Public Investment for Climate and Social Goals: An Agenda for Brazil and Latin America

Camila Gramkow

Please register to join us on April 23, 2024 at 12:00pm for an online lecture by Camila Gramkow, Director A.I. Of The Economic Commission For Latin America And The Caribbean (ECLAC), Brazil Office.

Register For Lunch, In-Person At Matrix

Register For Zoom

Abstract: Sustainable development implies reducing the gap in GDP per capita between center and periphery, increasing equality and protecting the environment. I present a simple model within the Structuralist tradition that combines these three dimensions of sustainable development. I define three rates of growth: the minimum required to reduce inequality and eradicate poverty; the maximum compatible with external equilibrium; and the maximum compatible with a global carbon budget. I argue that a combination of industrial and technological policies, along with a major effort at income redistribution, is necessary for a  sustainable development path. I link this perspective to broader efforts in Brazil and Latin America to pursue a “Big Push” for sustainability.

Core reading: Gabriel Porcile,* José Eduardo Alatorre, Martín Cherkasky and Camila Gramkow. 2023. “New directions in Latin American Structuralism: a three-gap model of sustainable development.” European Journal of Economics and Economic Policies: Intervention, Vol. 20 No. 2, pp. 266–281. DOI: 10.4337/ejeep.2023.0105

Recommended reading: Camila Gramkow. 2020. “The Big Push for Sustainability.” NACLA Report on the Americas. Vol 52, No. 2, pp. 186-91. DOI: 10.1080/10714839.2020.1768742.

About the Speaker

Camila Gramkow Director a.i. of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Brazil Office, where she leads debates on climate and economic development policy in Brazil and across Latin America. She has experience with project management; having designed, implemented and evaluated international cooperation projects mainly on climate change mitigation under the International Climate Fund and the Prosperity Fund. She has a doctorate in the economics of climate change from the University of East Anglia in the United Kingdom and has worked in the area of sustainable development for over a decade.

Location: This event will be presented online via Zoom. If you require an accommodation for effective communication (ASL interpreting/CART captioning, alternative media formats, etc.) or information about campus mobility access features in order to fully participate in this event, please contact Chuck Kapelke at ckapelke@berkeley.edu with as much advance notice as possible and at least 7-10 days in advance of the event.

About the BESI Climate Seminar

The Climate Seminar at the Berkeley Economy and Society Initiative (BESI) brings leading scholars of the political economy of climate change to UC Berkeley for hybrid talks and conversations. The Seminar is co-sponsored by the Socio-Spatial Climate Collaborative, or (SC)2, and organized by Daniel Aldana Cohen. In Spring 2024, we will have three events, all from 12:00-1:30pm PT. Each event will be moderated by Daniel Aldana Cohen, Assistant Professor of Sociology and the Director of (SC)2, UC Berkeley.

Learn more about the Seminar Series.