Bennett Institute for Public Policy launches ‘Wealth Economy’ workshop to help leaders manage their assets and deliver sustainable growth today and into the future.
Society currently faces a range of interconnected challenges. Whether it is recovering from Covid-19, reversing the biodiversity and climate crises, or preparing for automation and an ageing population, it has become clear that previous economic strategies are no longer fit for purpose. The challenge is not to ‘Build Back’ but to Build Forward to something better, noting that the future will not, and cannot, be like the past. For individuals, businesses and governments, the most pressing question is where to start?
Inclusive Wealth is the foundation of all future wellbeing and the truest measure of a nation’s economic potential. Understand this, and you have the key to sustainability, wealth, and prosperity,”
Sir Partha Dasgupta, University of Cambridge and lead author of the global review of the “Economics of Biodiversity” (2021) published by HM Treasury
University of Cambridge economists with a global reputation for leading economic thought and policy will deliver a new foundation workshop for senior leaders, decision-makers and policy-influencers from across the private, public and third sector on the Wealth Economy approach.
Hosted by leading economists Professor Diane Coyle and Dr Matthew Agarwala of the Bennett Institute for Public Policy at the University of Cambridge, this half-day foundation workshop shows how governments, businesses, and entire countries can leverage the mutually reinforcing nature of Inclusive Wealth. The online interactive session sets out an approach for organisations to build resilience through an applied risk-opportunity assessment that can be adapted to their unique circumstances.
Inclusive Wealth consists of many interconnected capitals – including human, social, natural, and physical. Ultimately, it is the management of this comprehensive portfolio that determines whether organisations and communities are enhancing wealth, resilience, and sustainability, or depleting it.
Participants will benefit from the Wealth Economy team’s years of experience in advising public and private organisations, from local and national government in the UK to the World Bank and United Nations.
Through a range of interactive sessions and activities, a specially written guide, a toolbox of case studies, resources, further reading, practical inspiration for how the framework can be used in the public and private sector, and stimulating conversation with fellow policy professionals, participants will come to better understand how the components of the Wealth Economy Framework fit together. Attendees will return to their organisations with a clear action plan of how they can bring Wealth Economics into their day-to-day decision-making.
Wealth Economy Project Leader, Dr Matthew Agarwala says: “How we manage our portfolio of natural, social, human, and physical capital today determines our ability to respond to future challenges and take advantage of opportunities.
“There is an urgent and important rationale for placing Inclusive Wealth at the heart of recovery planning. This workshop will support decision-makers in developing strategies that reveal, rather than conceal, the synergies and trade-offs between the capitals.”
Professor Diane Coyle agrees: “The wealth economy approach is vital to embed sustainability into decisions taken by businesses and policymakers; it is the only way to incorporate concern for the future in actions taken today.
“Extreme weather events, diseases like Covid-19 arising from human pressure on nature, social polarisation and extreme inequality all make it plain that this is the moment to start taking seriously the need for stewardship of natural, human and social resources.
“International bodies and national and local governments are increasingly adopting a wealth economy framework to guide their decisions. It is a liberating change of mindset: how can we make the best use of the assets we can influence for the benefit of ourselves and future generations?”
It is a unique opportunity for decision-makers – in government at any level, advisory bodies, civil society organisations, and businesses – to together explore real-world challenges and look at practical ways to steward and grow organisational and national prosperity and sustainability.
Find out more and register for the Wealth Economy foundation workshop – Growing prosperity: sustainable stewardship.
Wealth Economy foundation workshop – Growing prosperity: sustainable stewardship
Where: Online – hosted by the Bennett Institute for Public Policy, University of Cambridge
When: Wednesday 24 November 2021, 2pm – 5pm (GMT)
Register: bennettinstitute.cam.ac.uk/FoundationWorkshop
The views and opinions expressed in this post are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the Bennett Institute for Public Policy.
