this time of financial crisis. He discussed climate change issues—such as the quick rise in global mean temperatures with time if the world continues with its current energy consumption patterns and consequent negative impacts on Asian economies—as a backdrop to what ADB has been doing to address the various issues and policy recommendations that take into account the state of the environment. He proposed priority policy actions on energy efficiency by national and local governments and a shift toward a low carbon economy by putting in place policies that put a price on carbon, whether in the form of tax on emission or in a cap-and-trade system. He concluded by highlighting technology's potential to slow the process of climate change and urged that further relevant research into such technology be conducted.

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