Public lecture: "The ecological efficiency of human development in 20th century socialist and capitalist economies", by Dylan Sullivan and Lea Tamberg

The REAL-Postgrowth project (Post-growth – REAL – A Post-Growth Deal) is excited to announce that our colleagues Dylan Sullivan and Lea Tamberg, both post-doctoral researchers present a talk as part of our monthly public seminar series. 

Talk: "The ecological efficiency of human development in 20th century socialist and capitalist economies" 

Speakers: Dylan Sullivan and Lea Tamberg.

• Date: Tuesday, 29th April 2025
• Time: 15.00-16.00 (CET)
• Venue. Online  - Join: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86290631896?pwd=asziByRvPebZaw53x5olgpcRHCbzaj.1

A key challenge for the 21st century is to achieve good social outcomes for all with ecologically sustainable levels of production and resource use. Existing research indicates this can be achieved by organizing production more specifically around human wellbeing, including through socialist policies such as public finance, public services, and job guarantees. We investigate this question empirically by comparing the performance of socialist and capitalist economies in the late 20th century, using the United Nations’ classification framework, across 19 human development indicators as a function of aggregate production and resource use. We find that socialist economies performed better than capitalist economies at any given level of GDP, material footprint and, less significantly, CO2 emissions per capita, for 18 of the 19 indicators covering poverty, life expectancy, child mortality, healthcare, education, essential services, income equality and gender equality, except for physical integrity rights. In other words, socialist economies were generally more efficient at converting production and resources into human development. We argue that these results indicate socialist policy may help countries to achieve good lives for all within ecological limits. However, we also point to ways that the weaknesses of 20th century socialist policy should be improved, including through stronger democratic participation and human rights protections.

Dylan Sullivan is a doctoral researcher under a cotutelle agreement between ICTA-UAB, Barcelona, and Macquarie University, Sydney. At Macquarie University, he also teaches in political science, sociology, and anthropology. Dylan has published in top journals, including World Development, New Political Economy, and World Development Perspectives. His research focuses on political economy, global inequality, poverty measurement, and the economics of socialist planning.

Lea Tamberg is a doctoral researcher at the University of Lausanne. She researches, both conceptually and empirically, the socio-economic and biophysical prerequisites of human wellbeing. Lea holds a Bachelor's degree in Applied Systems Science from the University of Osnabrück and a Master's degree in Data Science from ETH Zurich.