“HONG KONG is the gateway to the world’s most dynamic economy. It is an obvious place to go looking for some dynamic economic thinking. On April 4th-6th the city played host to the fourth meeting of the Institute for New Economic Thinking (INET), an attempt to remake the economics discipline, financed by George Soros, a billionaire investor, among others. It was INET’S first big get-together in East Asia. Was it worth the trip?
The timing, at least, was exquisite. The conference opened on the day of Haruhiko Kuroda’s eye-catching debut as governor of the Bank of Japan. Asia suddenly had its own celebrity central banker, guaranteed to stimulate economic debate even if he fails to stimulate Japan’s economy.
Asia can also inspire economists to break with convention. Ever since its financial crisis in 1997, the region has been sceptical of the economic orthodoxy “emanating from the east coast of the United States,” noted Rob Johnson, INET’s director. Japan’s mind-bending macroeconomics has also prompted some mould-breaking ideas. In a 2003 speech in Tokyo…”
For more of The Economist’s take on INET’s “Changing of the Guard? conference, click the link below.
Link: The Economist on INET Hong Kong
