ABSTRACT
This issue of the International Review of Applied Economics comprises the papers given at a conference held to explore further the contributions to new thinking in economics (‘New Economics’) as the new mainstream. The conference had the title ‘Economic policies of the new thinking in economics’. It took place at St Catharine’s College, Cambridge, on 14 April 2011 under the auspices of the ‘Cambridge Trust for New Thinking in Economics’. New economics is concerned with institutional behaviour, expectations and uncertainty, as opposed to traditional economics with its emphasis on equilibrium, mathematical formalism and deterministic solutions. With the financial crisis brought on by the unrestrained pursuit of personal and corporate profit, sanctioned by traditional economics, this is an opportune time to establish a new way of approaching economic understanding, based on new economic theory. It is also a good time to bring forward new ideas on the approach to economic policy across a wide range of areas (for example, macroeconomic and global governance, employment and unemployment, social security and pensions).
