Girol will present the main arguments in his new book: Love you – public policy for intergenerational wellbeing.
How would we design, implement and evaluate public policy if it were based on our love for future generations?
For the philosopher Walter Kaufman, ‘I love you’ means: ‘I want you to live the life that you want to live. I will be as happy as you if you do; and as unhappy as you if you don’t.’
We have no idea what future generations will value and how they will want to live. Nor do we wish to prescribe how they choose to live, so long as they do not prevent others from living the lives they value.
We want to prepare and look after the ‘wellbeing garden’ – the broader ecosystems – that will provide them with the opportunities and capabilities to survive and thrive, to flourish in safety. As another philosopher, Walter Benjamin, put it, ‘We want to liberate the future from its deformation in the present.’
This book examines the processes by which wellbeing-focused public policy objectives are established, prioritised, funded, implemented, managed, and evaluated, while ensuring that they remain relevant as social preferences change over time.
Copies of the book can be obtained from the Tuwhiri online store: https://www.tuwhiri.nz/store-all/love-you
About the presenter
Girol Karacaoglu
Professor Girol Karacaoglu is the Head of the School of Government. He came to Victoria University of Wellington from the New Zealand Treasury, where he was Chief Economist. Before then, he was the Chief Executive of the Co-operative Bank of New Zealand for nine years. His previous roles included General Manager at Westpac NZ, Chief Economist at the National Bank of NZ, and lecturer in Economics at Victoria University of Wellington. His academic fields of specialisation were in Monetary and Financial Economics, International Finance, Econometrics, Corporate Accounting and Finance.