Global Climate Change Policy after the Great Crash

Professor Ross Garnaut, University of Melbourne, delivered the seventh annual Whitman Lecture on the topic of "Global Climate Change Policy after the Great Crash" on December 1, 2009. A leading economic statesman in Australia in the postwar period, Garnaut recently published both a very influential report on Australian climate policy and a major book entitled The Great Crash of 2008.

Garnaut is Vice-Chancellor's Fellow and Professorial Fellow in Economics at the University of Melbourne; previously he was the head of the economics department at the Australian National University for over a decade. He was principal economic adviser to Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke, Australian Ambassador to China, and leader of many high-level governmental reviews and commissions, including The Garnaut Climate Change Review last year. He is the author or editor of numerous books and influential articles on international economics, public finance, and economic development. He is currently Chairman of the International Food Policy Research Institute in Washington, along with several other companies and NGOs.

The Whitman Lecture series was created in 2001 by Robert and Marina von Neumann Whitman. Dr. Marina Whitman is professor of business administration and public policy at the University of Michigan. She formerly served as vice president and group executive for public affairs at General Motors, as a member of the Council of Economic Advisers, and as distinguished public service professor of economics at the University of Pittsburgh. She has been a member of the Institute's board of directors for many years. Previous Whitman Lectures have been presented by Martin Wolf, Mario Monti, Noboru Hatakeyama, Assar Lindbeck, Joaquín Almunia, and Otmar Issing.