Richer Lives, Not Just Richer Economies | Speaker Series @ Tūranga

In 1800, worldwide life expectancy was around 30 years of age — where it had remained since time began. By 1900, it had nudged up to 32 globally and risen to 47 in the wealthier parts of the world. By 2023, it is almost 80 worldwide. If you’re not impressed by this modern miracle, then you’re hard to impress.

What role does economic growth play in this? After all, economic growth — as measured by Gross Domestic Product — is only a measure of the goods and services an economy produces. It’s not a measure of health, literacy, happiness, or many other things we care about. Some argue that we shouldn’t care about growth at all. In this talk, Stephen will argue that economic growth is vital to human flourishing and to living better lives – and not just in poorer countries. As prominent macroeconomist Robert Barro said, “Economic growth is the part of macroeconomics that really matters.”

Speaker Series @ Tūranga

Join us at Tūranga to hear experts deliver thought provoking presentations on the latest in people, places, and culture. Lend us your ears and bring your questions on the second Thursday of each month.

Free to attend

Bookings recommended: Book here

Stephen Hickson

Stephen is a lecturer at the University of Canterbury and teaches economics to undergraduate, postgraduate and MBA students. He has taught first year macroeconomics for longer than he cares to remember but a look at his podcast feed will tell you he has clearly not tired of it. Stephen is the recipient of an Ako Aotearoa Tertiary Teaching Excellence award. He is also a Proctor at UC (which means he gets to deal with misbehaving students). Prior to joining the university full-time in 2002 he was at Statistics NZ where he had a variety of roles including the Census Field Manager. For Stephen, economics provides the tools to think about and address the world’s big challenges.

Stephen has 3 adult children and a 3 year old granddaughter (who he thinks might just be more expensive than the original children…). In his spare time Stephen enjoys swimming, biking, reading and playing far too much online chess.

Economics is not just a job for Stephen. When he is out riding his bike or doing other things you will find him listening to podcasts about economics, history or theology. His long-suffering wife and 3 adult children all feel this is rather weird. They are probably right.