Rebuilding Macroeconomics
Lead Research Organisation:
University College London
Department Name: UCL Institute for Global Prosperity
Abstract
The need for new ideas in macroeconomics is evident. Most macroeconomists not only failed to recognise the weaknesses in the global economy before the financial crisis, their main macroeconomic model specifically excluded the possibility of financial vulnerability. Assumptions about human behaviour and how markets operate have undermined the effectiveness of macroeconomics as a guide for practical policy making.
The National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) is the UK's foremost macroeconomics research institute outside of the university sector. As our mission is to understand the economic forces that shape peoples' lives and to influence policy. We are free of political and commercial interests and the constraints that can inhibit university departments.
Our network, Rebuilding Macroeconomics, would start the transformation of macroeconomics back into a useful policy science. We have created a team of 25 world-class social scientists from economics, psychology, anthropology, sociology, neuroscience, economic history, political science, biology and physics all renowned for challenging mainstream ideas to spear-head this effort.
Rebuilding Macroeconomics will challenge the central assumptions and methods of modern macroeconomics and identify the building blocks for a new and genuinely relevant macroeconomics. Our network will create ran opportunity for scholars, policy makers and practitioners to coalesce around a substantive macroeconomic policy question and to explore, learn from and challenge each other's assumptions and ways of thinking and to consider possible new methods of investigation.
The Rebuilding Macroeconomics leadership team of will provide guidance by finding broad research agendas through a process of both guidance and discovery, through dialogue across the UK, that (a) directly address important macroeconomic policy issues, (b) facilitate research that would not be done otherwise, (c) bring new methodologies to bear in macroeconomics, and (d) that can attract enough scholars to launch and sustain an effective future research agenda.
Our leadership team will commission several targeted proof-of-concept 'pilot projects' that are truly innovative, most promising and additional to existing macroeconomic research. The decisions will be taken in an open and transparent manner as befits public funds. An Advisory Group will oversee the disbursements to ensure that the projects meet our requirements listed above.
The RM network will offer value for money. Most Co-Investigators have signalled their willingness to work on a pro bono basis to maximise the amount of research money available for the best ideas. The allocation of funds will be made public through a transparent process.
NIESR will ensure that the Network engages with the public through social and traditional media. We will use podcasts and an App to describe the 'pilot projects' and reconnect with the public through a series of televised or recorded lively debates on key macroeconomic issues that define our research agenda.
The Network will also engage with other networks in the UK and overseas to ensure as wide as possible influence and to achieve synergies with existing ESRC investments. The team will ensure that the Network is sustainable by engaging with student groups and doctoral students and catalysing innovative and interdisciplinary ideas for policy relevant research. We will look to incorporate some the most promising ideas in school and college curriculums.
At the end of the funding period, the leadership team will carry out a comprehensive review and deliver a roadmap for future macroeconomic research. This will include an analysis of the areas of greatest research potential, greatest policy relevance and the bottlenecks to be overcome to realise the full potential. Given the current exceptional economic circumstances, the Network has the opportunity to have a far-reaching and very positive impact on society.
The National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) is the UK's foremost macroeconomics research institute outside of the university sector. As our mission is to understand the economic forces that shape peoples' lives and to influence policy. We are free of political and commercial interests and the constraints that can inhibit university departments.
Our network, Rebuilding Macroeconomics, would start the transformation of macroeconomics back into a useful policy science. We have created a team of 25 world-class social scientists from economics, psychology, anthropology, sociology, neuroscience, economic history, political science, biology and physics all renowned for challenging mainstream ideas to spear-head this effort.
Rebuilding Macroeconomics will challenge the central assumptions and methods of modern macroeconomics and identify the building blocks for a new and genuinely relevant macroeconomics. Our network will create ran opportunity for scholars, policy makers and practitioners to coalesce around a substantive macroeconomic policy question and to explore, learn from and challenge each other's assumptions and ways of thinking and to consider possible new methods of investigation.
The Rebuilding Macroeconomics leadership team of will provide guidance by finding broad research agendas through a process of both guidance and discovery, through dialogue across the UK, that (a) directly address important macroeconomic policy issues, (b) facilitate research that would not be done otherwise, (c) bring new methodologies to bear in macroeconomics, and (d) that can attract enough scholars to launch and sustain an effective future research agenda.
Our leadership team will commission several targeted proof-of-concept 'pilot projects' that are truly innovative, most promising and additional to existing macroeconomic research. The decisions will be taken in an open and transparent manner as befits public funds. An Advisory Group will oversee the disbursements to ensure that the projects meet our requirements listed above.
The RM network will offer value for money. Most Co-Investigators have signalled their willingness to work on a pro bono basis to maximise the amount of research money available for the best ideas. The allocation of funds will be made public through a transparent process.
NIESR will ensure that the Network engages with the public through social and traditional media. We will use podcasts and an App to describe the 'pilot projects' and reconnect with the public through a series of televised or recorded lively debates on key macroeconomic issues that define our research agenda.
The Network will also engage with other networks in the UK and overseas to ensure as wide as possible influence and to achieve synergies with existing ESRC investments. The team will ensure that the Network is sustainable by engaging with student groups and doctoral students and catalysing innovative and interdisciplinary ideas for policy relevant research. We will look to incorporate some the most promising ideas in school and college curriculums.
At the end of the funding period, the leadership team will carry out a comprehensive review and deliver a roadmap for future macroeconomic research. This will include an analysis of the areas of greatest research potential, greatest policy relevance and the bottlenecks to be overcome to realise the full potential. Given the current exceptional economic circumstances, the Network has the opportunity to have a far-reaching and very positive impact on society.
Planned Impact
The aim of our 'Rebuilding Macroeconomics' network is to start the transformation of macroeconomics back into a useful policy science. The leadership team will challenge the core assumptions and methodologies of the existing paradigm and identify the building blocks for a new and genuinely relevant macroeconomics framework.
NIESR has considerable experience in achieving powerful and widespread impact for its research. The PI has been awarded two high profile ESRC Senior Fellowships with extensive engagement with the public. NIESR's press office will be charged with operating the Network website and social and multimedia. We have considerable convening power and ideal conference facilities in the heart of Westminster. In the run-up to this proposal we held a conference entitled 'Rethinking Macroeconomics' which was almost instantly booked. We had a serving minister, ex MPC member, senior business people and academics as well as policy makers from across the Government Economic Service in the audience.
Given the space available, we describe five beneficiaries of 'Rebuilding Macroeconomics' and how we intend to maximise the impact on each group.
(1) Public: The public will benefit directly and indirectly from the network. We will use podcasts to describe the 'pilot projects': the issue they address, why they matter and the outcomes. We will reconnect with the public through a series of radio programmes on key macroeconomic issues. We will encourage Network members to engage in public discussions through social and traditional media. The public will indirectly benefit from improved policy as a result of greater understanding of the macroeconomy. Given the size of the challenges, this cannot be underestimated.
(2) Policy officials: one of the most important objectives of the Network is to re-connect scholars with policy officials. The leadership team will set the research agenda on the basis of the most important policy priorities as well as methodological issues. Policy officials will be encouraged to participate in the research agendas and offered secondments to work on 'pilot projects' where appropriate.
(3) Scholars: The Network will encourage scholars to undertake creative and inter-disciplinary research beyond the constraints of university departments. 'Pilot project' funding will be targeted at worthwhile research that would not otherwise receive funding. Scholars will have opportunities to work alongside officials and business leaders to understand the context of their research. Academic leaders will host workshops for all interested scholars (inter-disciplinary) specifically designed to address key challenges facing officials and other stakeholders. NIESR's press office will work with scholars to ensure that the research is accessible and reaches the public.
(4) Students: we will engage closely with students at schools and universities to create capacity for a sustainable future research programme. Alvin Birdi, Director of the Economics Network, is committed to building links between schools and the Network. Wendy Carlin, Director of CORE, has agreed to join the Advisory Group and will reflect the findings of the Network on the evolving new economics curriculum. Students be encouraged to join the Network by attending the research workshops. Scholars will be encouraged to suggest future research topics that will be posted on the Network website.
(5) Academic networks and international organisations: Members of the Leadership team are engaged with most of the major economic and other social science societies and networks from around the world including the IMF, World Bank and central banks around the world. The PI is on the management board of the ESRC's Centre for Macroeconomics and well placed to ensure that the ESRC's investments are complementary to achieve the greatest impact.
NIESR has considerable experience in achieving powerful and widespread impact for its research. The PI has been awarded two high profile ESRC Senior Fellowships with extensive engagement with the public. NIESR's press office will be charged with operating the Network website and social and multimedia. We have considerable convening power and ideal conference facilities in the heart of Westminster. In the run-up to this proposal we held a conference entitled 'Rethinking Macroeconomics' which was almost instantly booked. We had a serving minister, ex MPC member, senior business people and academics as well as policy makers from across the Government Economic Service in the audience.
Given the space available, we describe five beneficiaries of 'Rebuilding Macroeconomics' and how we intend to maximise the impact on each group.
(1) Public: The public will benefit directly and indirectly from the network. We will use podcasts to describe the 'pilot projects': the issue they address, why they matter and the outcomes. We will reconnect with the public through a series of radio programmes on key macroeconomic issues. We will encourage Network members to engage in public discussions through social and traditional media. The public will indirectly benefit from improved policy as a result of greater understanding of the macroeconomy. Given the size of the challenges, this cannot be underestimated.
(2) Policy officials: one of the most important objectives of the Network is to re-connect scholars with policy officials. The leadership team will set the research agenda on the basis of the most important policy priorities as well as methodological issues. Policy officials will be encouraged to participate in the research agendas and offered secondments to work on 'pilot projects' where appropriate.
(3) Scholars: The Network will encourage scholars to undertake creative and inter-disciplinary research beyond the constraints of university departments. 'Pilot project' funding will be targeted at worthwhile research that would not otherwise receive funding. Scholars will have opportunities to work alongside officials and business leaders to understand the context of their research. Academic leaders will host workshops for all interested scholars (inter-disciplinary) specifically designed to address key challenges facing officials and other stakeholders. NIESR's press office will work with scholars to ensure that the research is accessible and reaches the public.
(4) Students: we will engage closely with students at schools and universities to create capacity for a sustainable future research programme. Alvin Birdi, Director of the Economics Network, is committed to building links between schools and the Network. Wendy Carlin, Director of CORE, has agreed to join the Advisory Group and will reflect the findings of the Network on the evolving new economics curriculum. Students be encouraged to join the Network by attending the research workshops. Scholars will be encouraged to suggest future research topics that will be posted on the Network website.
(5) Academic networks and international organisations: Members of the Leadership team are engaged with most of the major economic and other social science societies and networks from around the world including the IMF, World Bank and central banks around the world. The PI is on the management board of the ESRC's Centre for Macroeconomics and well placed to ensure that the ESRC's investments are complementary to achieve the greatest impact.
Publications
Acosta J
(2021)
'Six decades of economic research at the Bank of England'
Adams Z
(2022)
Verbal interaction in a social dilemma
in Rationality and Society
Aistleitner M
(2021)
Theory and empirics of capability accumulation: Implications for macroeconomic modeling
in Research Policy
Bayliss K
(2022)
Private equity and the regulation of financialised infrastructure: the case of Macquarie in Britain's water and energy networks
in New Political Economy
| Description | Key Achievement 1: The original set of 37 projects funded via Rebuilding Macroeconomics (RM) were completed by April 2021. The grant then transferred to UCL as of 31 May 2021, and was allowed a further extension to 30 September 2022 in order to fund three further projects and to complete the writing up of the results as the 'Road Map'. The final three projects have now been selected for funding, and their findings should be available by the end of 2022 to complement the ideas to be advanced in the 'Road Map'. This means a total of 40 interdisciplinary research pilot studies were funded by RM compared to the 24 envisaged in the grant proposal. These pilot studies were chosen by issuing curated open calls for research. Key Achievement 2: An important measure of academic success for a large ESRC award is publications. We did not aim for peer reviewed journal articles, as our primary aim was pilot projects (proof of principle) rather than submissions to journals. However, there are currently 122 publications on the RM Researchfish record, of which 64 are Working Papers and 21 are Discussion Papers. We know of 37 papers in peer-reviewed journals as a direct result of the RM grant. This includes papers accepted to the most competitive economics publications, including the Journal of Political Economy and Econometrica. While this was not an objective of the RM project, it is gratifying to know that the research is considered as meeting the high standards of peer reviewed journals. Key Achievement 3: RM has held over 40 workshops (all open to the public). The RM Centre also held two types of annual events: three annual conferences - all over two days - and four 'Women in Macroeconomics' events (online after the onset of Covid-19). We formed partnerships with universities, research centres and student groups as well as policy institutions such as New Approaches to Economics Challenges (NAEC, OECD), Bank of England and IMF. We also held a series of special workshops around Covid as well as redirecting resources to support research in response to the crisis. RM has nearly 10,000 followers on Twitter, a newsletter mailing list of nearly 2,000, participated in over 80 engagement activities and its video recordings have nearly 17,000 viewings. Key Achievement 4: The 'Road Map' is to include a new viable direction for macroeconomics which complements the ESRC's existing investments. This proposal weaves together many of the threads from research projects funded through this investment. We call this approach Social Macroeconomics which is macroeconomics based on practical decision making in a world of partial ignorance due to radical uncertainty. The value that we attach to our social relations as an end in themselves provides some personal agency to reorganise within groups to address the challenges we face arising from a radically uncertain future. This perspective is gaining traction in a number of research forums such as the OECD. What does Social Macroeconomics offer policy-makers beyond 'mainstream' analysis? In addition to different perspectives on core monetary and fiscal questions, it offers a return to the time- honoured big macroeconomic policy questions of wealth creation, distribution and sustainability. Rather than being limited to a surface-level re-arrangements of resources, it suggests a review of the rules of interaction, often mediated by institutions, to seek a deeper change in the economic order. For example, the undersupply of innovation (productivity) and oversupply of pollution (climate change) can be seen as Commons Problems requiring the development of institutions to promote cooperative behaviour rather than only being addressed by subsidies and taxes. The institutional reform to create a vaccine for Covid is a case in point. Key Achievement 5: Rebuilding Macroeconomics submitted its Final Report to the ESRC within its deadline. We consider that all contractual obligations have been met. The one outstanding item is the 'Road Map' which is still being written. A key idea of RM is that once the grant had expired and the pilot projects completed, there would be enough momentum to continue the network. The PI of RM begins teaching at UCL in September on ideas from the grant, we continue to publish a newsletter and papers from collaborators. We are hosting a two-day conference with the Bank of England at the end of March featuring two Nobel prize winners which will discuss non-equilibrium economics, or Social Macroeconomics, as part of the agenda. |
| Exploitation Route | As noted previously, we believe that a consensus of ideas is emerging from the various activities undertaken by Rebuilding Macroeconomics and other organisations with similar agenda profiles, which are pointing towards the need for future research and dialogue under the overall heading of 'Social Macroeconomics'. It is hoped that the 'Road Map' report, once it has been reviewed by ESRC, will be made available to a wider audience, and will attract interest from other research bodies with interests in reforming Economics, in concepts of Complexity, and in decision-making under conditions of radical uncertainty. We continue to receive considerable interest in these developments from the policy-makers who have attended our events, or with whom we have been in contact in other ways. |
| Sectors | Creative Economy Education Financial Services and Management Consultancy Government Democracy and Justice |
| URL | https://www.rebuildingmacroeconomics.ac.uk |
| Description | Outside of academia, our ideas around Social Macroeconomics, or non-equilibrium economics, continue to be widely discussed. We have an upcoming two-day public conference co-hosted at the Bank of England with over 400 attendees expected (150 in person and 250 online). We have begun to restart blogging on issues with a social macroeconomic perspective. We are invited to hold public lectures at universities and for institutions such as the Institute for Actuaries. The PI is on the Advisory Group of an international research consortia sponsored by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) which formulated the Government's lead research initiative at COP26. There are numerous other examples of non-academic engagement from being a regular contributor to the OECD initiatives to economists from the Government Economic Service attending our events. Two of our leading grantees recently gave a lecture at the Royal Society of Arts with the most viewers of any project. The ideas were, in part, developed within the RM network and acknowledged as such. We have supposed the development of new agent based model forecasting techniques and we co-sponsored a conference last year entitled "Agent Based Modelling for Policy Makers' at the Bank of England. The first winner of our Complexity in Macroeconomics Prize is now leading a major international research project building ABM models in several countries for the purpose of forecasting. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2019 |
| Sector | Education,Financial Services, and Management Consultancy,Government, Democracy and Justice |
| Impact Types | Societal Economic Policy & public services |
| Title | GVA, population and employment by NUTS3 area |
| Description | The dataset records the calculation of OECD-TL3/NUTS3 area economic and population profiles back to 1971, as constructed by Cambridge Econometrics and Ron Martin. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2021 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | The primary policy recommendation arising from the project linked to this data set is that, in terms of the relationship between governance devolution and national economic growth, neither extreme fiscal decentralisation 2011) nor extreme fiscal centralisation are advantageous for national economic growth. However, this does not mean that governance centralisation or decentralisation are unrelated to national or regional economic growth. The empirical evidence for 1995-2011 suggests that sub-national fiscal decentralisation is positively related to national economic growth, productivity and human capital, both for unitary and federal states. Greater sub-national decentralisation is also associated with higher levels of interregional convergence. The hyper-centralised UK would therefore appear to be at a serious structural disadvantage both in terms of fostering national economic growth and also in terms of fostering interregional equality. |
| Title | Global Capital Depreciations - 2020 to 2100 |
| Description | These data cover the depreciation of the human and produced capital value of the global economy 2020 (or 2025) through to 2100. Here the global economy is sub-divided into 56 sectors as defined by the World Input-Output Database (WIOD). The WIOD data provides the 2020 (2025) initial conditions for produced capital. Human capital is estimated using time discounted sector average wages summed over working lifetimes. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2021 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | It is too soon to observe any actual impacts, as the data are only being published shortly before the end of the Rebuilding Macroeconomics grant in August 2021. However, a systemic devaluation of human capital as a source of financial, political and socioeconomic instability has not been substantially debated, and these data suggest that serious consideration should now be given to this issue. In practice, this devaluation affects sizeable social groups whose ranges of occupations become exposed to the possibility of rapid obsolescence, where the accumulated value either from direct investments in training, or through accumulated experience operating in carbon-dependent sectors at risk, could be lost as it is not necessarily replaced by the skills and experience needed to operate a net-zero economy. |
| Title | Human experiments on time-series generation and prediction |
| Description | The data sets were collected in a series of on-line experiments in which people generated time-series, or series of forecasts or predictions of time-series, in a variety of experimental paradigms. The objective was to analyze these time-series using standard methods for analyzing times series used in finance, and to see to the extent to which there are common, or distinct, patterns. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2021 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | At the time of writing it is too soon after the completion of the project for these data to have made any notable impact; however these empirical data, linked to a model of mental sampling, are able to reproduce many of the signature properties of actual financial markets, potentially indicating that such behaviours originate in part in the methods by which beliefs are produced by individual agents. While there is clearly need for more study, these results suggest the importance of individual expectations even within much larger systems: markets are ultimately built from individuals, and so are shaped by the beliefs of their members. We therefore hope that this study can act as a foundation for further examinations of macroeconomic behaviour through the lens of individual psychology |
| Title | Is identity-priming a short-cut to cooperation? |
| Description | This dataset was created during a psychology experiment that was designed to test the relationship between identity and cooperation. The main procedure of the experiment was the public goods game (PGG), a well-established research paradigm where groups of players are tested simultaneously in successive rounds. Players are given tokens at the beginning of the game and they are fully aware that they are playing as a group. In each round, players are given a choice between (1) contributing to a public pool, or (2) keeping the money. If the amount of money donated to the public pool in a given round is more than zero, then the tokens in the pool are multiplied by the experimenter (the multiplier is called the "efficiency factor") and then the tokens are distributed evenly amongst all of the players. At the end of the game, each player is given the amount of real money based on the amount of tokens earned in the game. In this dataset, the PGG had five players in each group. There were 150 participants altogether. The currency was called "tokens" in this study. Each player was given five tokens at the beginning of the game. There were 30 rounds altogether. In each round, the player was given the choice of donating between zero and five tokens. The efficiency factor was 1.4. The amount of money taken home at the end of the game consisted of the number of tokens earned (conversion rate: 2 tokens = £1.00 GBP), plus a show-up fee of £5.00 GBP. Participants were awarded a minimum of £5.00 GBP (even for players who ended the game with a negative balance). There were two sets of data files generated by the PGG. The first dataset was automatically generated during the game-playing process, using the behavioural economics software called "Z-Tree." This file was in Excel format and consists of raw data covering participant response, calculations of payoffs, and descriptive information (e.g. round number, dates and times, etc.). Because there were thirty groups, there were thirty Excel files generated from the Z-Tree game. The second dataset is an SPSS file, created when the principal investigator inputted the relevant data from all thirty Excel files into a single SPSS spreadsheet to allow statistical analysis. The PGG comprised the "cooperation" part of the study. For the "identity" part of the study, there were additional variables in the SPSS file. Firstly, every participant was pre-assigned to one of three conditions: (1) macro, (2) meso, and (3) micro. For each group, a different set of priming questions was presented. The questions for macro, meso, and micro were, respectively, asked in the context of (1) "all of humanity", (2) the local student community at Middlesex University, and (3) oneself. The actual replies to these priming questions were not important to the analysis (the goal was that the priming questions would influence their generosity in the PGG) and therefore those responses are not included with the submitted dataset. However, the dataset contains information about each participant's group assignment. In the SPSS datafile, these assignments are relatable to the participants' other responses. An additional identity variable in the dataset consists of two responses for the "inclusion of others in self" (IOS) scale. Beyond the identity questions, there were eighteen questions from the Zero-sum mindset (ZSM) scale created by Fearon and Good (Cambridge). The ZSM scale has nine questions. In the study, the ZSM was administered twice (once at the beginning and once at the end). The SPSS datafile contains the participants' response to every question, and the pertinent summations of their responses. Finally, the SPSS datafile consists of responses to questions about age, gender, group number, number of friends present during the running of the game, and a few other variables needed for calculations and statistics. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2021 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | This study, led by Dr Yvan Russell at Middlesex University, study, predicted that a feeling of inclusiveness in a laboratory economic game would encourage higher rates of cooperation. This conclusion has implications for other forms of social interaction and cooperation, both within and beyond macroeconomics. |
| Title | Networks of UK-based economists |
| Description | The dataset includes information on networks of economists based in UK universities and research centres between 1981 and 2019. Information is provided in yearly dyadic form, i.e. all possible pairs of individuals are listed, who have been both active in a same year during the period. Data are anonymized and information is provided about the single economists within each pair and the connection(s) between them. The variables considered include bibliographic information (publications, metadata, and citations), demographic characteristics (sex, and academic age), and professional experience (affiliations), obtained from RePEc (http://repec.org) and from manual collection and investigation of each individual's CV. Research-active economists are defined as those who have at least five entries in RePEc. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2021 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | The data are of value in providing an objective, external view of the structure of the Economics profession in the UK, and could be used in conjunction with other material produced by Rebuilding Macroeconomics to give an overview of the current status of discipline, in terms of the variables listed above. |
| Title | Newspaper articles for calculating an Anxiety Index |
| Description | The data set is a collection of news articles over a two-year period, to which a machine-learning algorithm was applied. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2021 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | The Anxiety indicators derived from this project show a steady decline in anxiety during the 2019 election campaign is consistent with parametric anxiety as earlier defined (households can form stable beliefs through rational expectations). This is because anxiety is anchored within 'a range of indeterminancy': the general election outcome is bounded within a limited number of possible outcomes - Conservative majority; Labour majority; minority government; coalition government; hung parliament and re-election. This reduces anxieties for households, investors and consumers. Then following the outcome of the election anxiety reduces further, and stabilises around the outcome (established new equilibrium). Once the Conservative government was elected many believed this would be the end of the Brexit debate, as they had been elected on a 'Get Brexit done' mandate. Though general elections are just that - not a referendum - and should be contested on multiple policies. The data from the project is now available to assist with further research in this area. |
| Title | Putting in effort for the benefit of all: the role of reward and effort requirement |
| Description | The data here arise from a project examining whether reputation building, through a process of social comparisons, be used to enhance cooperative effort exertion in a group task? An experimental data folder holds data from the effort task, where participants were required to declare a number of times they wanted to squeeze a handgrip device for group benefit or individual gain before actually completing the task. A separate "chatroom" folder contains transcripts from online chats from the groups involved in the project. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2021 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | The summary conclusion from the project is that reputation building, through public social signalling of intended actions ,is likely to promote socially responsible behaviours and promote regulatory compliance in social policy sectors; but the effort needed to achieve the stated intentions is not going to exceed what is necessary. These findings are being developed further in related follow-up research, and will have implications for the development of public policies. |
| Description | New Economics of Prosperity |
| Organisation | University College London |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | We have a new M.Sc. module on New Economics of Prosperity and a new Ph.D scheme on Social Macroeconomics. |
| Collaborator Contribution | We teach a course, grade dissertations and supervise Ph.D candidates. |
| Impact | One course completed with a new journal created. |
| Start Year | 2023 |
| Description | "Legal Aspects of Central Bank Digital Currency: Central Bank and Monetary Law Considerations & Central Bank Money: Liability, Asset, or Equity of the Nation?" Joint IMF, Queen Mary University of London, and Rebuilding Macroeconomics Seminar, online, 3 December 2020 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The Legal Department of the IMF, the Centre for Commercial Law Studies of Queen Mary University of London, and Rebuilding Macroeconomics presented the conclusions of their respective Working Papers: "Legal Aspects of Central Bank Digital Currency: Central Bank and Monetary Law Considerations" and "Central Bank Money: Liability, Asset, or Equity of the Nation?"*. The IMF Working Paper was the first publication to focus on the central bank and monetary law aspects of CBDC. It concluded that most central bank laws will require amendments to authorize the issuance of CBDC and questions whether CBDC can be legally labeled as currency. The Working Paper on Central Bank Money (funded by Rebuilding Macroeconomics) challenged the conventional accounting and economic treatment of central bank money and concluded that it is not a liability of the central bank. This was a somewhat controversial argument, which provoked some critical reactions on social media, but on the whole these debates were conducted in a constructive manner. The event was also praised for raising some novel and challenging issues. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://imf.webex.com/imf/ldr.php?RCID=7cb1133576c143f296d7ce37e7bb5f36 |
| Description | "Legal and Economic Conceptions of Money: Current Developments", Online Seminar and Roundtable Discussion, 1 July 2020 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | This was a seminar organised by Professor Rosa Lastrup, of Queen Mary University of London, to discuss the papers arising from her Rebuilding Macroeconomics project entitled: "Legal and Economic Conceptions of Money: Current Developments". The participants included the project team and a number of invited external experts, who were requested to give their opinions on the emerging documents. The format consisted of a series of presentations followed by some quite intensive discussions, bringing together relevant aspects of Law and Finance. The intention now is to hold a more public event later in 2020 once the feedback from this session has been analysed and taken into account. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | "Why does Data matter for our Collective Imagination?", presentation by J. Doyne Farmer, Claire Connelly and Carla Coburger to online "Data for Policy Conference", 15 September 2020 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Professor Doyne Farmer, Claire Connelly and Carla Coburger had all worked on the "Data Study Group" project, funded by Rebuilding Macroeconomics. This presentation to the 2020 "Data for Policy" conference, summarising some of the Group's results, had to be made in a pre-recorded format, given the Covid-19 crisis; but the presenters made an effective and concise video, which was well received at the event. The Group will continue to refine its results during the remaining months of the Rebuilding Macroeconomics grant. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkKb9MQmJUI&list=PLSWCKLnPiRKZoPatvOXl0YZN0ZP7jhXfX&index=9 |
| Description | Macroeconomic Institutions Hub Workshop, online, 14 January 2021 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
| Results and Impact | This half-day workshop was intended to allow final presentations to be made by the two projects in the Macroeconomic Institutions Hub which could not be included in the previous Rebuilding Macroeconomics Annual Conference. Project findings were presented by the leaders involved, Elisa van Waeyenberge at SOAS, and Johnna Montgomerie at King's College London. The presentations given were very helpful in giving context and detail to the studies, which allowed for far greater understanding and accuracy in planning the incorporation of the project outputs into the final Road Map. The event was public, and drew a reasonably-sized audience, who provided some positive feedback. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | Social Macroeconomics Hub Workshop, online, 8 December 2020 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
| Results and Impact | Representatives of all nine projects funded under the Rebuilding Macroeconomics "Social Macroeconomics" Research Hub gave presentations at this all-day workshop. The principal aim of the event was to identify areas of synergy and overlap between the research areas that have been studied. The event was open to the wider public. This was probably the last time that all the project leaders would be able to participate in a joint event, so the workshop served to some extent as a conclusion to the work of the Hub; but avenues for future collaboration were identified, and it is expected that ideas discussed at this event will be include in the final Rebuilding Macroeconomics report, or "Road Map". |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | Workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Rebuilding Macro was a junior supporter of a two day workshop on the application of Agent Based Models to central bank policy areas. Two of the papers presented were by former RM grantees. The papers are available and widely downloaded. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://sites.google.com/view/abm4policy/workshops/abm4policy-2023 |