Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Debate - Public - Economists Debate Economic Growth: Good or Bad? - Univ. of Vermont


Debate - Public - Economists Debate Economic Growth: Good or Bad? - Univ. of Vermont from Alfred Snider on Vimeo.

Date: Wednesday, April 24th, 2013
Time: 4:00 pm to 6:00pm
Location: Given E131, UVM

We hear a lot in the news today about waiting for growth to occur in the economy.  Meanwhile, all of us are increasingly concerned about job security and availability, government spending and taxation, as well as, rates of savings and investment.  As we all wait patiently for economic growth, we must think critically about our current systems, focusing on what works and what should be reconfigured. In thinking critically, we must ask ourselves, "Is economic growth good for people and the environment?"
The Financing the New Economy track will kick off with a debate between neoclassical and ecological economic schools of thought. The neoclassical team, Professors Arthur Woolf and Bill Gibson, will debate the ecological team, Professors Gary Flomenhoft and Josh Farley, on the resolution that 'economic growth is good for people and the environment'. Alfred "Tuna" Snider, the director of the Lawrence Debate Union, will moderate the event. The debate will be part of UVM's Earth Week lineup. All are welcome to witness what is (because of its epic nature) increasingly being referred to as"the Rumble in the Econ Jungle."

Neoclassical School:

Arthur Woolf
Professor Woolf joined the Economics Department at UVM in 1980 after receiving his Ph.D. in economics at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. He received his undergraduate education from Cornell University, where he majored in American history. He was interested in both economics and history and wrote his dissertation in economic history, examining the impact of electrification on U.S. manufacturing in the early twentieth century.

In 1988, Professor Woolf took a leave of absence from UVM and began a three-year stint as State Economist for Governor Madeleine Kunin, where he learned first-hand about how to apply economic principles to public policy issues. When he returned to UVM in 1991, his research interests broadened to include public policy analysis, especially focused on state and local government. He spent a lot of time trying to explain economy to non-economists. During the 1990s he wrote a regular column for Vermont Magazine and is currently editor of the monthly The Vermont Economy Newsletter.
In 1999 he started The Vermont Council on Economic Education, an organization that helps Vermont teachers in grades K-12 integrate economics in their curriculum. He works closely with the Council for Economic Education.

Bill Gibson
Professor Gibson came into the University of Vermont in 1986.  He is well read as he holds a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology, an M.B.A. in Business Administration and a Ph.D. in Agriculture and Resource Economics, both of which are from University of California, Berkeley.  Professor Gibson has been a Visiting Assistant Professor at University of California, Berkeley, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, University of Notre Dame, as well as, at universities in Peru and Mexico.
Professor Gibson's main interest, in both his teaching and research, is building and simulating macroeconomic models for developing countries. A second area of interest is NASA, space policy and the aerospace industry. This is an outgrowth of one of the principals themes running throughout his teaching and his research, the proper relationship between the private and public sectors. In addition to his extensive academic publications, Professor Gibson has also served as a consultant to the African National Congress, the Harvard Institute for International Development, and the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations.

Ecological School:

Gary Flomenhoft
Professor Flomenhoft has a diverse background of practical experience ranging from environmental technology and Green politics, to aerospace and systems engineering.  He received a B.S. in Production and Design from Tufts University and his Master of Public Policy/Certificate in Ecological Economics from the University of Maryland.
Professor Flomenhoft was a founding member of the Green Party of California, co-founder of the US Green Party Organizing Committee, and in 1990 and 1992 served as Policy Director and spokesperson for the first Green Party congressional campai

This video is produced by DEBATE CENTRAL (http://debate.uvm.edu ) a debating website founded in 1994. DEBATE CENTRAL is a non-profit service of the World Debate Institute, the Lawrence Debate Union and the University of Vermont, and is designed to promote debating at all levels, in all languages, and all around the world. Our server is provided by the University of Vermont. The System Operator is Alfred C."Tuna" Snider. The Technical Advisors are Andrew Hendrickson and Wesley Wright. The Business Manager is Lionel Palardy.

Raw archive of debate videos for download are at
http://www.uvm.edu/~debate/watch/
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