Cambridge University Forms Partnership with New York Economic Institute
Economists at the UK’s prestigious University of Cambridge have formed a partnership with the New York-based Institute for New Economic Thinking (INET), with the stated aim of advancing innovative approaches to understanding how global economies and the associated financial system really work.
INET said that in the context of financial contagion, persistent unemployment, rising inequality and intense pressure on government budgets, economists worldwide recognise that conventional doctrines and models need to be reassessed. It added that INET was created to facilitate this critical enquiry and broaden and accelerate the development of economic thinking that can lead to solutions for the great challenges of the 21st century. Cambridge’s Faculty of Economics has now joined this global network of new economic thinkers.
The Cambridge-INET Institute is being set up through a US$3.75m grant from the INET that has been matched equally with funding from The Keynes Fund for Applied Economics, Mohammed El Erian, the Cambridge Endowment for Research in Finance, The Isaac Newton Trust and the Faculty of Economics.
Inaugural director of Cambridge-INET, Professor Sanjeev Goyal, said: “Our Faculty members are at the forefront of new economic thinking about individual behaviour, the networks that shape economic exchange, the econometric analysis of financial markets, and the transmission mechanisms which relate the financial sector to the rest of the economy.
“The support which went into the setting up of the institute – from INET itself and other matched funding – is recognition of the quality and importance of our research. It will help us to consolidate further the status of the Faculty as a leading centre for fundamental research in economics.”
The Cambridge-INET will support doctoral research through PhD studentships, appoint a number of post-doctoral fellowships every year, host leading international economists, sponsor major conferences and provide seed funding for cutting-edge research projects.
The Institute has four themes of research: social networks, crowds and markets; transmission mechanisms and economic policy; information, uncertainty and incentives; and empirical analysis of financial markets.