Background Content:
Over the last twelve years, we have had at least three major economic crises: the global financial crisis; the rise of nationalism / protectionism; and the economic impact of COVID. Each one cascades from a small corner of the world with huge social consequences. Each one caught us unprepared.
Is it reasonable to expect to do any better in future? A popular refrain in economics is that crises are by definition unexpected and therefore cannot be avoided. This is reminiscent of Voltaire’s solace after the devastation of the Lisbon Earthquake in 1755. He was challenged by his protégé Jean Jacques Rousseau who gave us the first ‘social science’ response to a disaster arguing that most of the loss was in fact the consequence of our own design. Today, the spread of COVID is arguably more due to our living conditions than the pathogen itself.
Crises are unexpected if they fall outside of our modes of thinking. Anyone who watches Bill Gates’s Ted Talk in 2015 about a coming pandemic will agree that it looks extraordinarily prescient. But a call to action cannot be heard, no matter how powerful the voice, if the reasoning lies beyond our collective imagination.
Aim of conference
The aim of this conference is to challenge conventional modes of thinking in macroeconomics in the spirit of Rousseau. We start with social reality. Human beings are profoundly social animals engaging in almost non-stop interactions with those nearest to them to create shared customs and culture. Interaction between the social groups leads to adaptation, and the accumulation of knowledge and technology over generations. This takes us from a world of equilibrium, to a world of invention and intrinsic fundamental uncertainty: where the system is self-organising, but not necessarily self-stabilizing.
Confirmed Participants:
Carolina Alves, Angus Armstrong, Sam Beckett, Carola Binder, Jean-Philippe Bouchaud, Jagjit Chadha, Nick Chater, Beatrice Cherrier, Paul Collier, Diane Coyle, Carlo D'Ippoloti, Gary Dymski, J. Doyne Farmer, Roger Farmer, Arthur Grimes, Danielle Guizzo, Andy Haldane, Joe Henrich, William Hynes, Robert MacKay, Ben Moll, Henrietta Moore, Cahal Moran, Mary Morgan, Abdoulaye Ndiaye, Rt Hon Jesse Noman MP, Daniel Obst, Felicia Odamtten, Chi Onwurah MP, Jason Potts, Kate Raworth, Nils Rochowics, Dennis Snower, Ekaterina Svetlova, Leigh Tesfatsion, Benjamin Toll, David Tucektt, David Sloan Wilson
The full programme is here and if you would like to register please email r.arnold@niesr.ac.uk for login credentials.