Redefining the 21st Century Economist: Tools for the next five years

Classrooms. Workplaces. Media. Communities. Youth everywhere are pushing back against mainstream economics. As we broaden our focus to support them, here is the inside look at how we co-created our new strategy with the movement.

This strategy has been years in the making and is the combined effort of member working groups, affiliated group consultations and a staff team dedicated to putting our global membership at the forefront of the movement for a just, equitable and democratic economy. 

The problem statement is adapted from our Brazilian group Desajuste and their rallying call to their network. It inspired those of us working on this draft to think more deeply about our role outside of academia. The Organise, Educate, Agitate Framework was agreed in consultation with members in 2023 and was suggested by some of our members based in India.

Our Vision, Values and Principles have remained largely the same from when our Members Council approved them in 2024. However, we have re-centred the purpose around youth so we can expand our work outside of universities. With this shift, we are exploring a huge number of new areas around narrative change and youth led policy. 

Our commitment to a critical and pluralist economics education is unwavering but we now see this as the start of the journey for many of our members, rather than the end goal itself. We are just at the beginning of expanding our work to all young people interested in rethinking economics but we know many of our groups have been doing this work for a long time. This strategy sets a direction for this work so we can collectively act to change economics in the classroom, workplaces, in the media and in wider societies.

We have elaborated this strategy during a period of governance reform of our movement. By the time we review this strategy, midway and at close in 2030, we hope every aspect of our joint strategy will be debated, tested and agreed upon between the staff of Rethinking Economics International and the movement’s democratically elected representatives.

Our movement has always needed to expand to meet the ambition of its mission. That’s why we’re building power across our network, thinking globally, acting locally and educating the next generation of Rethinkers. 

Take a look at the full strategy.