Complex new world: Translating new economic thinking into public policy

Article

We live in uncertain economic times. The financial crash and subsequent downturn have shaken the global economic system to its core. If one thing is certain, it is that the events of recent years have thrown mainstream economic thinking into disrepute.

In the aftermath of the crash, scholars and commentators are turning to new, heterodox economic theories as a way of better understanding how the economy really works and how the economic system might be managed more effectively. Yet although new economic thinking offers a far better account of how the economic system functions, we don't yet have a clear idea of its implications for policymaking. In economic policymaking, orthodox economics remains the only game in town.

This book starts from the premise that insights from new economic thinking need to be taken seriously. It seeks to bring new economic thinking to the attention of policymakers and to reappraise the ways in which policy is designed and implemented when real-world economics is taken into account.

  • Foreword - John Kay
  • Introduction - David Nash

Part 1: An overview of new economic thinking

  • Amna Silim - What is new economic thinking?
  • Paul Ormerod - Networks and the need for a new approach to policymaking
  • Michael Hallsworth - How complexity economics can improve government: rethinking policy actors, institutions and structures

Part 2: Policy

  • Greg Fisher - Managing complexity in financial markets
  • Geoffrey M Hodgson - Business reform: towards an evolutionary policy framework
  • Tony Dolphin - Macroeconomic policy in a complex world
  • Stian Westlake - Innovation and the new economics: some lessons for policy
  • Jim Watson - Climate change policy and the transition to a low-carbon economy
  • Pauline Anderson and Chris Warhurst - Lost in translation? Skills policy and the shift to skill ecosystems
  • Sue Richards - Regional policy and complexity: towards effective decentralisation

Part 3: Politics

  • Eric Beinhocker - New economics, policy and politics
  • Orit Gal - Understanding global ruptures: a complexity perspective on the emerging 'middle crisis'
  • Adam Lent and Greg Fisher - A complex approach to economic policy

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