Articles

Articles and analyses from the INET community on the key economic questions of our time.

Article

Behind Europe's Populist Backlash: The Hunger Games of Mainstream Economics

Jan 6, 2015

The turmoil of Brexit and the populist challenge across Europe are consequences of austerity policies that have brought misery to millions of ordinary voters. In this interview first published last January, Servaas Storm warned of the dangers of economic decision making divorced from democracy and from the social consequences of its prescriptions

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Nobel Win Doesn’t Equate To Policy Prescriptions

Oct 21, 2014

The “keys under the streetlight story” is well known among economists, but in case you haven’t heard it, it goes like this.

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The Flummery of Capital-Requirement Repairs Since The Crisis

Sep 15, 2014

Government safety nets give protected institutions an implicit subsidy and intensify incentives for value-maximizing boards and managers to risk the ruin of their firms. Standard accounting statements do not record the value of this subsidy and forcing subsidized institutions to show more accounting capital will do little to curb their enhanced appetite for tail risk.

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HES 2014: It made a happy man very old!

Jul 1, 2014

This year, the History of Economics Society (HES) meeting was organized at the University of Quebec at Montreal. The meeting was, on the whole, a nice affair, there were plenty of interesting sessions, I reconvened with old friends and was able to present there my latest work and receive constructive comments.

Article

The Nature of Invention

Jun 26, 2014

The Institute for New Economic Thinking at Oxford researchers and collaborators data mine 200 years of US Patent Office records to uncover the true nature of innovation.

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Charles Babbage and the History of Innovative Thinking

Apr 7, 2014

The forthcoming Institute for New Economic Thinking conference will focus on innovation and its impact on economics and society. When we think about innovation we tend to imagine the future. But as with so many subjects in economics, it’s also useful to examine the past.