Professor Stuart GIETEL-BASTEN
Associate Professor of Social Science and Public Policy
Associate Director of the Leadership and Public Policy Executive Education
The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
| Date: | 2017 Dec 4 |
| Time: | 15:00 - 17:30 |
| Venue: | 15/F, The Hong Kong Club Building, 3A Chater Road, Hong Kong |
A public lecture and book launch titled "Why Demography Matters for Hong Kong and Beyond" took place at HKUST Business Central on 4 December 2017, presented by Professor Stuart GIETEL-BASTEN, Associate Professor of Social Science and Public Policy of LAPP in HKUST, attracted nearly 80 participants from other university institutions as well as various private and public sectors. The audience responded with a heated discussion during the presentation. After the lecture, Professor GIETEL-BASTEN launched his new book Why Demography Matters (co-authored with Professor Danny DORLING of the University of Oxford). The book Demographic change is often presented as an endless series of challenges and problems. In Hong Kong, the birth rates are usually described as too low; the population is ageing too quickly; even though there are chronic labour shortages in certain industries, migration remains a very sensitive subject. In this lecture, however, Professor Stuart GIETEL-BASTEN argued that this negative, reactive view of demographic change is not only unhelpful, but it can paralyse our thinking about the future. Rather seeing these as ‘problems to be fixed’, seeing these demographic concerns as reflections of bigger social, economic and cultural issues allows us to take a more rational view of the present and the future.
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HKUST Institute for Public Policy
Enquires: ipp@ust.hk
