Rebuilding Macroeconomics
Lead Research Organisation:
National Institute of Economic and Social Research
Department Name: National Institute of Economic & Soc Res
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
Rolls E
(2018)
Emotion and reasoning in human decision-making
Mauersberger, F
(2018)
Bounded rationality in Keynesian beauty contests: a lesson for central bankers?
in Economy e-journal Special Issue Bio-psycho-social foundations of macroeconomics
Thompson, E L
(2019)
Escape from model-land
in Economics Discussion Papers, No 2019-23, Kiel Institute for the World
Zhu J Q
(2019)
Why Decisions Bias Perception: An Amortised Sequential Sampling Account.
in CogSci
Johnson S G B
(2019)
Toward a cognitive science of markets: economic agents as sense-makers
in Economy
Morelli F
(2019)
Confidence Collapse in a Multi-Household, Self-Reflexive DSGE Model
in SSRN Electronic Journal
Keane W
(2019)
How everyday ethics becomes a moral economy, and vice versa
Yanagisako, S
(2019)
Family firms as kinship enterprises
in Economics Discussion Papers, Kiel Institute for the World 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 were selected for funding and completed between January and August 2022, and their findings will be available 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 | 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. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2017 |
| Sector | Education,Financial Services, and Management Consultancy,Government, Democracy and Justice |
| Impact Types | Economic,Policy & public services |
| Description | ESRC 2018 Festival of Social Science |
| Amount | £340 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Economic and Social Research Council |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 11/2018 |
| End | 11/2018 |
| Title | A Survey of UK Local Government Climate Officers |
| Description | As part of our Rebuilding Macroeconomics project we carried out descriptive analyses of secondary, quantitative data about local authorities' fiscal accounts (revenues, outlays, debt), intragovernmental transfers, and socio-economic characteristics (IMD, unemployment, demographics). In the second stage, our team conducted 45 interviews with local government officers, elected officials, and representatives from business and civil society organizations. In a final stage, we carried out a survey of local government officers who work in the areas of sustainability, climate planning, and decarbonisation. The dataset is one output of this work. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | Our first output will be a Working Paper that can be shared by Rebuilding Macroeconomics. A second key output will consist of a shorter publication for major stakeholders in local/regional net zero and regeneration policies. We will produce further papers for submission to academic journals based on the White Paper. |
| 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 | "Are there barriers to innovation in Macroeconomics?", Pre-Discovery Meeting, 14 June 2017 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | This was a "Pre-Discovery" meeting aimed at establishing the remit and content of the proposed "Rebuilding Macroeconomics" Hub on the subject of the "Sociology of Economic Institutions". The event was addressed by Richard Bronk; Alice Pearson; Paul Gilbert; and Linsey McGoey. Extensive discussions followed these initial presentations, and the general mood of the meeting was that a further such event would be needed before progress could be made with the Hub. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| URL | https://www.rebuildingmacroeconomics.ac.uk/instability-background-note/ |
| Description | "Celebrating Women in Macroeconomics", 2019 ESRC Festival of Social Science event, 6 November 2019, Girton College, University of Cambridge |
| 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 event built upon and expanded the 2018 Festival of Social Science workshop on a similar theme. In 2019, the event was held at Girton College, Cambridge, during the College's celebration of its 150th anniversary, and the programme included a reflection from the Mistress of the College on Joan Robinson and her contribution to Economics. Other presenters focused on various aspects of Macroeconomics and Gender; the event was well attended, and provoked some lively discussions and potential futu |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | "Ergodicity: Six Different Viewpoints", Online seminar, 18 May 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 an online seminar which examined the concept of "Ergodicity" from a series of different perspectives, and from a range of disciplinary angles. Whilst highly specialist in tone, some tentative steps were taken here in examining areas of interdisciplinary overlap, which has interesting possibilities for further developments in Economics. For a niche subject, the audience was quite large, and provided a number of technical questions for discussion. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | "International Trade in a Post Covid-19 World", online workshop, 21 April 2020 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | The workshop was led by Stephen Kinsella, the Rebuilding Macroeconomics Globalisation Hub Leader, and included contributions from Chad Brown, Meredith Crawley Kevin O'Rourke, and Isabella Weber. Despite some technical problems with the video conferencing software, the presentations were very well received, and prompted an extensive online debate. The session was recorded for placement on the RM website, in order to reach a wider audience. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | "Is the financial system fit for purpose?", Rebuilding Macroeconomics Discovery Meeting, NIESR, 23 January 2018 |
| 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 event marked the first stage in the construction of the Rebuilding Macroeconomics "Hub" in Finance, to channel and co-ordinate the Network's research funding in this area. The meeting was attended by 34 people at the NIESR offices in London, with a further four joining in via video-conferencing link from other countries. A series of introductory presentations was followed by some extensive and lively debates, which will be transcribed and analysed in order to help to define and focus the research questions which the Finance Hub will address. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | https://www.rebuildingmacroeconomics.ac.uk/discovery-meeting-financial-system-fit-purpose/ |
| 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 | "Macroeconomics and Reality: Where are we now?", 24 November 2020,online one-day conference run in conjunction with Economic Analysis Research Group, University of Reading, |
| 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 | Forty years after the publication of Christopher Sims's seminal paper on Macroeconomics and Reality, this event was intended to share, debate and evaluate some of the new models and methods in macroeconomics which address the biggest challenges facing Macroeconomists and Policymakers. The conference included ten presentations, with accompanying discussions, and covered a considerable amount of material and ideas. The audience was somewhat specialist, but an attendance of between 50 and 100 was still maintained throughout the course of the day. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | "Macroeconomics with Real World Uncertainty", special session, Royal Economic Society 2019 Annual Conference, University of Warwick, 17 April 2019 |
| 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 | Rebuilding Macroeconomics hosted a special session at the 2019 Royal Economic Society Annual Conference, which was held at the University of Warwick. The session was chaired by Angus Armstrong, and presentations were given by John Kay, Erica Thompson, Adam Sanborn, and Jean-Philippe Bouchaud. The session was attended by around 40 people, but was also live-streamed to an external audience of at least one thousand. The presentations prompted intensive discussions, and helped considerably in raising the profile of Rebuilding Macroeconomics. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | "New Approaches for Modelling Expectations in Economics", Bank of England Conference, 2-3 December 2019 |
| 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 two-day conference on "New Approaches for Modelling Expectations in Economics" was held at the Bank of England on 2 and 3 December 2019, and was organised and funded jointly by Rebuilding Macroeconomics and the University of Warwick. The first one and a half days consisted of presentations from senior bankers and researchers on banking, along with questions and discussions. The final afternoon focused specifically on projects funded by Rebuilding Macroeconomics in relation to Modelling Expectations, and provided an opportunity to showcase some of the RM research which is being undertaken. The event was very successful overall, and was particularly effective in promoting Rebuilding Macroeconomics to significant figures in international banking. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | "Rebuilding Macroeconomics" Launch Event, 13 September 2017 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | This event was held to mark the launch of the "Rebuilding Macroeconomics" Network, and included presentations from Paul Sanderson of ESRC, Jesse Norman MP from the Department for Transport, and Angus Armstrong as Principal Investigator for the Network. There were also contributions from members of the Network Management Group - Laura Bear, Doyne Farmer, Roger Farmer, and David Tuckett, as well as extensive discussions from audience members. The event was highly successful in terms of the publicity generated, and was also useful in generating ideas and feedback to shape the subsequent development of the Network. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | "Systemic Resilience: What is it, and how can it be enhanced?", online seminar held on 11 May 2021, in collaboration with NAEC-OECD and the Fields Institute, University of Toronto |
| 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 inter-disciplinary panel, set up by Rebuilding Macroeconomics to extend the sequence of events run in 2021 in conjunction with NAEC-OECD and the Fields Institute, which sought to promote discussion of discuss how to build and manage more resilient systems, ahead of the G7 summit later in 2021. The lead speaker was Lord Mark Sedwill, former Cabinet Secretary and National Security Adviser, UK Cabinet Office; Chair of the G7 Panel on Economic Resilience; and subsequent presentations were given by Dr Erica Thompson,Senior Policy Fellow in Ethics of Modelling and Simulation, LSE Data Science Institute; Dr Anneke Schmider, Associate Fellow, Chatham House, and Research Director, Reform for Resilience: The Post-Pandemic Policy Commission; and Dr Igor Linkov, Senior Scientific Technical Manager US Army Engineer Research and Development Center, and Adjunct Professor with Carnegie Mellon University. Dr Angus Armstrong, Director of Rebuilding Macroeconomics, presented the concluding session. The event was well attended, and prompted an extensive discussion of the role of economics in building resilience, in connection with other disciplines. It is hoped that future events will also be held on the basis of the institutional collaboration that has been established during 2021. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | "The Great Financial Crisis", systemic legitimacy and "rip-off" stories in the Daily Mail", presentation by Tony Curzon Price and Gavin Hassall, Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, 5 September 2019 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Gavin Hassall, Research Assistant at Rebuilding Macroeconomics, and Tony Curzon Price, of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) presented their research on linkages between economic cycles and questions of trust in business and financial institutions, as indicated by textual analysis of reports in The Daily Mail. Both the results of their work, and the methodology which they employed, were of interest to the group of policy-makers at BEIS to whom the work was presented, and several suggestions were made as to how the research outlined could be developed further in the future. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | "Understanding Social Macroeconomics", Rebuilding Macroeconomics Third Annual Conference, Online, 21 to 23 October 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 third Rebuilding Macroeconomics Annual Conference was held online over three days from 21 to 23 October 2020, with the overall title of "Understanding Social Macroeconomics". The subtitles for the three component days were "The Nature of Economic Reality"; "Methods of Analysis"; and "Cultures of Expertise in Macroeconomics". The presentations drew partly on research funded by Rebuilding Macroeconomics and on invited speakers who provided different perspectives. The last panel session focused on "The Next Generation of Macroeconomists", before Angus Armstrong summed up the current thinking as to the composition of the final Rebuilding Macroeconomics "Road Map". The event was well attended, with nearly 400 registrations; and the interaction between the participants was lively, given the restricted conditions under which the conference was held. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | "Use and Misuse of economic models in global financial crisis", presentation by Angus Armstrong at OECD-NAEC conference, "Integrative Economics", Paris, 6 March 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 OECD-NAEC conference aimed to examine new modelling and analytical approaches to systemic challenges highlighting the potential of integrative economic. Angus Armstrong's paper was presented in this context. Turnout at the event was reduced, understandably, by the impact of the Covid-19 virus; but those people who did attend were receptive to some of the arguments presented, and gave robust challenges to others. A productive debate took place. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | "Why Rebuild Macroeconomics", 360 Lecture to Warwick University Department of Economics |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Angus Armstrong gave an invited lecture to the Department of Economics at Warwick University, outlining the case for "Rebuilding Macroeconomics" and the progress which has been made thus far by the Rebuilding Macroeconomics Network in promoting debate and dialogue, and in identifying research questions. The presentation prompted considerable discussion, some of which was quite critical in nature, but which may be useful in shaping the Network's future approach to these issues. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/economics/events/2018/4/360_lecture_why_rebuild_macroeconomics |
| Description | "Why Rebuild Macroeconomics", presentation to Evershed Sutherland - Commercial, 24 May 2018 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | This presentation represented an attempt to take the Rebuilding Macroeconomics "message" to the heart of the financial services industry, at an event in the "Gherkin", in the City of London. The presentation provoked considerable debate, with differing opinions being aired; but without question this session represented an occasion on which Rebuilding Macroeconomics reached out beyond the academic community. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | "Why are Economies Unstable?", Pre-Discovery Meeting, 5 July 2017 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | This "pre-discovery" meeting was aimed at establishing the scope and remit of the "Rebuilding Macroeconomics" Hub in Instability. The session was addressed by Steve Keen, David Tuckett, Alan Taylor, and Roger Farmer, all of whom addressed specific issues which were subsequently opened up to wider discussion. The session was well attended and prompted a range of inputs, which were all useful in defining the job description for the role of Instability Hub Leader. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| 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 | "Why does Economics Matter?" interview by Angus Armstrong for Age of Economics, 12 June 2021 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | "Age of Economics" is essentially a website devoted to the study of modern capitalism and economics. The organisation has held a series of interviews in which it asks the same set of questions to people who are thinking currently about Economics; recent interviewees have included Megan Greene, Yanis Varoufakis, Anne Pettifor and Noam Chomsky. Angus Armstrong, the Director of Rebuilding Macroeconomics, was interviewed on 12 June 2021, and gave his opinion on the subjects under discussion. It is believed that this is a useful way of setting a wider context for the Rebuilding Macroeconomics "Road Map" which is currently being written. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.ageofeconomics.org/interviews/no.33-angus-armstrong/ |
| Description | "Women in Macroeconomics: Diversity and Representation", online seminar for 2020 ESRC Festival of Social Science, 12 November 2020 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | This was the third "Women in Macroeconomics" event organised by Rebuilding Macroeconomics for successive Festivals of Social Science. This session was given a wider remit of "Diversity and Representation", and included presentations by Kristen Intemann (Montana State University), Rhonda Vonshay Sharpe (Women's Institute for Science, Equity, and Race), Carolina Alves (University of Cambridge), Arun Advani (University of Warwick), and Felicia Odammten (Black Economists Network). The presentations prompted some lively debate with several contested points; the feedback received suggests that this event provided a challenging and multi-layered contribution to the 2020 Festival; and its implications for the final Rebuilding Macroeconomics report (or "Road Map") will be considered. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | Angus Armstrong, interview on BBC Radio 4 PM programme, 20 May 2019 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Dr Angus Armstrong, the Director of Rebuilding Macroeconomics, was interviewed on BBC Radio 4's PM programme on 20 May 2019. This was the first in a series of interviews about changes in modern Economic thinking. The interview was conducted by Evan Davis and lasted for approximately seven minutes, during which the rationale for Rebuilding Macroeconomics was summarised, and some examples were given of the projects funded by the Network. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Article by Anand Menon and Angus Armstrong, "Let's get serious: we need to extend the transition period with the European Union", The Observer/The Guardian, 19 April 2020 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Anand Menon and Angus Armstrong wrote an article arguing the case for an extension of the transition period during which the UK is negotiating the terms of its departure from the European Union. The article represents a tangible example of co-operation between UK in a Changing Europe and Rebuilding Macroeconomics. April 2020 is an important moment at which to raise this issue, given that, although the country's resources and attention are focused currently on managing the Covid-19 outbreak, the decision on extension needs to be made by 30 June 2020. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/apr/19/coronavirus-complications-december-brexit?CMP=... |
| Description | Can Globalisation Benefit All? Pre-Discovery meeting, 2 June 2017 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | This initial meeting was planned to define the scope and remit of the Globalisation Hub within Rebuilding Macroeconomics (RM). The speakers included Sharun Mukand, from the University of Warwick; Richard Portes, from the London Business School; Alan Taylor, from the University of California at Davis; and Laura Bear, from LSE. A wide-ranging discussion was held over four hours, which attempted to suggest how this wide-ranging topic might be best categorised and structures to fit with the remit of the RM Hub. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2009,2017 |
| URL | https://www.rebuildingmacroeconomics.ac.uk/globalisation-summary-note/ |
| Description | Complexity and Macroeconomics Competition: Prize Winners' Competition, 21 May 2021 |
| 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 | In 2020, Rebuilding Macroeconomics decided to see what the response might be to a research competition in "complexity macroeconomics" to complement our research calls. This seminar is the outcome of the experimental competition. By "complexity macroeconomics" we meant a system in which agents interact directly with each other with more realistic decision making to understand how the macroeconomy evolves over time. We asked for innovative papers that offered insight into our understanding of the macroeconomy beyond that which is possible using standard methods of economic analysis. Monetary prizes were offered for the best three papers. Despite some delay caused by Covid-19, we received 26 entries to the competition, the vast majority of which were written to a very high standard. We asked three widely respected experts in complexity economics, none of whom have any direct role in our project, to help us judge the winners. The criteria for selecting the winning papers included originality; the importance of the insight to our understanding of the macroeconomy; and quality of exposition. This online seminar allowed the three prize winners to present their work, and for discussions to be held as to the issues arising from the presentations. There was considerable interest in this event, which drew a large virtual audience. Input from the winning papers, along with several others which were shortlisted for awards, will be included in the final "Road Map" document, which is being constructed by Rebuilding Macroeconomics. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Conference, "Bringing new thinking from Psychology and Social Sciences into Macroeconomics", HM Treasury, London, 1-2 October 2018 |
| 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 conference was held at HM Treasury over two days, 1 and 2 October 2018, and attracted an audience of nearly 200 people. A number of high level speakers participated in the event, including senior academics from the United States. The aim of the event was to promote interaction across disciplines, in ways that would not normally happen in an event focused on a particular discipline, and to suggest new approaches that might be taken towards conceptualising Macroeconomics. The event was structured around eight panels, which all prompted extensive discussions, and on occasion some sharp exchanges of views. All the presentations were filmed, and the edited video footage will be made available via the Rebuilding Macroeconomics website. The conference will help to influence the selection policy for the pilot studies to be funded subsequently, and may also suggest other areas of enquiry that had not previously been considered. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | https://www.rebuildingmacroeconomics.ac.uk/2018-conference/ |
| Description | Dr Angus Armstrong - "Social Macroeconomics" - Keynote Address to Scottish Economic Society, 2021 Annual conference, 26 April 2021 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The keynote address to the 2021 Annual Conference of the Scottish Economic Society provided a timely opportunity to outline and rehearse the arguments being developed for the Rebuilding Macroeconomics "Road Map". The speech proved to be a useful exercise in reducing, shaping and focusing the concepts to be outlined in the Road Map, which will of necessity require selectivity in the use of the RM project outputs. A helpful discussion followed the presentation, which served in particular to highlight the areas for which explaining the concepts being promoted by RM is more difficult, and for which a careful strategy will be required. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | http://ses2021.org/sessions/social-macroeconomics |
| Description | ESRC Festival of Social Science event, "Women in Economics", held at National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR), 9 November 2018 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | This was a half-day seminar, aimed at a general audience, to examine the ways in which women contribute to, and are affected by, macroeconomic processes and institutions. The starting point was the first research project funded by Rebuilding Macroeconomics, led by led by Professor Özlem Onaran at the University of Greenwich, which synthesises Gender Studies with Macroeconomics. The Project Leader provided an outline of the study and the results so far. Participants then discussed the project, bringing their own insights and experiences to consider possible extensions. The event was then opened up to a broader discussion of women's participation in academic and policy macroeconomic institutions, and the barriers which are encountered. Presenters and discussants were drawn from a wide range of institutions and organisations, including the Women's Budget Group (Economics). The feedback from the event was generally very positive, and the objective of sharing research with a public audience, and drawing on ideas from that audience as to how macroeconomics might better reflect the issues under discussion, was broadly met. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | https://www.rebuildingmacroeconomics.ac.uk/women-in-economics-event/ |
| Description | Economic Institutions Hub Workshop, NIESR, 15 March 2019 |
| 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 selection workshop for the Economic Institutions Hub projects was held at NIESR on 15 March 2019. Seven presentations were made and subsequently discussed. The standards of the presentations and debate was generally high, and some interesting avenues of potential enquiry emerged which had not previously been considered. The information and impressions derived from the event will be used to inform the final decisions as to the selection of proposals to be funded under this Hub. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Extended Problem Solving Workshop, Fields Institute, University of Toronto, 5-23 April 2021 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Angus Armstrong, the Director of Rebuilding Macroeconomics, served as an Adviser to the 2021 Extended Problem Solving Workshop (EPSW), which ran for three weeks in April 2021 under the auspices of the Fields Institute, University of Toronto. The EPSW involved five groups of graduate students, postdocs, and young government economists, working under the supervision of mentors on the problems proposed by partner institutions. Carla Coburger, the Rebuilding Macroeconomics Research Officer, participated in the EPSW, and several other people with RM connections also acted as Advisers. The EPSW made a significant contribution to introducing new thinking in Economics to a young audience, and to the discussion of ideas within the participating groups. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | http://www.fields.utoronto.ca/activities/20-21/systemic-EPSW |
| Description | Finance Hub Directed Call Workshop, NIESR, 30 April 2019 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | A selection workshop for shortlisted applicants for the Finance Hub Directed Call was held at NIESR on 30 April 2019. Five presentations were given, for which the overall standard was very high. Participants included members of the Bank of England, who provided well-informed feedback and criticism. The workshop should lead to greater clarity and confidence in deciding the selection and composition of the projects to be funded under this Call; and also produced some interesting new contacts for Rebuilding Macroeconomics. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Finance Hub Workshop - presentations on shortlisted research proposals, NIESR, 12 February 2019 |
| 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 | Five shortlisted applicants under the Finance Hub Research Call were invited to give presentations relating to their proposals at a workshop held at NIESR on 12 February 2019. The proposals varied widely in terms of subject matter and approach; and this face-to-face forum, accompanied by a considerable amount of constructive discussion, was very helpful in shaping the subsequent decision making process, including the question of whether to issue a second Research Call under this Hub. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Finance Hub Workshop, NIESR, 28 January 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 workshop was held to bring together the projects funded under the Finance Research Hub, in order to report on progress to date, compare findings, and to identify possible areas of synergy. Presentations were given on behalf of all five projects; and participants also included several members of the public. Productive discussions were held, which included several areas of disagreement, along with suggestions for alternative research directions. It is hoped to hold a final workshop for this Hub later in 2020. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | Finance Hub workshop: "FinTech, RegTech and digital currencies: consequences for regulation and central banking" |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | This workshop focused on recent innovations in financial technology, and the accompanying opportunities and threats. The consequences for regulation, central banking and financial architecture were discussed. The event identified a number of significant areas, particularly as regards legal aspects, which have not as yet been addressed by Rebuilding Macroeconomics; and these ideas may lead to alterations in funding decisions for the forthcoming Finance projects. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Fourth "Law and Macroeconomics" Conference, Bank of England and Queen Mary University of London, 27-28 October 2021 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | This was the latest in a series of events run jointly by the Bank of England and QMUL, with the last two being held online. The principal organiser was Professor Rosa Lastra from QMUL, a former recipient of a Rebuilding Macroeconomics grant, who drew on some of her RM-funded research to make her contribution to this session. Angus Armstrong presented a paper and also chaired one panel. The event drew a large online audience over the two days, including sizeable numbers of Central Bank staff, and prompted a widespread discussion between the participants. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/events/2021/october/fourth-conference-on-law-and-macroeconomics |
| Description | Fourth Women in Macroeconomics Conference, "Who is the 'individual' in Macroeconomics?", online event, 9 December 2021 |
| 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 event aimed to investigate what we mean by the 'individual' in macroeconomics, particularly when considering gendered roles and identities. The presenters included S. Charusheela, Jana Bacevic, John Davis, Julie A Nelson, Alan Kirman and Deirdre McCloskey. An online audience was attracted from a wide range of countries, and the issues involved provoked some lively discussion, particularly in the final panel session. It is intended that this area of research and discussion will be taken forward under whatever format Rebuilding Macroeconomics evolves into in the future. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Global Solutions Summit 2020 - panel discussion convened and led by Dr Angus Armstrong |
| 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 Global Solutions Summit (GSS) helps to assess, test and discuss policy initiatives for submission to the G20. This panel, led by Dr Angus Armstrong, was entitled "Rebuilding Macroeconomics after the Pandemic", and consisted of a recorded discussion which was uploaded to the GSS website for the duration of the 2020 Summit, along with other resources. The GSS co-ordinator expressed appreciation for this contribution, which should help to inform and frame future discussions on this subject. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://www.global-solutions-initiative.org/global-table/rebuilding-macroeconomics-after-the-pandemi... |
| Description | Global Solutions Summit, Berlin, 18-19 March 2019 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Angus Armstrong and Stephen Kinsella represented Rebuilding Macroeconomics on a panel held at the 2019 Global Solutions Summit, which was entitled: "Globalization and Vulnerability". The session was well attended and prompted lively discussion both with the other panel participants and with the audience. The event proved to be a good platform both for promoting Rebuilding Macroeconomics and for gaining awareness of other ideas that might be drawn into the RM programme. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Globalisation Discovery Meeting, 27 September 2017, Lowry Centre, Salford |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | This meeting addressed the research question "Can globalisation benefit all?", and aimed to draw on opinions from the general public, at a venue well outside London, in shaping the role of the Rebuilding Macroeconomics Globalisation Hub Leader. The session produced some robust debates, and was followed quite widely by an online audience. Useful lessons were drawn from this event, both in relation to the Globalisation Hub itself, and for the organisation and structure of Hub-related events in the futre. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| URL | https://www.rebuildingmacroeconomics.ac.uk/can-globalisation-benefit/ |
| Description | Globalisation Hub Workshop, online, 28 January 2021 |
| 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 workshop marked the final opportunity for the project teams within the Globalisation Hub to present their research to each other and to compare outcomes. Five of the six project teams gave presentations during the course of this all-day session. There were regrets expressed that face-to-face discussions had not been possible over the last year, but nonetheless this was a useful and constructive event which allowed some emerging synergies between the projects to be identified. Some useful indicators were given as to items for inclusion in the forthcoming "Road Map". |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Globalisation Hub workshop, 21 May 2018, NIESR |
| 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 workshop was intended to pave the way for the subsequent Call for Research projects to be issued by the Rebuilding Macroeconomics Globalisation Hub, led by Dr Stephen Kinsella. The event consisted of a series of presentations by experts in various areas related to Globalisation, and some periods of extensive discussion. A number of new and interesting ideas for potential research options were identified, and the writing of the Globalisation call was expected to be improved considerably as a result. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Globalisation Hub workshop, NIESR, 15 November 2018 |
| 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 | Six applications had been shortlisted for funding under the Rebuilding Macroeconomics "Globalisation Hub". The applicants were invited to give presentations explaining their proposals further. Representatives from all six projects attended this event, along with several other people interested in the work of the Hub. The session was extremely valuable in clarifying aspects of the proposals, and in better understanding the work which could be funded; the subsequent award of grant funding was thus made on the basis of a considerable amount of information being available to the Hub Leader and the Principal Investigator. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Globalisation Research Hub, Directed Call Workshop, 17 January 2019 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The Globalisation Hub, led by Dr Stephen Kinsella, issued a second research call in December 2018, which was directed specifically to the subject of "The Economics of Belonging". Three credible applications were received, and the applicants were invited to make presentations at NIESR on 17 January 2019, with the session being open to anyone else who wanted to attend. The three presentations were all extremely strong, in their different ways, and prompted a constructive discussion. Decisions on funding one or more of these proposed projects were to be made subsequently, based partially on the information derived from this workshop. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Instability Hub workshop, 8 March 2018 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | This was a discussion led by the newly appointed leaders of the Rebuilding Macroeconomics Instability Research Hub, Professor Roger Farmer and Professor Jean-Philippe Bouchaud, which was intended to frame the research agenda for the Hub, and to shape the call for research project applications. The event was attended by 23 people, and included presentations and discussions related to the themes to be addressed by the Instability Hub. The event provided a foundation for the subsequent Instability Hub call, which was rewritten to take into account the points that had been made on 8 March; the call was eventually issued in early June 2018. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Instability Research Hub - Discussion from the First Research Call, 24 October 2018, NIESR |
| 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 Rebuilding Macroeconomics Network Instability Hub hosted a workshop on 24 October 2018, to discuss some of the research proposals received from the recent research call. Presentations were given on some of these proposed projects, in order to open up a general discussion and encourage a cross-fertilization of ideas from members of the Network. It was thus possible to envisage how the projects might be developed further with collaborative objectives in mind. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Launch of Government Economists for New Economic Systems (GENESYS), 4 November 2021 |
| 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 event marked the launch of Government Economists for New Economic Systems (GENESYS), led by the New Approaches to Economic Challenges (NAEC) unit of OECD, with which Rebuilding Macroeconomics is intending to be involved. GENESYS intends to offer offers a platform for debating, experimenting and discussing policy alternatives and the analytical approaches which underpin them. Dr Angus Armstrong, the Director of Rebuilding Macroeconomics, was a panelist at the event, which included a wide range of speakers and which outlined the policy areas with which GENESYS intends to engage. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.oecd.org/naec/genesys/ |
| 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 | NAEC - OECD NAEC virtual seminar with Mark Carney - Values: Building a Better World for All, 1 September 2021 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | This event was organised jointly by Rebuilding Macroeconomics and the New Approaches to Economic Challenges (NAEC) initiative of the OECD. The participation of Mark Carney ensured a large scale audience, even at a traditionally quiet time of the year, which is likely to be extended further by viewers of the recording on the OECD TV channel. A useful and sometimes animated discussion took place, which covered relevant ground and set a basis for future events of this kind. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://oecdtv.webtv-solution.com/8244/or/naec_virtual_seminar_with_mark_carney_values_building_a_be... |
| Description | New Approaches to Economics Challenges conference, 15-16 April 2019, OECD Paris |
| 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 event, entitled "New Analytical Tools and Techniques for Economic Policymaking" was run in Paris by New Approaches to Economic Challenges (NAEC), part of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. Doyne Farmer and Jean-Philippe Bouchaud both gave presentations; and Angus Armstrong moderated a session on "Complexity and Social Science". The event provided a forum for highlighting the ideas being developed by Rebuilding Macroeconomics; and also offered a useful series of contacts for additional work which might be undertaken, particularly in the area of Complexity. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | http://www.oecd.org/naec/new-economic-policymaking/ |
| Description | New York University / New Approaches to Economic Challenges - Roundtable: "Next Generation Analytical Approaches to Policy", online seminar, 21 April 2022 |
| 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 the launch event for a coalition of Institutions committed to developing new science and injecting it into the networks and structures of policymaking, organised by. The Agent-Based Modelling Lab at New York University (NYU) and the New Approaches to Economic Challenges Unit at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. Angus Armstrong, the Director of Rebuilding Macroeconomics, was a panel member, and contributed to a wide-ranging discussion about potential future developments. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://oecdtv.webtv-solution.com/7b9478cab3a772c72a30fceda4466766/or/naec_nyu_next_generation_analy... |
| Description | One-day conference, "What can Complexity add to Macroeconomic Policy Making?", 30 January 2020, NIESR |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | This conference aimed to examine the contribution that could be made by Complexity Science to Macroeconomic policy making. The main target audience was the Government Economic Service, and representatives from a range of Departments attended the event. The presentations sparked wide-ranging discussions, with several suggestions being made for integrating the ideas discussed at the event with the wider Rebuilding Macroeconomics programme. The event also marked the launch of the "Complexity in Macroeconomics" essay prize, aimed at young researchers. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | Online Seminar, "Central Bank Digital Currency and the Future of Central Bank Money: Key legal Issues", 23 September 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 | A seminar arising from the Rebuilding Macroeconomics project led by Professor Rosa Lastra was held online on 23 September 2020, in conjunction with representatives from the IMF. The subject was "Central Bank Digital Currency and the Future of Central Bank Money: Key legal Issues". Attendance at the seminar was by invitation only, and participants included both financial and legal specialists. The discussion following the presentations was intense, with some significant disagreements occurring; this was all useful material for some forthcoming working papers, which will be published by the IMF, the Bank of England, and Rebuilding Macroeconomics. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | Online Seminar, "Post-Covid Jobs and the Quest for Better Work", 28 May 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 online workshop was one of a series addressing issues relating to economic aspects of a Covid-19 exit strategy. The event was led by Professor Henrietta Moore, of UCL, and focused on aspects of the so-called "Build Back Better" agenda, with panels including representatives from the Resolution Foundation and the TUC. The discussions were wide-ranging, with broad agreement as to the general endorsement of the UK government's economic response to date to the Covid-19 crisis, but with an assessment that more difficult challenges are still to be faced later in 2020 and in 2021. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | Online seminar, "Global Production Networks and the COVID-19 Pandemic", 5 June 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 event addressed issues relating to the disruption of the Global Supply Network by the Covid-19 outbreak, and possible policy options that might be taken in response. The event was chaired by Professor Doyne Farmer, and the speakers included Matthew O. Jackson, Jean-Noel Barrot, Nitya Pandalai-Nayar, and Francois Lafond. This was quite a specialised subject which nonetheless attracted a reasonably large audience, and a lively question and answer session ensued via the Zoom chat function. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | Online seminar, "Monetary Finance in the Age of Corona Virus: Modern Monetary Theory and the Green New Deal", 20 May 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 online seminar was part of a series on Economic issues relating to an exit strategy from the Covid-19 crisis, and it attracted our largest audience to date. The session was led by Megan Greene and Roger Farmer, and included presentations by Warren Mosler, Ann Pettifor, Narayana Kocherlakota, Vítor Constâncio, L. Randall Wray, Stephanie Kelton, and Laurence Kotlikoff. Modern Monetary Theory provokes strong arguments on either side, and these perspectives were reflected in the presentations, the discussions and the questions from the audience. There have been numerous requests for access to the recording of the seminar, and this will be made available on the RM website. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | Online seminar, "Should Private Sector Debt Relief be part of the Exit Strategy?", 14 May 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 seminar was one a series addressing policy options for a long-term Exit Strategy from the Covid-19 lockdown. The event was chaired by Rosa Lastra, and included contributions from Franklin Allen, Katharina Pistor, Alexander Douglas, and Rodrigo Olivares-Caminal. The subject of debt relief divides opinions, and contrasting views were expressed in the presentations, the discussions, and in the questions raised by the online participants. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | Online webinar, "Social Macroeconomics in the Age of Covid-19", 16 June 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 webinar focused on aspects of Social Macroeconomics in relation to exit strategy options from the current Covid-19 crisis. The contributors were a mixture of Rebuilding Macroeconomics Hub Leaders, Management Group members and Project Leaders, as well as invited external speakers. Despite some last minute changes to the line-up and some consequent delays in publicity, there was considerable interest in this event, particularly from members of the Government Economic Service; and a number of requests were also received to view the recording of the session. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | Panel discussion on Systemic Recovery, 28 April 2021, OECD New Approaches to Economic Challenges, Rebuilding Macroeconomics, and Fields Institute University of Toronto |
| 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 panel discussion followed up and concluded the preceding Extended Problem-Solving Workshop, and the symposium on Systemic Recovery, run jointly by the OECD's New Approaches to Economic Challenges Programme, Rebuilding Macroeconomics, and the Fields Institute, University of Toronto. The panel focused on the debates on the policy approaches to develop the resilience necessary for a Systemic Recovery; the panel members included, amongst others, Mark Carney, Mariana Mazzucato, William H. McRaven, and Jo Swinson. Various options for reinforcing resilience were outlined, some of which may be including in the forthcoming Rebuilding Macroceconomics "Road Map". |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.oecd.org/naec/a-systemic-recovery/ |
| Description | Pre-Call Workshop for Finance Research Hug, 13 September 2018 |
| 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 | In this meeting, economists, sociologists and legal scholars identified the open questions to be picked up by the Finance Hub Research Call. The overall topic was "Financial Resilience". Presentations were made by Dirk Bezemer (Gronigen); Isabel Schanbel (Bonn); and Kern Alexander (Zurich), with responses being made by other academic specialists. The material derived from the event will be used to shape the subsequent Research Funding Call to be issued by the Finance Hub, which is led by Ekaterina Svetlova. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Pre-Discovery Meeting, "How can we achieve a sustainable economy?", NIESR, 28 November 2017 |
| 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 event was intended to clarify the role of Sustainability Hub Leader for the Rebuilding Macroeconomics Network. The meeting was addressed by Michael Kumhof, from the Bank of England; Doyne Farmer, from the University of Oxford; Dennis Snower, from the University of Kiel; and Dan Nixon, from Perspectiva. A well-informed audience contributed to a wide-ranging discussion, with diverse viewpoints being represented. The overall conclusion was that, whilst this is a potentially rich and relevant area for research topics relating to Rebuilding Macroeconomics, some degree of focusing and restriction may be necessary in order to produce a viable and coherent Hub. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| URL | https://www.rebuildingmacroeconomics.ac.uk/can-achieve-sustainable-economy-summary-note/ |
| Description | Pre-Discovery Meeting, "The Sociology of Economic Institutions", NIESR, 17 November 2017 |
| 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 event was an expanded follow-up to the earlier session held on 14 June 2017. This November meeting was addressed by Kevin Hoover (via video link from Duke University, North Carolina); Sheila Dow, from the University of Stirling; Beatrice Cherrier, from the University of Cergy; and Richard Bronk, from the European Institute at LSE. The session was well-attended, with a wide range of institutions being represented, and the discussions were helpful in framing the scope and content of the role of Economic Institutions Research Hub Leader, which was advertised the following month. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| URL | https://www.rebuildingmacroeconomics.ac.uk/summary-note-confidence-economic-institutions/ |
| Description | Radio 4 programme "Decision Time: the next financial meltdown", broadcast 26 September 2018 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Angus Armstrong participated in a Radio 4 programme entitled: "Decision Time: the next financial meltdown", chaired by Nick Robinson. The other discussants included Ken Clarke, Stephanie Flanders, and Dame DeAnne Julian. The debate focused on the issue of whether we are now in a better position to withstand a financial crash, with Angus making contributions based both on his current role as Director of "Rebuilding Macroeconomics", and on his previous experience with the Treasury. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Second Annual Conference, Rebuilding Macroeconomics, "How can interdisciplinary research enhance the policy relevance of Macroeconomics?", 19-20 September 2019, Bryce Hall, Edinburgh |
| 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 second RM conference focused on selected projects funded via the six research hubs. A keynote address was given by Professor Deirdre McCloskey, of the University of Illinois at Chicago, who also participated in a panel discussion on the second day. The presentations provoked considerable discussion and debate, with some widely differing viewpoints being expressed. Feedback from the event will be used in managing RM activities and projects during the remainder of the Network's period of funding. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://www.rebuildingmacroeconomics.ac.uk/event-details/rebuilding-macroeconomics-second-annual-con... |
| Description | Second round of workshops for Social Cooperation Hub, Oxford and London, 15 and 16 January 2019 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | This second set of workshops, held on successive days in Oxford and London, sought to develop the thinking of the Social Cooperation Hub under the heading of "Accounting for Macroeconomics Failure". The events were linked to the Hub's call for research applications, which was live at this point, but also sought to promote discussion about how social and political issues can be incorporated into macroeconomic theory. The sessions produced some relevant and interesting discussions which will indeed help to promote the future activities of the Hub, and also helped to extend the Hub's growing network. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Seminar, "Debt Cancellation: towards new central bank policies", LSE, 17 October 2019 |
| 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 workshop was led by Professor Laura Bear, a member of the Rebuilding Macroeconomics Management Group, and a co-Leader of the Macroeconomic Institutions Research Hub. It focused on hhow cross-disciplinary debates might inform policy interventions by the Bank of England. The attendees included representatives from the Jubilee Debt Campaign and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, as well as various disciplinary specialists. The presentations prompted extensive discussions of the practical and moral issues relating to debt, and identified areas where further research might well be productive. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Seminar: "The Political Economy of Anger", Eric Lonergan and Mark Blyth, NIESR, 5 February 2019 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Eric Lonergan (the Chair of the Rebuilding Macroeconomics Advisory Group) and Mark Blyth used this occasion to test out ideas to be presented in their forthcoming book on "The Political Economy of Anger", in an event led by the Globalisation Hub. The session was very well attended and prompted lively and sometimes passionate debate. Eric and Mark will use the feedback thus generated for the final version of their publication, and the ideas discussed here will also be fed back into the work of the Globalisation Hub. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Social Cooperation Hub Selection Workshop, Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford, 27 March 2019 |
| 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 Social Cooperation Hub Selection workshop was held at the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford, with the intention of identifying preferred proposals for funding under the Hub. Nine proposals were represented at the session, with a further three to be considered separately. A range of issues relating to the connections between social cooperation and macroeconomic performance were discussed, and all of the proposals were understood subsequently with greater clarity, a process which is anticipated to lead to more informed decision-making for the final selection of projects. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Social Cooperation Hub, Launch Event Part 1, NIESR, London, 10 October 2018 |
| 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 launch of the Rebuilding Macroeconomics Social Cooperation Research Hub took place at the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) on 10 October 2018. The focus of the discussions was on "Social Trust and the British Productivity Puzzle". The aim of the event was to frame the terms for the Hub's research call, and progress was made towards this goal. A similar session was planned to be held at the Blavatnik School of Government, in Oxford, on 11 October 2018. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| 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 | Sustainable Growth Hub - Research Call planning meeting, 24 September 2018, University of Cambridge |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | A meeting of the Sustainable Hub Advisory Group was held in the David Attenborough Building, New Museums Site, University of Cambridge, on 24 September 2018. The objective was to discuss and define the terms of the Research Call which the Hub would subsequently make, along with the objectives to be prioritised for funding. Three panel sessions were held, during which the 21 participants made extensive contributions to the discussions. The call for research applications is expected to be developed and approved as soon as possible. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Sustainable Growth Hub Project Selection Workshop, NIESR, 14 March 2019 |
| 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 final selection workshop for projects to be funded via the Sustainable Growth Hub was held at NIESR on 14 March 2019. Six presentations were made on the day; two others had been made previously via video link. The presentations and the subsequent discussions were both informative in their own right, and were very useful in shaping the subsequent decisions on funding to be made via this Hub, given that only a limited number of projects can be supported. The workshop allowed for the final selection of bids to be funded to be made with a greater degree of confidence. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Sustainable Growth Hub Workshop, 16 March 2020, King's College, University of Cambridge |
| 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 original workshop was refashioned as a video-conferencing event, owing to the Covid-19 situation. Only a few people were actually in the room at King's College Cambridge, but a reasonably large audience joined for varying periods via Zoom, during the course of the event. The presenters included leaders of RM-funded projects, as well as a lecture on Central Banks and Climate Change from Sandra Batten of the Bank of England. Despite the revisions, and the limitations imposed via this format, some interesting discussions were held, and some strong disagreements were expressed on various elements of the subject matter. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | Sustainable Growth Hub Workshop, 2 November 2020, online |
| 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 | The four project leaders from the Sustainable Growth Hub, along with the Hub Leaders and some invited respondents, met online for a one-day intensive workshop to assess the outputs from the projects and possible synergies between that might be emerging. The discussions were intensive and highly technical; the presentations proved to be very useful in summarizing the work of the projects to date, and in indicating some potential areas of future development. This may well have been the last such meeting of the Hub members, but the workshop encouraged further individual interaction and possible future collaboration. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | Symposium on Systemic Recovery, 26 and 27 April 2021, Fields Institute, OECD New Approaches to Economic Challenges, and Rebuilding Macroeconomics |
| 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 symposium was arranged jointly by the Fields Institute, University of Toronto; the OECD's New Approaches to Economic Challenges programme; and Rebuilding Macroeconomics. Speakers were drawn from each of these organisations, as well as from the Bank of Canada, New York University, and the University of Oxford. Each day consisted of two panel sessions focusing on specific economic issues relating the predicted recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic; and also included reports from teams participating in the associated Extended Problem-Solving Workshop. The discussions following the presentations were generally productive and constructive, and were useful in providing feedback and context for the emerging final report, or "Road Map", for Rebuilding Macroeconomics. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | http://www.fields.utoronto.ca/activities/20-21/systemic-symposium |
| Description | The Future of Central Banking, one-day videoconference, 20 March 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 conference planned for 20 March 2020 had to be switched to a video-only format following the Covid-19 outbreak. The revised videoconferencing format still allowed for three interesting panel sessions, including contributions from Ed Balls, Inga Rademacher, and Martin Hellweg. There was considerable interaction with the audience via the media of Twitter and the Zoom chat function, and feedback after the event was positive, with particular appreciation that this event had been put on at a difficult time. The experience gained from this event should help with further sessions of this kind whilst restrictions relating to the virus continue to be in place. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | Webinar, 27 April 2020: "Helicopter Money: a necessary response in a Covid-19 world", online seminar 3 in Rebuilding Macroeconomics "Exit Strategy" series |
| 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 third webinar in the Covid-19 Exit Strategy series provoked some lively debate between the panellists on the subject of Helicopter money, which was mirrored by the questions asked by the other participants via the Zoom chat function. The session was recorded and will be posted on the RM website with a view to reaching a wider audience. Further discussions relating to this policy area were mooted by the contributors. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | Workshop, "Cultures of Expertise: Economic Policy and Academic Networks in UK Institutions", LSE, 17 September 2018 |
| 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 | This research meeting was part of the Rebuilding Macroeconomics Research Hub entitled: "Are Our Economic Institutions Fit for Purpose?", led by Professors Laura Bear and Gary Dymski, which explores the UK's macroeconomic policy institutions, and ways in which they might potentially be changed. The event was intended help to shape the Hub's research grant call for innovative project proposals, to be issued later in the autumn of 2018. The session was well attended and prompted extensive and detailed discussions, which were recorded and which were subsequently fed back in to the process of defining the Hub Research Call. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Workshop, "Understanding the macroeconomic effects of income, wealth and gender inequalities and policies", University of Greenwich, 14 October 2019 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | This event marked the first occasion in which a project funded by Rebuilding Macroeconomics was reaching its end and presenting its findings to a wider audience. The presenters included the project leader, Dr ?zlem Onaran, as well as members of the project team, and the Rebuilding Macroeconomics Director, Dr Angus Armstrong. The presentations provoked considerable and lively debate, with various suggestions being made as to how the research question could be revised and refocused. The event could serve as a template to be used by other projects funded by Rebuilding Macroeconomics. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |