History of Economics Playground

On my way back home from the Brandenburger Tor, I recalled that I already have been there, it must have been in 1988. Like many other Western German school kids we visited Berlin for a week. We climbed up a little elevated visitors’ platform on the West front of the gate to peer over the wall and watch Eastern German soldiers walking up and down. No way to pass.

Today, right there where the soldiers once walked up and down is the venue of the INET conference – a place fancier as in your wildest dreams. For our interviews we were generously given the sky lounge elevated on the 6^th floor from where we could peer over to the Parliament and the Chancellors building in the Western part. The scenery could not fit better to New Economic Thinking – open, credible, and relevant, it is said. And so we talked to our volunteering New Economic Thinkers about what that means to them, to be open, credible, and relevant. You will see in our upcoming video feature.

But the reason why I recalled my schooldays was this: As the playground kids, we were passing the border between the Commons and the official event. In the Commons, mostly students yearning for New Economic Thinking, were peering over to the main event via video screens. They were not allowed to pass, of course, though a few from the main event, made it over to the kids. Thus, in solidarity with our fellow kids from the YSI and the Commons, I very much agree with the definition of relevant economic thinking that John Davis gave us today: that which interests the younger generation.

For the rest of the day, I somewhat found myself in sympathy with Doyne Farmer from the Santa Fe Institute, who after our conversation confessed that embracing the New Paradigm – that the world is complex, etc. – for him means to find his way around economists. I think that would be also my personal definition of openness.