The Center for Economic Stability Incorporated was first formed in March 2010, with the initial aim of supporting the Keen Walk to Kosciuszko (which took place in April 2010). That venture was extremely successful, but it took place at a time when–certainly in Australia–there was optimism that the economic and financial crisis that began in 2007/08 was over.
One year later, that optimism is evaporating around the world, in the face of persistent bad news. Economic growth in America, Europe and Australia is anemic, unemployment is rising, and stock markets have gone from a sustained rally back into near Bear Market territory.
Meanwhile, the neoclassical economists who didn’t see the coming have nonetheless remained in charge of economic policy, and still overwhelmingly dominate the academic profession. Having failed to anticipate the crisis, they are now failing to overcome it. Clearly, if we leave the economics establishment to its own devices, it will continue to espouse failed theories, and apply failed remedies. If change is to come to economics, then it has to come from outside the mainstream of the academic profession, and outside the traditional bastions of economic policy.
That is the objective of CfESI. It has operated with minimal funds in the last year–predominantly donations from readers of this blog. If it is to be effective, it has to have substantially more funding than can be raised by donations alone, and it needs more than just the time that volunteers can give.
For these reasons, the first AGM of the CfESI is also the vehicle to attempt to generate a substantial membership base that can fund several important activities, including:
- Hiring a research assistant to maintain the economic database that lies behind the empirical analysis of debt-deflation published on the Debtwatch blog;
- Supporting the development of “Minsky”, a new software package for modelling the monetary dynamics of capitalism;
- Enabling policy papers based on the Financial Instability Hypothesis to be developed and widely promulgated.
So please sign up to CfESI, and if you can, come along to the AGM:
- Date: Wednesday September 7th 2011
- Time: From 6pm-9pm
- Place: At the Sydney Mechanics School of Arts (1st floor), 280 Pitt Street, Sydney NSW 2000
I hope to see you there. If you can’t make it, I hope you nonetheless sign up to CfESI to support the development of a realistic approach to economic theory and policy. Membership is open to anyone, anywhere in the world.
Cheers, Steve Keen
PS CfESI has two URLs. The shortest is:
The long version is
