The University of Perugia will host the international conference “Manifesto and frontiers of research for an economic Renaissance” on 20 and 21 June 2024, at the Department of Economics.
“It will be the occasion in which economists and other Italian and international university professors will present the ‘Manifesto for a new economy’, already signed by over 300 economists aiming to transform it into an ‘International Manifesto’ to change research and policy choices on a global level” explains Professor Marcello Signorelli, Director of the Department of Economics of the University of Perugia who co-organises the meeting in the Umbrian capital.
The contents of the “Manifesto” – Director Signorelli further underlines – are very demanding and challenge the economist profession to leave the “comfort zone” and tackle truly innovative research paths in different directions:
1. overcome homo oeconomicus: our preferences include reciprocity, aversion to inequality, altruism, taste for the impact and generativity of our actions, as well as highlighting that, as human beings, we place enormous value on relationships, the search for identity and the meaning of our existence;
2. overcome the shareholder-only enterprise: there is a rich variety of social and productive organizations that pursue multiple goals that are absolutely not attributable to the single aim of maximum profit, with implications for governance systems aimed at regulating relationships of interest differently among stakeholders, in a plurality of business forms, consumer cooperatives, production cooperatives, banking cooperatives, job reintegration cooperatives, social cooperatives, community cooperatives, B-corps, benefit businesses;
3. go beyond GDP towards better wellbeing indicators: GDP is not sufficient to evaluate the quality of life of a country, multidimensional indicators are needed to combine the creation of economic value with the other decisive pillars of the future and of our happiness such as environmental sustainability , quality and dignity of work, value of relationships;
4. overcome the state-individual hiatus with subsidiarity: market failures are reduced with the involvement of aware citizens and responsible businesses who understand that increasing the positive social and environmental impact of their choices is the path that leads to satisfaction and fulfillment of meaning of life; and policy choices, starting from principles of vertical and horizontal subsidiarity, must also evaluate the impact on participation, active citizenship and social and civic capital, the factors that create the vital space for the survival of democracy in an increasingly global context. difficult and challenging;
5. move towards interdisciplinarity and scientific dissemination for society: the enormous and complex challenges we are experiencing are also pushing economists out of the “comfort zone” towards greater collaboration with scholars from other disciplines and greater scientific dissemination action for people and society.
“Perugia and the University of Perugia – adds Director Signorelli -, also through the Department of Economics, increasingly want to be protagonists of experimentation, innovation and internationalization to encourage a virtuous development of the frontiers of scientific research, also through better involvement of civil society.
The conference, also sponsored by the Italian Economic Society, will see the presentation of around 150 scientific papers in parallel sessions, numerous non-presenting participants (academic and non-academic) and a plenary program which includes the session with presentation and discussion of the Manifesto, the assembly of signatories, the round table on public policies and that of good business practices”.
Keynote speakers include Jayati Ghosh, Robert Frank and Jeffrey Sachs.
The complete program (with links to the parallel sessions) is available at the following link: https://www.festivalnazionaleeconomiacivile.it/manifesto-and-research-frontiers-for-a-renaissance-in-economics/
