'The Sustainable Development Quagmire'

<strong>SCHOOL OF INTERNATIONAL STUDIES CENTRE FOR INTERNATIONAL POLITICS, ORGANISATION AND DISARMAMENT</strong> a seminar on <strong>'The Sustainable Development Quagmire'</strong> United Nation's Agenda 2030 - adopted a new set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to eradicate poverty, establish socioeconomic inclusion and protect the environment. Critical voices have expressed concerns about the potential incompatibility of the SDGs, specifically the incompatibility of socio-economic development and environmental sustainability. In an earlier work, we test, quantify and model the alleged inconsistency of SDGs. We conclude that the SDG agenda will fail as a whole if we continue with business as usual. Our empirical evidence shows that these inconsistencies result from the focus on economic growth and consumption as a means for development. Taking this analysis further, we employ structural equation model to investigate which of these three: economic growth, social inclusion and environment - are more effective in reaching sustainable development. We also suggest a new measure of sustainable development and compare it to some of the existing ones. <strong>DR RANJULA BALI SWAIN</strong> Visiting Professor, MISUM (Mistra Center for Sustainable Markets), Stockholm School of Economics &amp; Professor of Economics, Södertörn University Ranjula Bali Swain is a Visiting Professor to the Mistra Center for Sustainable Markets at the Stockholm School of Economics and a Professor of Economics at Södertörn University. She is also affiliated to Uppsala University and the Centre for European Research in Microfinance (Cermi) at the Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management. Her main research interests are in environmental economics, microeconometrics and development economics. Her current projects (funded by Vetenskapsrådet (VR) and Formas) are on Economic Resilience and Sustainability and data-driven approach to analyse dynamical systems in economics. The main objective of the project on Economic Resilience and Sustainability is to model and test the theory of dynamic welfare and sustainability analysis while taking into account the value of ecosystem resilience. The VR funded 'Development Space' project uses data-driven approach to develop an index for measuring sustainable development that integrates the 'core pillars' of growth as defined by the post-2015 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). Another project quantifies the gap between the scientifically stipulated target for Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and our model's predicted GHG emissions by 2020, to test mechanisms to suggest policy options to reduce this gap in the foreseeable future. She has also published extensively on microfinance with several scientific articles and a book, The Microfinance Impact (Taylor and Francis Books: Routledge, London and New York, 2012). Bali Swain has a doctorate in economics from Uppsala University, and has worked for the International Labour Organisation (ILO), Geneva in the past. <strong>Wednesday, 26 October 2016</strong>