The Globe and Mail published a long piece about the dismal science, covering a lot of ground from moral philosophy to rational expectations, from Adam Smith to this year’s Nobel laureate Thomas Sargent, from the Post-Autistic Economics movement to the Institute for New Economic Thinking. Excerpts:

INET presents you a paper that deals with the relationship between economics and the world we live in. John Kay spells out methodological critiques of economic theory in general, and of DSGE models and rational expectations in particular. The paper builds on two articles that Kay, Fellow at St. John’s College of Oxford University and Visiting Professor at the London School of Economics, recently published in the Financial Times (scroll down to find the links). It is concerned with the relation of quantitative models to the world in which we live, and with evergreens such as the implications of unrealistic assumptions in economic theory. Highly recommended reading. INET forwarded Kay’s paper to a handful economists and invited them to respond. In the following days, we are going to publish direct responses to the paper by a handful of prominent economists. Follow the INET Blog and stay tuned to what is going to be a healthy discussion.

A story about the rise of the modern Think Tank and how in a very strange way they have made thinking impossible.

Reminder

The Institute for New Economic Thinking and The Centre for International Governance Innovation are calling for new research proposals in areas of vital importance to the field of economics for the Fall 2011 grants cycle.

INET and CIGI Award Spring 2011 Grants: The grants offer a diversity of approaches and global perspectives that target critical issues that have been neglected by conventional economic analysis.

Anatole Kaletsky explains the recent global crisis in sweeping historical context, and points out the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity now opening up to economists - particularly the younger generation.

Deficit Fantasies in the Great Recession

What is the right way to achieve change?

It’s day two of INET’s Conference in Bretton Woods and a new energy has filled the halls and sessions with the arrival of nearly thirty student attendees.

There’s a good column at voxeu.org by INET Advisory Board Member Barry Eichengreen, where he introduces his new book, titled Exorbitant Privilege: The Rise and Fall of the Dollar and the Future of the International Monetary System.

In a recent piece in the Financial Times, George Soros makes the case that, to avoid a bleak future for the euro and the European Union in general, Europe should take steps to recapitalize banks before bailing out member states. In the piece, Soros discusses issues that INET is very interested in exploring further, such as the idea that flaws in macroeconomic theory helped lead to the financial crisis of 2008.

Can the Economy be Saved? The Los Angeles Times recently asked a number of economic experts about whether they thought the post-financial crisis economy can be saved, and if so, how.

Barry Eichengreen, UC Berkeley professor of economics and recent recipient of an INET grant to launch an economic history laboratory at Berkeley, has recently published an article over at Project Syndicate about the similarities between post-WWII Britain and the present day United States.

Will public deficit reduction encourage private sector growth, or undermine a needed stimulus to recovery & lead to Japan-style stagnation?