Covid-19 and structural crises: Rethinking and reshaping a new order

REGIONAL ECONOMIC STUDIES PROGRAMME WEBINAR

About the Webinar

The Covid-19 pandemic is not simply a health crisis. It is related to the environmental, financial, economic and political crises the world faces, with underlying structural roots. It has laid bare the many fractures and flaws in a global market-driven economy ranging from the inability of the health systems to cope with calamities; to huge socio-economic disparities that worsened as the pandemic hits the poor harder than the rich; the increasing fragility of an unstable financial system; and the increasing political polarisation between those who are economically left behind and the privileged minority who continue to benefit disproportionately from growth. Karl Polanyi, an economic historian, presciently warned us that market forces when unchecked and driven by their own logic will lead to the destruction of human life, society, economy and environment.

Will these crises serve as a wake-up call to rethink and reshape the way we order our economy, society and environment? Or do we return to business as usual, globally and in Southeast Asia, once the embers of the pandemic burn out? At this webinar, two public intellectuals – Lim Mah Hui and Andrew Sheng – to reflect on and discuss these structural crises of our time.

About the Speaker

Dr Lim Mah Hui combines professional experience in three areas – teaching and research, banking and finance, and the public sector. Dr Lim has a PhD in economics and sociology. He held academic positions at Duke University, University of Malaya, and Temple University. He then worked in major commercial, investment and development banks in New York City, Singapore, Hong Kong, Jakarta and Manila. He then returned to Malaysia and has been active in research, public speaking and civil society work. Dr Lim has published widely on issues of international finance and public policy. He is lead author of Nowhere to Hide: The Great Financial Crisis and Challenges for Asia (ISEAS, 2010) and Covid-19 and the Structural Crises of Our Time (ISEAS, 2021).

About the Discussant

Tan Sri Andrew Sheng is Pro-Chancellor of Bristol University and Distinguished Fellow, Asia Global Institute, University of Hong Kong, as well as Chairman, George Town Institute of Open and Advanced Studies, Wawasan Open University, Malaysia. He has a First Class Honours in Economics from Bristol University, and Honorary Doctorates from University of Bristol and University of Malaya. He is also Adjunct Professor at the Tsinghua University and University of Malaya. A former central banker and financial regulator, he currently writes on financial and economic issues for AsiaNewsNet and Project Syndicate, as well as Caijing and Caixin magazines in China.

Registration

This webinar will be delivered online entirely. You can join the webinar at the specified date and time using devices (computer, phone, or tablet) with internet connection.

Please register here to receive your unique link for joining the webinar.

Limited spaces only, register early to avoid disappointment.

To join the webinar,

1. Install the Zoom client onto your computer or download the app on your mobile device.
2. Click on the unique link in your email.

If you have questions for the speakers, please key in your questions via the Q&A, stating your name and affiliation. The moderator will field them to the speakers during the Q&A session.

Date

Jan 11 2022
Expired!

Time

GMT+8
10:00 am - 11:30 am

Location

Webinar