2013 Lamberson Ecology Lecture

Wednesday, February 27, 2013
7:00 p.m. Behavioral and Social Science Building (BSS) Room 162 (Native American Forum)

"Short-term profits versus long-term sustainability"

Dr. Colin W. Clark, Professor Emeritus
University of British Columbia

This talk is about the implications of short-term planning in resource, environmental, and financial decisions. All these areas face major uncertainties about the long-term effects of present-day actions. Overfishing, global warming, and hedge-fund investing provide well-known examples. Regarding hedge funds, Nobel prize-winning economist Joseph E. Stiglitz puts this way: “The innovativeness that Wall Street was ultimately so proud of was dreaming up new products that would generate more income over the short term for its firms. The problems that would be posed by high default rates from some of these innovations seemed matters for the distant future."
Switching from today’s emphasis on short-term profits to considering long-term implications may prove difficult indeed. The necessary behavioral changes may not be “in our genes.”

Follow this link for a copy of the Lamberson Lecture poster:

http://www.humboldt.edu/math/lamberson/PosterS2013.pdf