Digitomics!

While Covid-19's impact on the tourism industry has been dramatic, digital technology's influence has been just as dramatic. Joining us to talk about both is Professor Christine Vogt.  

Professor Vogt is Director of the Center for Sustainable Tourism in the School of Community Resources and Development, Watts College of Public Service and Community Solutions, at Arizona State University. She currently holds the Professor's rank and began her career at ASU as an assistant professor from 1993 to 1998 and then moved to Michigan State University from 1999 to 2015. Vogt holds a BS in Accounting and a PhD in Leisure Studies from Indiana University. Her Masters's degree is from University of St. Thomas (St. Paul, MN) in Business Communications. She holds a CPA and CMA and has worked for many years in the industry as a financial analyst. She serves on two academic journal boards in tourism and leisure research.

Among many of the most at-risk nations due to coronavirus are "developing countries," with limited economic and medical capacity Nepal seems to exemplify that trend. However, in our recent Digitomics Podcast, Dipak Gyawali is confident that there is light at the end of the tunnel, mainly because of Nepal's robust civil society, which gives them a fighting chance. In this episode of Digitomics, we spoke to Gyawali about Nepal's COVID-19 experience, international development, and the opportunities presented from Nepal's digitization. 

Dipak Gyawali is currently Pragya (Academician) of the Nepal Academy of Science and Technology (NAST). He is initiating the Colloquium on the Philosophy of Science and the Sociology of Technology. Currently, he is on the technical advisory committee of UNESCO's World Water Assessment Program, the advisory board of IDS Sussex STEPs Center, the scientific program committee of Stockholm International Water Institute for its World Water Week, and a guest senior research scholar with the Risk and Resilience Program (RISK) at The International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis. He has written extensively on sustainability and international development. 

From 2002 to 2003, Gyawali was Nepal's Minister of Water Resources, where he chaired ex-officio, the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) governing board, and the Water and Energy Commission. As minister, he completed the privatization of Butwal Power Company, introduced community electricity in Nepal, giving control over local power distribution to the rural consumers.

Every country has encountered its obstacles in combating Coronavirus. One country that seems to have done a rather good job, at least until late, is Australia. Joining us today to talk about Australia's management of Coronavirus is professor John Handmer. He has held several prestigious positions in academia and was elected a fellow at the Australian Academy of social sciences. And in 2019, he was nominated as the country's top researcher in emergency management and social sciences by the Australian research magazine.

Learn how the Luohan Academy's Pandemic Economy Tracker (PET)

In this episode, we speak to Professor Chirantan Chatterjee, one of the foremost scholars in healthcare economics, about the coronavirus in India, its economic implications as well as the future distribution of possible vaccines. Professor Chatterjee walks us through the strategies India employed to combat the virus, where they are succeeding and where they need improvement. 

Coronavirus has caused threats to global supply chains and food safety. As trust in the system erodes, we speak to Rick Gilmore President and CEO of the GIC Group and founder of the Global Food Safety Forum in Beijing. He is also a strategic board member of the Investment Circle in Switzerland, specializing in agriculture technologies. Last week Rick talked to us about how we can use Coronavirus as a rallying call and find a silver lining: a more resilient, robust, and safer food supply chain. 

COVID-19 has given our global community a stark reminder of the fragility of life. Its first and second waves shocked even the wealthiest of nations. As Europe and the US are still in the process of beating back the virus and its economic impact, its third wave, directed towards Global South nations, might prove most deadly in terms of the number of deaths as well as the economic challenges and supply chain pitfalls. The COVID-19 solution is multi-pronged and will take a global effort. It requires unprecedented cooperation across countries and disciplines. It is for that reason why Luohan Academy, invited panelists from a diverse set of backgrounds aiming to discuss how wealthier countries and groups such as the G20, the IMF, and the World Bank can support the Global South amid COVID-19's third wave.

The panelists featured, senior policy researcher and Tang Chair in China Policy Studies at the RAND Corporation, Jennifer Huang Bouey. An epidemiologist by training, Bouey's research centers on global health strategies and social determinants of health. Joining Bouey from Rand was Rafiq Dossani is director of the RAND Center for Asia Pacific Policy, a senior economist at the RAND Corporation, and a professor at the Pardee RAND Graduate School.  Representing Luohan Academy, was Columbia University professor and former ADB economist, Shang-Jin Wei and Luohan Academy's Executive Director, as well as Hupan School of Entrepreneurship Executive Provost, Long Chen. Hosting the online panel was CGTN's business anchor Cheng Lei.

During the conversation, the panelist posed and answered questions that centered around mitigating the impact of the third wave.

Many have suggested that a global health crisis or pandemic might display, as Abraham Lincoln said, "our better angels." However, coronavirus, aka COVID-19, seems to have done the exact opposite. Globally there has been an uptick in nationalism and polarization, and global cohesion seems further and further away. It is under these circumstances that Luohan Academy invited Kurt Bayer, former Board Director at the World Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, to join the Academy's podcast.

In Europe, the period following the Black Death brought forth both the renaissance and enlightenment. Will the COVID-19 pandemic lead to similar far-reaching, historically significant global change or alter the trajectory of the world? In this week's show, we investigate COVID-19's long term implications on global governance, global cooperation, and the future of Europe & China's relationship.

About Luohan Academy

Luohan Academy was founded in Hangzhou on June 26th, 2018. It is an open research institute initiated by the Alibaba Group and launched by world-renowned social scientists, which consist of the academy’s academic committee, including six Nobel Prize laureates in economics. Luohan Academy will dedicate itself to collaborating with world-class social scientists and practitioners to collectively explore and shape the consensus regarding how to embrace the social and economic transformations brought by digital technology. The purpose of Luohan Academy is to serve the society at large, addressing the most important global challenges as well as having an eye for humanity’s long-term future.

British Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill is credited for having once said, "Never let a good crisis go to waste." While he wasn't talking about health pandemics, his expression is nonetheless just as apt today as it was when he said it. As the world battles coronavirus (COVID-19), hard lessons learned on how to combat the virus by China and Italy are being repeated. Yet the virus continues to grow stronger. Prompting the question, what can the rest of the world learn from China and Italy's combined experience to stop the spread COVID-19, which has already taken over 10, 000 lives?

The virus has caused a lack of credible information, uncertainty, panic selling in the stock exchange, and panic buying of masks and health equipment.  Join us as we bring Long Chen in China and Michael Spence, currently at ground zero in the fight against COVID-19 in Northern Italy together to discuss what's at stake for our global economy and shared global future.  

The discussion will center around underlining uncertainties as global leaders, corporations, and citizens around the world try to grapple with the trade-offs between economic losses and virus containment—the short-term and long-term impact of the virus and whether the pandemic will usher in a global recession. And digital technology's role in combating the virus.