Global Development and Environment Institute
Encyclopedia
The Global Development And Environment Institute (GDAE, pronounced “gee-day”) is a research center at Tufts University
founded in 1993. GDAE works to promote a better understanding of how societies can pursue their economic and community goals in an environmentally and socially sustainable manner. GDAE pursues its mission through original research, policy work, publication projects, curriculum development, conferences and other activities
Dr. Neva Goodwin and Dr. William Moomaw are co-directors of GDAE. The Theory and Education program area, headed by Dr. Jonathan Harris is developing a comprehensive, teachable system of economic theory that will better serve human needs and respond to ecological realities. The program explores and develops alternatives to the standard economic paradigm, both in the form of new economic theories and as teachable curriculum materials. The Research and Policy program area, led by Dr. Frank Ackerman, carries out applied research on the effects of economic policies using an analytical framework that assesses the limitations of market-mechanisms for addressing social and environmental issues. Research priorities include energy and climate change
, recycling
and materials use, and globalization
and sustainable economic integration.
GDAE researchers emphasize ecological health and the correlation between social and economic well-being. They work with an expansive understanding of economic systems that recognizes that an economic system
is embedded in the physical contexts of technology and the natural world, as well as in the social/psychological contexts of history, politics, ethics, culture, institutions, and human motivations.
Between 1995 and 2001 GDAE produced the six-volume series, Frontier Issues in Economic Thought, which was published by Island Press
. The articles that GDAE researchers selected and summarized for this project focus on the limitations of the mainstream economic paradigm and a wide range of creative efforts that have been and are being made to extend economic understanding.
, Nobel laureate and member of the GDAE advisory board, the annual award recognizes outstanding contributions to economic theory that address contemporary realities and support just and sustainable societies.
Tufts University
Tufts University is a private research university located in Medford/Somerville, near Boston, Massachusetts. It is organized into ten schools, including two undergraduate programs and eight graduate divisions, on four campuses in Massachusetts and on the eastern border of France...
founded in 1993. GDAE works to promote a better understanding of how societies can pursue their economic and community goals in an environmentally and socially sustainable manner. GDAE pursues its mission through original research, policy work, publication projects, curriculum development, conferences and other activities
Dr. Neva Goodwin and Dr. William Moomaw are co-directors of GDAE. The Theory and Education program area, headed by Dr. Jonathan Harris is developing a comprehensive, teachable system of economic theory that will better serve human needs and respond to ecological realities. The program explores and develops alternatives to the standard economic paradigm, both in the form of new economic theories and as teachable curriculum materials. The Research and Policy program area, led by Dr. Frank Ackerman, carries out applied research on the effects of economic policies using an analytical framework that assesses the limitations of market-mechanisms for addressing social and environmental issues. Research priorities include energy and climate change
Climate change
Climate change is a significant and lasting change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over periods ranging from decades to millions of years. It may be a change in average weather conditions or the distribution of events around that average...
, recycling
Recycling
Recycling is processing used materials into new products to prevent waste of potentially useful materials, reduce the consumption of fresh raw materials, reduce energy usage, reduce air pollution and water pollution by reducing the need for "conventional" waste disposal, and lower greenhouse...
and materials use, and globalization
Globalization
Globalization refers to the increasingly global relationships of culture, people and economic activity. Most often, it refers to economics: the global distribution of the production of goods and services, through reduction of barriers to international trade such as tariffs, export fees, and import...
and sustainable economic integration.
GDAE researchers emphasize ecological health and the correlation between social and economic well-being. They work with an expansive understanding of economic systems that recognizes that an economic system
Economic system
An economic system is the combination of the various agencies, entities that provide the economic structure that defines the social community. These agencies are joined by lines of trade and exchange along which goods, money etc. are continuously flowing. An example of such a system for a closed...
is embedded in the physical contexts of technology and the natural world, as well as in the social/psychological contexts of history, politics, ethics, culture, institutions, and human motivations.
Between 1995 and 2001 GDAE produced the six-volume series, Frontier Issues in Economic Thought, which was published by Island Press
Island press
Island Press is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, environmental publisher based in Washington, D.C., that specializes in natural history, ecology, conservation, and the built environment...
. The articles that GDAE researchers selected and summarized for this project focus on the limitations of the mainstream economic paradigm and a wide range of creative efforts that have been and are being made to extend economic understanding.
Leontief Prize
In 2000, GDAE established the Leontief Prize. Named in honor Wassily LeontiefWassily Leontief
Wassily Wassilyovich Leontief , was a Russian-American economist notable for his research on how changes in one economic sector may have an effect on other sectors. Leontief won the Nobel Committee's Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 1973, and three of his doctoral students have also...
, Nobel laureate and member of the GDAE advisory board, the annual award recognizes outstanding contributions to economic theory that address contemporary realities and support just and sustainable societies.
- 2000 – Amartya SenAmartya SenAmartya Sen, CH is an Indian economist who was awarded the 1998 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences for his contributions to welfare economics and social choice theory, and for his interest in the problems of society's poorest members...
and John Kenneth GalbraithJohn Kenneth GalbraithJohn Kenneth "Ken" Galbraith , OC was a Canadian-American economist. He was a Keynesian and an institutionalist, a leading proponent of 20th-century American liberalism... - 2001 – Herman E. Daly and Paul P. StreetenPaul StreetenPaul Streeten is an economics professor. He was a professor at Boston University, USA until his retirement. He has been a distinguished academic working on development economics since the 1950s.-Biography:...
- 2002 – Alice AmsdenAlice AmsdenAlice Amsden is researcher in the field of heterodox political economy. She is currently the Barton L. Weller Professor of Political Economics at MIT, in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning and Researcher at MIT Center for International Studies...
and Dani RodrikDani RodrikDani Rodrik is a Turkish economist and Rafiq Hariri Professor of International Political Economy at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, teaching in the School's MPA/ID Program. He has published widely in the areas of international economics, economic development, and... - 2003 - No Award Given
- 2004 – Robert H. FrankRobert H. FrankRobert H. Frank is the Henrietta Johnson Louis Professor of Management and a Professor of Economics at the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University. He contributes to the "Economic View" column, which appears every fifth Sunday in The New York Times.-Career:Frank...
and Nancy FolbreNancy FolbreNancy Folbre is a feminist economist who focuses on economics and the family, non-market work and the economics of care.She is currently an economics professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.... - 2005 – Ha-Joon ChangHa-Joon ChangHa-Joon Chang is one of the leading heterodox economists and institutional economists specialising in development economics...
and Richard R. NelsonRichard R. Nelson (economist)Richard R. Nelson is an American professor of economics at Columbia University. He is one of the leading figures in the revival of evolutionary economics thanks to his seminal book An Evolutionary Theory of Economic Change written jointly with Sidney G. Winter... - 2006 – Juliet SchorJuliet SchorJuliet Schor is a Professor of sociology at Boston College. She studies trends in working time and leisure, consumerism, the relationship between work and family, women's issues and economic justice. She received her undergraduate degree from Wesleyan University and her Ph.D in economics from the...
and Samuel BowlesSamuel BowlesSamuel Bowles may refer to:*Samuel Bowles *Samuel Bowles... - 2007 - Jomo Kwame SundaramJomo Kwame SundaramJomo Kwame Sundaram , known as Jomo, is a prominent Malaysian economist, who has served as the United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for Economic Development in the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs since 2005...
and Stephen DeCanioStephen DeCanioStephen DeCanio is a Professor of economics at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He studies the economics of global environmental protection and energy economics and has written extensively on corporate organization and behavior as it pertains to the use of energy-efficient technologies... - 2008 - José Antonio OcampoJosé Antonio OcampoJosé Antonio Ocampo Gaviria is Professor of Professional Practice in International and Public Affairs and director, Economic and Political Development Concentration at the School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University...
and Robert WadeRobert Wade (development scholar)Robert Hunter Wade is a New Zealand born Professor of Political Economy and Development at the Development Studies Institute , London School of Economics. He was educated in Washington, New Zealand, and Sussex University and worked at the IDS, Sussex from 1972-95. He has also worked at the World... - 2009 - Bina AgarwalBina AgarwalBina Agarwal is a prize-winning development economist and Director and Professor of Economics at the Institute of Economic Growth in Delhi. She has written extensively on land, livelihoods and property rights; environment and development; the political economy of gender; poverty and inequality;...
and Daniel KahnemanDaniel KahnemanDaniel Kahneman is an Israeli-American psychologist and Nobel laureate. He is notable for his work on the psychology of judgment and decision-making, behavioral economics and hedonic psychology....