The conference will explore further the contributions to new thinking in economics (‘New Economics’) as the new mainstream. There will be a focus on the international aspects. The New Economics is concerned with institutional behaviour, expectations and uncertainty, as opposed to traditional economics with its emphasis on equilibrium, mathematical formalism and deterministic solutions. Given the financial crisis brought on by the unrestrained pursuit of personal and corporate profit, sanctioned by traditional economics, this is an opportune time to establish a new way of approaching economic understanding, based on new economic theory. It is also a good time to bring forward new ideas on the approach to economic policy across a wide range of areas (for example, macroeconomic and global governance, employment and unemployment, social security and pensions).
New thinking in economics is an interdisciplinary approach to economic problems that acknowledges and respects the insights and analysis from other disciplines, e.g. those from ethics, history and engineering. It also recognises complexity and evolutionary theory as relevant to understanding economic systems and economic behaviour. We want to emphasise the thinking in economics that goes beyond the traditional approach, which is arguably no longer mainstream economics.
The conference will concentrate on the international financial aspects of this approach. It will be held under the aegis of the Cambridge Trust for New Thinking in Economics, a charitable body.
Event date
12 April 2012
Venue
St Catharine's College, Cambridge, UK (all sessions in the Ramsden Room)
