Climate transition needs political leadership

At this point, Romanian banker Sergiu Manea joins the conversation. ‘We all understand our rulebook is dusty and at the brink of failure’, he says, ‘but I would still define prosperity as a smooth interplay between value creation and institutions.’ Rather than looking only at the quantitative accumulation of traditional elements of value, new parameters such as wellbeing are gaining importance. However, access to the whole gamut of values is far from equal. ‘The biggest asymmetries in our societies are due to unequal access to education’, he says, and adds that education, in his understanding, means a mix of skills, knowledge, and critical thinking. While preaching inclusion, we practise exclusion. Manea criticises that ‘we don’t educate children in digital ethics, entrepreneurship or financial literacy. We need to encourage them to face the problems of our time!’

Education is also the keyword for panelist Nikolaus Griller, an industry representative and currently a fellow with the Teach For Austria NGO. Griller says that in Austria, the education system acts as an early divider rather than a guarantor of equal opportunities. ‘Children from families with weaker educational backgrounds start their school careers with lower social capital. Austria has one of the world’s most expensive education systems, and yet we don’t manage to overcome this deep gap’, he says. To him, not doing anything to change the whole system means consenting. Griller explains that Denmark and New Zealand, for instance, are profoundly rethinking education these days. Lessons learned according to Griller: ‘Open up schools, change the format of classroom settings, and focus on strengths, not deficits.’ These attitudes and measures would be key to closing the prosperity gap.

Economy to be aligned with social and political spheres

At this point, the discussion turns to the question of climate change. Economist Sigrid Stagl argues that human prosperity is impossible without considering planetary boundaries in our equations. A Green New Deal, as currently proposed by the European Union, could be the first step towards a prosperous future – if, and only if, politicians took the lead. ‘While we should not underestimate the potential of and the need for individual action, we need to remind ourselves of the importance of democratic and social institutions.’ Markets are of course just another set of such institutions: ‘If we include our norms – when it comes to equality, for example – into the logic of the market, we will also see a different result in society.’ Unlike gravity, we can decide upon these rules. An interdisciplinary approach could help develop an economic system which functions within those planetary boundaries. Philosophy and the natural sciences, she says, could serve as an inspiration.

Felwine Sarr underscores Stagl’s input: ‘If you think of economy as a complex, living being (similar to a metabolism), we need to align it with the social and political spheres’, he summarises. He closes the conversation with a wish: decision-makers should turn the thoughts voiced in the course of this evening into reality.