TUEC participation in talk on ethics and sustainable development in economic

On September 18, TUEC Executive Director and Vice Chancellor of Tokai University, Prof. Naoto Yoshikawa, participated in an online talk on ethics and sustainable development in economics. The talk was hosted by Dr. Peter Petkoff, Senior Law Lecturer at the Brunel Law School, and Prof. Yoshikawa was joined by Dr. Kenneth J. Barnes, Professor of Workplace Theology and Business Ethics at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, and Canon Edmund Newell, Principal and Chief Executive of Cumberland Lodge.

The theme of the seminar was the relationships between religion, ethics, economics, and sustainable developments, also tying it in with the current COVID-19 pandemic.

 The participants spoke on:

• Inequality and how pandemics and times of crisis tend to favor the wealthy at the cost of the less resourceful
• How the global economy is an irreversible development and that isolationist policy is destined to fail
• The need for a global agreement on ethics and sustainable thought in economic policymaking
  
  

There was an agreement among the speakers that the current situation in the world necessitates a common ethical ground, and learning how to cooperate, especially in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

There was also agreement about how the COVID-19 pandemic serves as an opportunity to rethink how to best help people with new equitable solutions, as the number of people in relative poverty is increasing. The countries of the world are trying to mitigate the damage caused by the pandemic, and now is therefor a good time to consider the role of ethics in policies and economics. Furthermore, everyone has a responsibility to input something to society during these times.

The speakers unanimously agreed that religious voices and organizations should continue to play a role in shaping and forming the grammar of future economics and that virtue should be a key ingredient in the economic system.