A New Economy Movement for a World in Transformation

The Global Fund for a New Economy and the UCL IIPP Strategic Economics Alliance hosted this workshop as part of both the LSE Emerging Political Economy Convening and the UCL IIPP FORUM 2025.

The Global Fund for a New Economy and the UCL IIPP Strategic Economics Alliance hosted this workshop as part of both the LSE Emerging Political Economy Convening and the UCL IIPP FORUM 2025 on June 19th, at the Senate House.

The Global Fund for a New Economy and the IIPP Strategic Economics Alliance held a workshop in London as part of the third annual Emerging Political Economy Convening at LSE and the Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose Annual Forum at Senate House. The event brought together members of the UK community and funders to discuss key challenges and opportunities for a global new economy movement, in the context of significant transformations in the global landscape. The aim was to underscore the urgency of this movement at an international level and to forge strategies for advancing it through groundbreaking ideas, policies, and actions.

Previous efforts in new economic thinking had been strong but often localised, dispersed, and disconnected from the everyday dilemmas people faced. Only a few of these initiatives had successfully engaged with and impacted policy, while many remained trapped within academic silos. Most failed to amplify the voices of those doing the heavy lifting or to connect scholarly work with social movements in the Global South. These limitations also resulted in restrictive, predominantly national policy frameworks that reacted to problems rather than proactively steering economies towards solutions.

There remained an urgent need for a new economic paradigm. A global new economy movement—drawing from a wider and more multidisciplinary perspective, and involving a broader set of actors, particularly historically marginalised voices—was essential to accelerating this transformation. This workshop sought to develop strategies for achieving that, from national to global levels.

Session 1: 

Global Governance for a New World Order: Values, Priorities and Strategies

In a context of escalating geopolitical tensions, resurgent protectionism, the climate emergency, weakening multilateralism, and disruptive technological change, rethinking global economic governance had become not only necessary but also a strategic opportunity. Adriana and Anastasia explored reforms to international institutions and cooperation frameworks that could deliver more inclusive, equitable, and sustainable outcomes—particularly in a multipolar world in which developing countries were asserting a greater voice. Their contributions addressed new narratives and strategies on international trade, sustainable development, financial architecture, climate action, and global cooperation.

Chair: 

  • Carolina Alves, Associate Professor in Economics at the UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose (IIPP-SEA)

Speakers: 

Provocative remarks before opening for Q&A: 

  • Thiruni Kelegama, Member of the Coordinating Collective at the University of Oxford Institute of Political Economy
  • Danisha Kazi, Head of Economics UK at Positive Money
  • Till Kellerhof, Program Director at the Club of Rome

Session 2:

Development Strategies to Overcome Neoliberal Failure

The prevailing neoliberal model had contributed to ecological collapse, economic exploitation, and the erosion of democratic institutions. Its ideology hollowed out the very concept of development, deepened global inequalities, and reinforced power imbalances between nations and social classes. By presenting progress as the natural outcome of unregulated markets, neoliberalism obscured the systemic injustices it perpetuated. Now more than ever, it was imperative to rethink and rebuild economic systems from the ground up—anchored in planetary justice, collective ownership, and radical democracy. Ha-Joon, Prabhat, and Grace each brought critical insights to support the reimagining of a just and sustainable future.


Chair: 

  • Pedro Rossi, Vice President and Chief Economist at the Global Fund for a New Economy (GFNE)

Speakers: 

  • Grace Blakeley, Staff writer at the Tribune Magazine, Author and Commentator
  • Ha-Joon Chang, Professor at the Department of Economics, SOAS
  • (Online) Prabhat Patnaik, Emeritus Professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University

Provocative remarks before opening for Q&A: 

Session 3:

Transforming the Economy in a Time of Global Crises: Key Insights and Reflection

Kate outlined how, around the world, economic approaches were converging around ten unifying principles—spanning ecological integrity, social justice, democratic participation, and holistic well-being. These principles challenged the extractive logic of growth-at-all-costs and instead centred regeneration, sufficiency, care, and interdependence—not only among people but also with the living planet. At the same time, Richard reminded the audience of persistent blind spots in progressive economic thinking in the Global North, particularly the failure to globalise their vision and to engage with the rich, complex histories of the Global South. This included the need to interrogate who defined “crisis” or “worst moment”, and to resist technocratising transformation in ways that obscured power and politics. The panel encouraged participants to hold both vision and critique—to be inspired by coherence across movements while remaining attentive to the ongoing work of making transformations truly global, just, and inclusive.

Chair: 

  • Carolina Alves, Associate Professor in Economics at the UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose (IIPP-SEA)

Speakers: 

  • Kate Pickett, OBE, Professor of Epidemiology at the University of York
  • Richard Kozul-Wright, Former Director of UNCTAD’s Globalization and Development Strategies Division, Professor of Sustainable Structural Transformation at SOAS

Provocative remarks before opening for Q&A: 

SEA
SEA

Session 4:

How does the current moment change how we organise?

The breakout sessions formed the beating heart of the workshop. They were designed to encourage bold thinking and spark transformative dialogue. Participants were invited to critically reflect on the evolution of new economic thinking, considering its historical and contemporary dimensions as well as its organisational, communicative, and global implications. The objective was to shape visionary ideas and lay the foundations for a truly global, just, and inclusive economic future.

Speakers/facilitators: Dan Vockins (GFNE) and Marcela Chapa (IIPP-SEA)

  • Group I: How do we develop a popular anti-authoritarian political economics? And how should social movements and academics work together?
  • Group II: What are the main communications challenges we face and how should we begin to overcome them?
  • Group III: What role does the decolonisation turn in economics offer and how do we build a horizontally international movement?
  • Group IV: How do we build the policy and academic capacity to deliver a heterodox economic program?
SEA
SEA

Session 5:

Conclusion of Breakout Session - New Economy Movement: Challenges and opportunities

This session summarised the discussions from the breakout groups. Each group’s facilitator shared key takeaways with all participants, offering reflections on the challenges and opportunities for the global new economy movement.


Speaker/Facilitator: 

  • Dan Vockins, Senior Vice President, Programs and Strategy and Co-Founder at the Global Fund for a New Economy (GFNE)
  • Marcela Chapa Garza, Project Manager of the Strategic Alliance at the UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose
SEA
SEA

Session 6:

Building Capacity for a Green Transition

SEA

Watch the session here

The workshops concluded with the IIPP Forum’s flagship talk, featuring Mariana Mazzucato, Baroness Jennifer Chapman, and Kate Raworth.

Panel:

Find out more about Building Capacity for a Green Transition