MEDIA RELEASE PR36779
Innovative Thinkers Join Forces to Meet Challenges of Global Economic Crisis
NEW YORK and BUDAPEST, Oct. 28 /PRNewswire-AsiaNet/ --
Leading Economists and Policymakers Including Nobel Laureates George Akerlof, Sir James Mirrlees, A.
Michael Spence and Joseph Stiglitz Join to Foster New Thinking.
George Soros Backs New Institute With $50 million Pledge
In response to the policy challenges presented by the economic crisis and the need to develop fresh approaches
to economic theory, a group of top academics, policy makers, and private sector leaders today announced the
INET's founding Advisory Board members include Nobel laureates George Akerlof, Sir James Mirrlees, A.
Michael Spence and Joseph E. Stiglitz, Willem Buiter, Markus K. Brunnermeier, Robert Dugger, Duncan Foley,
Thomas Ferguson, Roman Frydman, Ian Goldin, Charles Goodhart, Anatole Kaletsky, John Kay, Axel
Leijonhufvud, Perry Mehrling, Y.V. Reddy, Ken Rogoff, Jeffrey Sachs, John Shattuck, William R. White, and Yu
Yongding.
The Institute was established with a pledge of $5 million per year for 10 years from Open Society Institute
Chairman George Soros, a long-time critic of classical economic theory, who will fund the effort through the Central
European University (CEU).
The Institute will make research grants, convene symposia, and establish a journal. A first conference will be at
King's College, Cambridge on April 9-11. Scholars will explore the implications of the financial crisis for regulatory
policy. The first round of research grants will be made before the end of the year to cutting-edge scholars working
with leading universities around the world. INET's executive director will be Robert Johnson, an economist with
long experience in government, academia, and the private sector.
Writing in an essay on the creation of INET Professor Stiglitz noted: "The financial crisis has caused a moment
of deep reflection in the economics profession, for it has put many long-standing ideas to the test. If science is
defined by its ability to forecast the future, the failure of much of the economics profession to see the crisis coming
should be a cause of great concern."
Speaking in Budapest at the CEU, through which INET will be funded and which will be a hub of the INET
network Soros said: "The entire edifice of global financial markets has been erected on the false premise that
markets can be left to their own devices, we must find a new paradigm and rebuild from the ground up. I decided to
sponsor INET to facilitate the process. I hope others will join me." Because he is both an INET benefactor and the
proponent of a particular theory, Reflexivity, Soros said he will recuse himself from the grant making process:
"While I hope reflexivity will be one of the concepts examined, there are numerous alternatives to the prevailing
dogma that must be explored," Soros added.
Contact: Robert Johnson: 212-444-9137; RAJ@ineteconomics.org
SOURCE: Institute for New Economic Thinking (INET)
CONTACT: Robert Johnson of Institute for New Economic Thinking (INET),
+1-212-444-9137,
RAJ@ineteconomics.org
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