Dinner Parties During 'Lost Decades': On the Difficulties of Rethinking Financial Markets, Fostering Elite Consensus, and Renewing Political Economy

Abstract

Two groups of problems that ought to be understood in relation to one another: economic trends in the North Atlantic societies, and the capacity to collectively thinking, discussing, and even decide on what to do about our economy. Part One argues that economic policy and economic life are not only intertwined, but compromise one another. Part Two uses the World Economics Association's recent virtual conference, Rethinking Financial Markets to discuss some possibilities for fostering collective thought. Part Three briefly discusses the nature of the economy at the present time, i.e., the tasks confronting contemporary economic policy elites.

Keywords: anthropology of finance, digital communication, inflation targeting, financial crisis, monetary policy, sovereign debt, financial markets, securities markets, financial regulation, Eurozone crisis, budget deficits, political economy, World Economics Association