Publications
Blog Post, Paper
Progressing Beyond GDP: Towards a Multidimensional Livings Standards Index and Integrated Headline Measure of Gross National Sustainable Development
How best to supplant or “dethrone” GDP alone as the paramount measure of national economic performance and international development standing? A new paper by a group of UN-affiliated economists, of which I am lead author, makes a concrete suggestion regarding this ultimate, high-ambition purpose of "Beyond GDP" reform. It comes as intergovernmental negotiations are due to begin later in the year on this complex topic following the issuance of a report by a High-Level Expert Group.
Article, Blog Post, Official Document
The macroeconomic payoff from investment in universal economic and social human rights
Evidence is accumulating that the GDP and even tax revenue multipliers of increased public investment in the material sufficiency, agency and dignity of people underpinned by human rights are often strongly positive over 5 to 10 years. The budgeting and borrowing practices of governments and international financial institutions need to catch up and treat investment in social infrastructure, such as social protection systems, more like that in physical infrastructure, i.e., scored dynamically and partially amortized over a medium to long term budgetary window.
Report
Jobs and Skills for the New Economy: An Action Agenda for a People-Centered Climate Transition
Major report produced by an international research team of which I was co-lead author. The most detailed treatment to date of the likely labor market dynamics of a climate transition consistent with the Paris agreement's well-below-2-degree goal, including an extensive set of policy recommendations for governments, international organizations and companies.
Chapter
Global sustainability reporting standards: on the threshold of a new era of internationally coherent regulation? (For the World’s Profit, Chapter 9)
Brookings Institution Press
Chapter on the current state and future prospects of corporate sustainability reporting standards in a Brookings edited volume about the role of the private sector in advancing international development and the SDGs.
Presentation/Infographic
Human Capital, Productivity and Inclusiveness: Towards a Whole-of-Economic-Policy Approach to Better Sharing the Benefits of Productivity Growth
Intl Labour Organization (ILO), OECD
Presentation supporting remarks delivered at the annual Global Forum on Productivity hosted by the OECD and French government, 2024.
Presentation/Infographic
Towards a Bretton Woods-like reinvention of the international economic architecture for the 21st century
Int'l Labour Organization (ILO)
Presentation supporting remarks on reform of the international financial architecture at a conference in Hangzhou, China marking the 80th anniversary of the Bretton Woods conference that created the IMF and World Bank. Organized by Tsinghua University Peoples Bank of China School of Finance and the Reinventing Bretton Woods Committee, May 2024.
Presentation/Infographic
AI and Work: Opportunities, challenges and the need for governance
ILO, UN High Level Advisory Body on AI
Presentation supporting opening remarks delivered at special meeting of the United Nations High Level Advisory Body on Artificial Intelligence at ILO headquarters. Elaborates likely labor market and broader macroeconomic implications of artificial intelligence and machine learning.
Book
Human-Centred Economics: The Living Standards of Nations
Palgrave Macmillan, ILO
This book examines the chronic underperformance of economies with respect to inclusion, sustainability and human and systemic resilience. It proposes a reformulation of macroeconomic theory and policy to explicitly internalize the role of policies and institutions that enable them. Correcting the imbalance of emphasis in modern economic theory and policy between markets and institutions, production and distribution, and national income and household living standards is the single most important step required to transcend 20th century trickle-down “neoliberalism” and replace it with a more human-centred model of economic progress in the 21st century.
Handout
Synopsis and Praise for “Human-Centred Economics: The Living Standards of Nations” (English)
ILO
Printable 4-page document containing book synopsis and praise as well as open access link to publisher's site. 4-page PDFs in Letter and A4 sizes.
Chapter
Human-Centred Economics: The Living Standards of Nations (Preface and Front Matter)
Palgrave Macmillan, ILO
Preface and other front matter, including title page, copyright, synopsis, acknowledgements, table of contents, about author, list of figures, list of tables, list of boxes.