simon zadek

Friday afternoon east coast time, and leading economists from around the world have found their way to Bretton Woods, where the post-war (second that is) global financial deal was cut along with the creation of then notable international institutions such as the IMF. Quite a spot really!

This is the first joint annual gathering organised by the Institute of New Economic Thinking, invented and originally sole-sponsored by George Soros but now co-sponsored by the inventor of the Centre for International Governance Innovation, Jim Ballsillie, who I have previously highlighted as the sole business leader on the UN High Level Panel on Global Sustainability.

And what a line-up of deeply-grounded economists, such as Ken Rogoff, jo Stiglitz and Bob Skidelsky, alongside a host of economic commentators, thought leaders and policy makers from Adair Turner to Paul Volker, Gordon Brown and many others. In many ways, the architects and high priests of our current economic thinking and practice, for better and worse.

And me, well i am here in part in my new role of Senior Fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation, where i am supporting their development of a hard-core research programme in association with the Institute of New Economic Thinking in the sustainable economy, with a particular emphasis on capital market reforms linked to sustainability objectives. I mean, what a ‘gift’ to be able to even think about such things, let alone work alongside such an amazing group of folks in designing and helping to implement such a programme of work.

Reinventing economics, or as Nick Stern would have it a ‘new industrial paradigm’, is a goal worthy of the times, but is as old as the snowy hills i am currently gazing out at (well, poetically speaking). But just maybe the world’s greatest recession, backed up by the geopolitical and economic imbalances that supported the unleashing of the ‘big short’ and its various and many cousins, can serve as a catalyst to take this agenda forward more powerfully than in any other moment in modern times.

But the answers are not simple, and are over-shadowed by the many, articulate explanations of the problem(s). Remember my challenging Sunday game of working our big solutions. Well, now is the chance to play it for real, with an open invitation to bring forward the innovative solutions needed to scale the sustainability outcomes that have so far only been achieved on the margins of our global economy.

I look forward to hearing from you !