Hector Pollitt
Senior Economist, World Bank
Join Zoom Live Stream View Live on YouTube
Bio:
Hector Pollitt is a Senior Economist at the World Bank. His work focuses on the interactions between climate change, climate change policy, and economic development in East and Southeast Asia. He contributes to the World Bank’s Country Climate and Development Reports (CCDRs) and climate inputs to other products in the same region, covering both adaptation and mitigation strategies.
Prior to joining the World Bank, he was Head of Modelling and Chief Economist at Cambridge Econometrics in the UK. He has extensive experience of macroeconomic modelling for climate and energy policy analysis and has contributed to several high-profile European policy assessments in the past decade. Hector holds a BSc in mathematics and economics from the University of Nottingham, UK. He is currently completing a PhD on integrating complexity to standard economics frameworks at the Department of Land Economy, University of Cambridge, UK.
Abstract:
The global energy transition is rapidly taking shape, driven by the declining costs of solar power, battery technologies, and the rise of electric vehicles. As the age of combustion comes to an end, two critical questions emerge: Will the transition occur swiftly enough to prevent dangerous climate change, and how will our economies and societies adapt to this new energy paradigm? These questions are crucial for economists to address, yet current mainstream economic models fall short.
Traditional economic assumptions of perfect knowledge and rational, price-driven behavior fail to explain why technologies become cheaper or why they are not immediately adopted when they surpass alternatives in cost-effectiveness. Additionally, a limited understanding of innovation within these models hinders our ability to predict societal evolution during the transition. Economic growth is often viewed as ‘more of the same’ rather than the emergence of new products and systems.
This seminar explores how alternative economic approaches, particularly those from evolutionary and complexity economics, can offer more valuable insights. By revisiting the contributions of Veblen, Keynes, and Schumpeter, we aim to identify policy needs and solutions both to accelerate the energy transition and manage the socio-economic challenges it will bring. Emphasizing interdisciplinary and pluralistic thinking, this seminar seeks to uncover the enormous potential benefits of a more nuanced economic perspective on the energy transition.