Economist Jeffrey D. Sachs visits IST Austria

The New York Times referred to him as “probably the most important economist in the world”, and the Time Magazine listed him twice among the 100 most influential people: Jeffrey D. Sachs, Professor of Economics at Columbia University and Director of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, made a worldwide name for himself by promoting practices for a sustainable economic development. The Institute of Science and Technology Austria (IST Austria) had invited him to deliver a lecture at IST Austria in Klosterneuburg. When he gave his talk on March 6, the Raiffeisen Lecture Hall was filled to the last spot.

“It was an honor and a pleasure to have welcomed Jeffrey D. Sachs as speaker of an IST Science and Society Lecture on campus. To me, Sachs is a voice of reason in a world where scientific facts are all too often ignored,” states Tom Henzinger, President of IST Austria.

In his lecture, the world-renowned economist talked about the global growth of both economy and population hitting the limits of the resources available on earth. But he also spoke about the dominance of the western economy coming to an end, about climate targets, potential conflicts, and possible solutions. His special focus was on the importance of education and the role that universities and research institutes can and will have to play in solving global problems.