Observation- male- dominated, white- dominated, control is at its core.Why is it important to understand the history in order to invent or design change? If history repeats itself, what can we learned from past patterns? What brought women into economics and who allowed them a voice? Incentives perversed stuck with me from the lyrics. All I see is human constructs (price mechanism, GDP and more) driving consumption and spending. It's perverse to stimulate government spending to drive economies, print money to drive inflation, capitalise on interest, control credit.

• Joanne Anderson

I have learnt that the interaction between the exchange of money and our financial systems put in place by those of power has led to some of the most profound changes to our everyday lives across the globe. Looking at economics throughout the timeline I can see the themes and models where refutation was used to change and adapt the economy over the years. I understand that currently, due to banking of education, some are not equipped to refute current economic practices and therefore do not question the systems in place that are fuelling thoughts of scarcity and lack. There is a need for change and a new economic model to be adapted whereby we can educate all about economics so that we can sustain good practices around economic growth.

My learning includes that assumptions in economics are unlimited wants, self-interest in decision-making, and rational decision-making. These are used to help predict the decisions of players in an economy and how different players use scarce resources.
The economic man is a model of human behavior assumed by economists in analyzing market behavior and is an assumption of many economic models. It assumes that humans make rational decisions when, in fact, humans are flawed beings that make irrational decisions, sometimes against their own interests. I am finding this new world of economics to be fascinating and would like to do personal further study. I can envision micro-environments in my community back home adopting the Doughnut and flourishing.

• Nina Wakefield

@Nina,
you write really well as you often carefully and skillfully synthesize the different aspects of Economics learned! Yes, i am thinking of this line in my head recently - we cannot change the things we cannot name. In the same vein, we cannot expect our world driven so much by the prevailing Economics to change unless we begin to be able to name it and challenge/refute them. It seems like an arduous task, but gratefully, we are not alone, so for example, Raworth's work is an example of this form of Refutation; also as we saw, Circular Economy is more prevalent now; however, there are still many who do not know and this is where our role as teachers can help accelerate the change.

• Cat Ho

Interesting timeline, showing the major ideas and theme around different timelines, and how each model has been refuted and adapted. I have one great wonder, there is no clear indication who is the Father of Capitalism? Is it Adam Smith? Is free market always strongly linked to capitalism?
Does being an economist mean having most popular model at the time?

As we are going through these module, there are observations on news that is suggesting that our world is de-globalising, based on the behaviors of politicians.
Perhaps this is worth a read from The Economist,
https://www.economist.com/briefing/2024/05/09/the-worlds-economic-order-is-breaking-down

• Tammy Cheng

@Tammy Cheng,
Yes, this de-globalizing is happening with terms also like decoupling (between US and China) and more lately, de-risking.

Which begs the question, what kind of Economics and Economic story are framing these policies made by politicans?

• Cat Ho

I think the development of Economics was consistent and reflected historical and political environment of the time. By identifying the main economic agents and explaining the relations between them the theorists tried to build accurate economic models based on the assumptions. Starting with the descriptions of the major economic mechanisms the economic theory gradually absorbed other factors for analysis and classification, such as Great Depression, financial aid to the African countries, psychology of customers behaviors etc. Various social and economic situations challenged the models developed centuries ago and sometimes proved them ineffective. Although the basic foundation has been left unchanged the theory has expanded significantly channeling new directions for the economic thought. Over time the role of economists has become more significant. They stepped out of the universities and joined those with authority to make the decisions affecting the nations. The governments used the economic theory intuitively or mindfully to create a stable environment to sustain its long-term presence. So the self-interest of those with power and access to the resources have been the driving forces behind most of the economic decisions. This consistency has ultimately created the international landscape as we have it now.

• Kristina Pilgueva

I appreciate the comments made above in connection with the role of self interest of those within power being the driving forces. Hopefully we, the commonpeople, can become the driving forces and also gain the education needed in order to refute the current economy. It needs to change and adapt once again for regenerative and sustainable practices. I understand that in certain countries it, Doughnut economy, is being tried and is working so we need to spread the information about it.

• Nina Wakefield

@Tammy Cheng,
we do talk about the Great Depression, but often in context of introduction Keynesian theory and why the role of government should be encouraged.

• Cat Ho

@Kristina Pilgueva, I feel strongly with the the phrase self-interest. So looking at the timeline and the change of major economic models and ideas, it seems like what @Cat Ho, have show us are Not something trendy or newly discovered but rather everything that different economist at different era has given a considerable thoughts. I used to think that self-interest is a selfish act but nowadays, I have taken it as an important basic human desire that all of us deserve and therefore, focusing on how we can find a common ground while still taking care of our mental health. In my opinion, it is difficult to be selfless, and therefore we should stick to it but at the same time, making sure we are avoiding the common tragedy. I would love to learn more about what was going on during the time of the Great Depression as well. Is this something widely discussed in Business Studies and Economics? Perhaps in the subject of History?

• Tammy Cheng