Peter Kriesler has “Ideas Worth Teaching”

​Aspen Institute has named a UNSW Business School course as one of its top 20 in a prestigious worldwide list.

The Washington-based institution, which selects 'exceptional courses that inspire and equip future business leaders to tackle the issues of our time', highlighted the Economic Growth, Technology and Structural Change course by School of Economics Associate Professor Peter Kriesler.

Professor Kriesler's course was named alongside courses run by world-leading business schools such as Harvard, Cornell and Yale. It was one of only a few from schools outside of USA.

The Economic Growth, Technology and Structural Change course seeks to explain the factors that determine how societies grow and develop, with special emphasis on the role of technology and finance.

Various approaches, including those that consider capabilities, cumulative causation, the role of the state and institutions as well as traditional and structuralist approaches are examined. Special attention is paid to problems associated with growth, including those relating to equity, human rights issues and environmental impact.

Professor Mark Uncles, Deputy Dean of Education at UNSW Business School, said: "At UNSW Business School we believe critical thinking is a skill worth teaching. An effective way to do this is through debate, where students can actively engage with opposing sides of an argument. This is the basis of economic growth, technology and structural change.

"The course examines economic growth from a variety of perspectives. Students are provided with instruction, practise and feedback on thinking critically about the causes and constraints affecting growth and development."

This year's winning courses, judged as part of the Aspen Institute Business and Society Program, focus on critical social issues, such as populism, water scarcity and artificial intelligence, and illuminate how and why these issues are business issues. 

The Aspen Institute is an educational and policy studies organization based in Washington, DC. Its mission is to foster leadership based on enduring values and to provide a nonpartisan venue for dealing with critical issues.