Institute Events

What is the relationship between pluralist economics and interdisciplinary socio-economics? How does pluralist academic teaching need to be structured in economics or business administration in order to be successful? What should interdisciplinary socio-economic study programs look like, and how should teacher training in the field be designed? What kinds of new study materials, textbooks, and teaching methods are required?

The FSR Energy Innovation Area and the Complexity Economics Working Group of the Young Scholars Initiative (YSI) have the pleasure to invite you to participate in the 1st Energy Innovation Academy.

Microfinance and then financial inclusion have become buzzwords in international development. Such initiatives have mobilised and generated  large amounts of development funding, despite substantial amount of critique. Such critiques call for a more impartial assessment of the effectiveness of financial inclusion on the grounds that funds for microfinance, they argue, displaced development spendings on healthcare, education or infrastructure. In addition, the focus on expansion of financial markets to ‘bank’ and financially ‘include’ the poor may divert attention from more comprehensive and effective poverty reduction strategies. Critiques of this ‘way of doing development’ are often sidelined and labelled as ‘extreme’, ‘sloppy’ or ideology-driven rather than evidence-based. We believe that there is a need for contemporary development scholars from all disciplines to engage in those debates. This half-day workshop would bring in such scholars to discuss what we have learned from a decade of research on the microfinance, and how financial inclusion and the emergence of fintech may offer new opportunities - as well as risks - in for inclusive global development. 

Our focus is on teaching and discussing theoretical and empirical methods related to the innovation processes in Latin America and the Caribbean and how these are linked to the economic development of the region. The Academy offers the opportunity to connect students to a research community integrated by high profile researchers.

What did societies and politicians learn from the crash? What have been theoretical achievements in orthodox and heterodox economic thinking since then? Where do we go from here?

The YSI Economics of Innovation, Economic Development and Africa Working Groups, in partnership with Global Network for Economics of Learning, Innovation and Competence Building Systems (GLOBELICS), Globelics Alumni, are organizing the 1st GLOBELICS Pre-Conference for Young Scholars entitled ‘Financing of Innovation and Infrastructure for Development’.