ECI History

 

The Global Development and Environment Institute (GDAE) was founded in 1993 to combine the research and curricular development activities of two Tufts programs: the Program for Sustainable Change and Development (directed by economist, Neva Goodwin), and the Center for Environmental and Resource Policy (directed by William Moomaw, a chemist and environmental policy specialist). The combination created a center of expertise in economics, policy, science, and technology. The institute has produced more than two dozen books and numerous articles, policy documents, and discussion papers. GDAE’s educational materials are being used in academic settings around the world to inspire students to address the economic, social, and environmental challenges of the 21st century.

Prior to 2000, GDAE’s largest project was the production of the six-volume series, Frontier Issues in Economic Thought, which offers a concise, accessible introduction to innovative work that is expanding the frontiers of economics. Each volume in this series includes summaries of over 70 key articles and book chapters along with longer review essays by editors that identify both the limitations of mainstream economics and a variety of creative efforts towards broadening our economic understanding.

GDAE researchers also created the Social Science Library (SSL), which is a major electronic collection of writings related to sustainable development and human well-being. The SSL contains over 3,400 full-text journal articles, books chapters, reports, and working papers in Anthropology, Economics, History, Philosophy, Social Psychology, Sociology, and Political Science. The SSL materials have been distributed to universities in 59 countries around the world.

In 2000, GDAE also established the Leontief Prize in memory of Nobel Prize-winning economist and GDAE Advisory Board Member Wassily Leontief. The prize was designed to recognize outstanding contributions to economic theory that address contemporary realities and support just and sustainable societies. The Leontief Prize has been awarded to numerous distinguished economists including Amartya Sen, John Kenneth Galbraith, Herman E. Daly, Daniel Kahneman, Paul P. Streeten, and Angus Deaton.

For more information on GDAE’s work visit: https://sites.tufts.edu/gdae/