- University of Pisa
- Pisa (Provincia)
- Corsi preparatori
Sustainable Transitions in Employment, Welfare, Environment
The twentieth century saw enormous leaps and bounds in addressing variouschallenges pertaining to human development - e.g., rapid economic growth, therecognition of climate risks, poverty alleviation, better healthcare for many,addressing racial, gender, and religious inequities, etc. But the trends that haveemerged over the past several decades now require society to confront theinterlinkages among these challenges to achieve sustainable forms ofdevelopment.
The critical need to tackle social and environmental challengesjointly has been made evident by the fast spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. Onthe one hand, scientists claim that deforestation, loss of biodiversity, andindustrial animal production are among the main causes of the emergence ofpandemics. On the other hand, unequal socioeconomic and occupational status,access to health care, nutritional status, and housing conditions determine anuneven distribution of risks from the COVID-19 pandemic. The COVID-19pandemic has uprooted many commonly held beliefs around the way theeconomy should function, specifically with regards to the nature of work. It alsoprovided a glimpse at how a radical decline of industrial output can result insignificant environmental improvements. However, entrenched or capturedpolitical systems are likely to result in a rapid return to business and usual,unless the political and decision space is expanded to enable new ways ofthinking to be heard and understood by stakeholders/citizens. This calls for adeep understanding of the interlinkages among the social, economic, andenvironmental challenges to provide policy advice for a legitimate, fair, andevidence-informed transition towards sustainability.
The summer school will provide an updated analysis of this problem. During theprogram, we will consider the inter-relationship of global economic changes,inequality, employment, worker health and safety, and environment in thecontext of theories of economics, development, trade, technical andorganizational innovation, and employment. Mechanisms for resolving theapparent conflicts between these elements will be explored. Moreover, weintroduce students to the up-to-date models to explore the economic andenvironmental performance of specific policy scenarios, necessary for theevaluation of possible synergies and trade-offs across these measures,grounded on system dynamics and ecological economics.
Activities will be articulated in morning and afternoon sessions, combininglectures and group work with both a theoretical and an empirical perspective,focusing on analytical frameworks, research methods, and contribution tocollective work.
Some special sessions will give participants the opportunity of interacting withthe students attending the “Back to the roots of Ecological Economics” and the“POE” summer schools.
The twentieth century saw enormous leaps and bounds in addressing variouschallenges pertaining to human development - e.g., rapid economic growth, therecognition of climate risks, poverty alleviation, better healthcare for many,addressing racial, gender, and religious inequities, etc. But the trends that haveemerged over the past several decades now require society to confront theinterlinkages among these challenges to achieve sustainable forms ofdevelopment.
The critical need to tackle social and environmental challengesjointly has been made evident by the fast spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. Onthe one hand, scientists claim that deforestation, loss of biodiversity, andindustrial animal production are among the main causes of the emergence ofpandemics. On the other hand, unequal socioeconomic and occupational status,access to health care, nutritional status, and housing conditions determine anuneven distribution of risks from the COVID-19 pandemic. The COVID-19pandemic has uprooted many commonly held beliefs around the way theeconomy should function, specifically with regards to the nature of work. It alsoprovided a glimpse at how a radical decline of industrial output can result insignificant environmental improvements. However, entrenched or capturedpolitical systems are likely to result in a rapid return to business and usual,unless the political and decision space is expanded to enable new ways ofthinking to be heard and understood by stakeholders/citizens. This calls for adeep understanding of the interlinkages among the social, economic, andenvironmental challenges to provide policy advice for a legitimate, fair, andevidence-informed transition towards sustainability.
The summer school will provide an updated analysis of this problem. During theprogram, we will consider the inter-relationship of global economic changes,inequality, employment, worker health and safety, and environment in thecontext of theories of economics, development, trade, technical andorganizational innovation, and employment. Mechanisms for resolving theapparent conflicts between these elements will be explored. Moreover, weintroduce students to the up-to-date models to explore the economic andenvironmental performance of specific policy scenarios, necessary for theevaluation of possible synergies and trade-offs across these measures,grounded on system dynamics and ecological economics.
Activities will be articulated in morning and afternoon sessions, combininglectures and group work with both a theoretical and an empirical perspective,focusing on analytical frameworks, research methods, and contribution tocollective work.
Some special sessions will give participants the opportunity of interacting withthe students attending the “Back to the roots of Ecological Economics” and the“POE” summer schools.
