'Measuring for the future, not the past' - Dr. Matthew Agarwala (Universities of Cambridge & Yale)

The next session of this series will take place on Monday, September 18, from 15:00 – 16:00 CEST and consist of a presentation by Dr. Matthew Agarwala – Economist at the Bennett Institute for Public Policy, University of Cambridge and Senior Policy Fellow at the Tobin Center for Economic Policy, Yale University – followed by a moderated discussion.

Suggested Reading Material: Agarwala, Matthew K., Diane Coyle, Cristina Peñasco, and Dimitri Zenghelis. 2023. “Measuring for the Future, Not the Past.” In Measuring and Accounting for Environmental Public Goods: A National Accounts Perspective, 1–20. Studies in Income and Wealth. Alexandria: University of Chicago Press. (https://www.nber.org/books-and-chapters/measuring-and-accounting-environmental-public-goods-national-accounts-perspective/measuring-future-not-past)

Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81838358441?pwd=N1I4U2M4Um1VRTM3YTh5Z3V0L2YwQT09

Meeting-ID: 818 3835 8441 | Passcode: 273112

Agenda

Mainstream economic statistics are a snapshot of the portion of the economy that falls inside the production boundary as defined in the System of National Accounts (SNA). This raises accounting challenges, given the economy’s reliance on largely unmeasured natural capital services. One issue is that the SNA records flow measures over the past. Augmenting them with full wealth accounts is a necessary extension for assessing the resilience of the economy. Wealth accounting, including natural capital, embeds sustainability through the valuation of asset stocks, which reflect anticipated future benefit flows; and wealth accounting, including the distribution of access to assets, better captures changes in social welfare. A corollary accounting challenge is that the present SNA framework is derived from backward-looking economic structures. At a time of substantial technological and behavioural transition, the dynamics of change imply there will be large discontinuous changes in the shadow prices needed for the valuation of natural capital services. In this paper we advocate a substantial expansion of natural capital measurement, including consideration of asset correlations and extended valuation techniques, to enhance mainstream economic indicators relating to risk, growth, and productivity. The task is fundamentally important because measurements change future behaviour and thus affect the outcomes they measure.

Dr. Matthew Agarwala leads the Bennett Institute’s Wealth Economy project at the University of Cambridge, is a member of The Productivity Institute, and Senior Policy Fellow at Yale University’s Tobin Center for Economic Policy. His research covers natural and social capital, economic measurement, green finance, productivity, and wellbeing. Spanning sectors and disciplines, Matthew’s collaborators include ecologists, social anthropologists, members of UK Parliament, and Nobel Laureates in peace, medicine, physics, and chemistry. Matthew works closely with the UN, World Bank, central banks, finance ministries, and businesses to highlight nature-related financial risks. He is a sought-after public speaker and regular media contributor (BBC, Bloomberg, Channel 4 News, FT, Guardian, NYTimes, Reuters, and The Times).

Should you have any questions or if you encounter any technical issues, please do not hesitate to contact me via email (yamunna.rao@global-solutions-initiative.org).