Building a fairer world after COVID-19 - 2021 Charles Goode Oration

Industrialised nations were faced with severe economic and political crises long before COVID-19, including surging inequality, stagnant wages, dwindling trust in democratic institutions and the polarisation of politics. The pandemic just deepened the faultlines.

At the root of these problems are changes in the labour market and the rise of automation – including robots and AI – which have been damaging to shared prosperity and productivity growth alike.

In his Charles Goode Oration, Professor Daron Acemoglu will argue that we need to redirect the path of technological change after COVID-19 to make globalisation work for regular people as well as big companies. This will require new institutions, new and bolder social norms, and a complete overhaul of the way we do business today.

Daron Acemoglu is an Institute Professor in the Department of Economics at MIT and one of the world's most-cited economists, as well as the author of several books including Why Nations Fail and The Narrow Corridor (both with James A. Robinson), and Redesigning AI.

About our speaker

Professor Daron Acemoglu

Professor Acemoglu is an Institute Professor at MIT and an elected fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, American Philosophical Society, the British Academy of Sciences, the Turkish Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Econometric Society, the European Economic Association, and the Society of Labor Economists. He is also a member of the Group of Thirty.

He is the author of five books, including New York Times bestseller Why Nations Fail: Power, Prosperity, and Poverty (joint with James A. Robinson), Introduction to Modern Economic Growth, and The Narrow Corridor: States, Societies, and the Fate of Liberty (with James A. Robinson). His academic work covers a wide range of areas, including political economy, economic development, economic growth, technological change, inequality, labor economics and economics of networks.

Daron Acemoglu has received the inaugural T. W. Shultz Prize from the University of Chicago in 2004, and the inaugural Sherwin Rosen Award for outstanding contribution to labor economics in 2004, Distinguished Science Award from the Turkish Sciences Association in 2006, the John von Neumann Award, Rajk College, Budapest in 2007, the Carnegie Fellowship in 2017, the Jean-Jacques Laffont Prize in 2018, the Global Economy Prize in 2019, and the CME Mathematical and Statistical Research Institute prize in 2021.

He was awarded the John Bates Clark Medal in 2005, the Erwin Plein Nemmers Prize in 2012, and the 2016 BBVA Frontiers of Knowledge Award. He holds Honorary Doctorates from the University of Utrecht, the Bosporus University, University of Athens, Bilkent University, the University of Bath, Ecole Normale Superieure, Saclay Paris, and the London Business School.

About the Charles Goode Oration

Melbourne Business School established the Charles Goode Oration in 2010 to honour one of our founding donor members, Mr Charles Goode AC.

Mr Charles Goode [BCom(Hons) Melb MBA Columbia Hon LLD Melb Hon LLD Monash] is the Chairman of the The Ian Potter Foundation, the Australian United Investment Company Ltd, Diversified United Investment Ltd, and Flagstaff Partners. In February 2010 he retired as Chairman of Australia and New Zealand Banking Group; in July 2007 as Chairman of Woodside Petroleum Ltd after serving as a director for 19 years and as Chairman for 8 years.

Mr Goode was made a Companion of the Order of Australia in June 2001. In May 2003 he was a recipient of The Centenary Medal. He has been honoured as a Life Member of the National Gallery of Victoria, a Member of Foodbank Australia’s Hall of Fame, and a Life Member of Philanthropy Australia. He is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and received the A.I.C.D (Victorian Division) Distinguished Fellow Award for 2010 and in 2012 was Alumni of Distinction Lifetime Achievement Award by the Faculty of Business and Economics, University of Melbourne.

The Charles Goode Oration has become a major business and social event at Melbourne Business School, enabling us to attract distinguished leaders to speak at the School.

Previous Charles Goode Orators include:

2020 Mr Martin Wolf CBE, Financial Times, London

2019 Emeritus Professor Martin Daunton, University of Cambridge

2018 Professor Rajesh Chandy, London Business School

2017 Professor Mark Ritson, Melbourne Business School

2016 Ms Karen Stocks, Managing Director, Twitter Australia

2015 Mr Ahmed Fahour AO

2014 Professor Philip Kotler

2013 Mr John Borghetti, Chief Executive Officer, Virgin Australia

2012 Mr Ian Macfarlane AC

2011 Mr Simon McKeon AO

2010 Ms. Jillian Broadbent AC

Important Event Details

Please note that registration for this event is essential. Please ensure that each person wishing to attend the event has registered individually. This will help us to monitor the event attendance and questions during the event.

This event will be delivered via the Zoom online application and will require a password to access. The webinar link and password will be sent to registrants via email 48 hours prior to the event.

If you have not received an email with the link and password please email events@mbs.edu to have the details resent.

For any enquiries in the lead up to the event please email events@mbs.edu.