How can we tackle the main challenges of our time: the economy in the short-term, life satisfaction in the mid-term, and environment in the long-term? Matthieu Ricard is a Buddhist monk and

How can we tackle the main challenges of our time: the economy in the short-term, life satisfaction in the mid-term, and environment in the long-term? Matthieu Ricard is a Buddhist monk and public thinker whose powerful message has influenced major economists such as Dennis Snower, Amartya Sen, Joseph Stiglitz and George Soros. He has taken his simple, yet radical message to Davos and the United Nations, and now visits the RSA to make a robust case for cultivating altruistic love and compassion as the best means for benefitting society – and ourselves. It seems so simple, but why is it so hard to implement this ancient solution to both our personal and global 21st century predicaments?

Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel laureate in economics, discusses Occupy Wall Street.

Stiglitz graduated from Amherst College and earned his Ph.D. from MIT, becoming a full professor at Yale in

Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel laureate in economics, discusses Occupy Wall Street.

Stiglitz graduated from Amherst College and earned his Ph.D. from MIT, becoming a full professor at Yale in 1970. His extensive teaching career includes Princeton, Stanford, MIT, and Oxford, where he was Drummond Professor. He received the Nobel Prize for his analyses of markets with asymmetric information.

He is currently a University Professor at Columbia University and Co-Chair of its Committee on Global Thought.