Discussions on Rethinking Economics

stimulated by the Reith Lectures 2020

In his 2020 Reith Lectures, Mark Carney, once Governor of the Bank of England, challenged us with the overall question: How do we rethink the Economy and the economic aspect of life in the light of the three crises: credit crisis of 2008, Covid-19 crisis of 2020-21, and the coming climate crisis? This portion of the Christian Thinking Space website contains access to, and discussion of, his lectures.

The four 2020 Reith Lectures are available on BBC Sounds as as a whole and individually at:

LECTURE 1, 02 Dec 2020 - From Moral to Market Sentiments - Why have financial values come to be considered more important than human ones? (42 mins)
LECTURE 2, 09 Dec 2020 - From Credit Crisis to Resilience - Mark Carney assesses what lessons have been learnt from the 2008 financial crash. (57 mins)
LECTURE 3, 16 Dec 2020 - From Covid Crisis to Renaissance - Mark Carney looks at the tensions between economic and human values during the pandemic. (57 mins)
LECTURE 4, 23 Dec 2020 - From Climate Crisis to Real Prosperity - Mark Carney argues that the market can be redirected to alleviating climate change. (42 mins)
Semi-transcript taken during the four lectures (in plain text): mostly notes taken while listening, but sometimes Mark Carney's actual wording transcribed. With labels to topics and issues.

The Reith Lecture Discussion Group was convened in December 2020 to discuss the lectures from a Christian and Reformational perspective. The discussions yielded the following items to assist study and rethink:

Results of Our Discussions

Rethink / Reframing of Economics

The Discussions Themselves

The following are notes from, transcripts of the discussions so far. The later discussions (e.g. 5 onwards) are fuller and have more highlighting of, and comments on, important issues:

Contents of Discussions

During 2022 discuss sections of the Rethink of Economics are being discussed and improved:

26th RLDG Discussion on Economics: GDP and Cipations, held on: 24 November 2023
25th RLDG Discussion - not yet available
24th RLDG Discussion on Economics: Worldviews, Heterodox Economics, Exposure, held on: 29 September 2023
23rd RLDG Discussion - not yet available
22nd RLDG Discussion, on Money and Banking, held on: Thursday 19 January 2023
RLDG Discussion 21, on Visions for, and Progress of, Rethink, and the Way Ahead, held on Friday 4 November 2022
RLDG Discussion 20, on Integrating Levels of Economics, on Friday 2 September 2022
RLDG Discussion 19. On Good, Harmful and Useless Economic Activity, on Tuesday 5th July 2022
RLDG Discussion 18. On Values And Measurement (with some discussion of the 'big picture' of economics) on Wednesday 8 June 2022
17th RLDG Discussion: On Embedding Economics on Wednesday 4 May 2022
16TH RLDG Discussion: Other Thinkers on Wednesday 6th April 2022
RLDG Discussion 15,
on the Overview of Rethinking Economics 2nd March 2022

The discussions in 2021 were wide-ranging, stimulated by the Reith Lectures and going further:

14th Reith Lecturs Zoom Discussion 3rd December 2021
The 13th RLDG Discussion: Overview, Moralities, Answering Student Questions and Complex Problem 12th November 2021
The 12th RLDG Discussion: What We Have Achieved So Far 9th October 2021
RLDG Discussion Number 11: Ideas for Contributing to SNA 2025, 27 August 2021
Reith Lectures Discussion Number 10: Overview and Proposals, 16th July 2021
Discussion 9, Overview of Findings, 25th June 2021
Discussion 8, Part 3: on Christian Values and the Economy, 4th June 2021 - Justice, Service, Peace
Discussion 7, Part 2 on How Can Christian Values contribute to the Economy? Part 2, 14th May 2021 - Faith, Joy, Justice.
Discussion 6, on "How can Christian Values contribute to the Economy?" Part 1, 23 April 2021 - Grace, Hope, Love
Discussion 5, on What Values Cannot be Measured?, 9 April 2021
Discussion 4, on What Contributes to a Healthy Living Environment?, 12 March 2021 - Especially the Role of Christian Values.
Discussion 3, on Measuring Value, 26 February 2021

Note: The records of discussions 1, 2 are more meagre.

Discussion 2, 12 February 2021
Discussion 1, and Initial Comments from Participants November 2020 to 8 January 2021

Individual Pieces of the Discussion

The following are discussions of individual issues, set alongside the main discussions. Some of them were sent by email.

On the Gestation of Externalities: Time in Economic Activity

Critical Appreciative Summary of The Economics of Biodiversity; The Dasgupta Review
JRI blog "The Economics of Biodiversity: An Opportunity for Christian Thinking"
Christian Values and the Economy (List of suggested)
Christian Thinking About Economics in General
Older Rethinking:
- Rethink Version 1 (April 2022)
- Even Older Rethink (October 2021):
  - Beginning to Rethink the Economy, with the help of Philosophical and Christian Perspectives - Proposals for rethinking the economy and economic activity that emerged from our discussions.
  - Findings of the First Eight Discussion of the Reith Lectures, leading towards .
  - Topics Covered during lectures and the first five discussions: a list of topics and comments made about them, and how they link together. This contains pointers to sources in the following files.
Christian Thinking Space

Created: 3 February 2021. Last updated: 13 February 2021 second discussion, xn.values. 25 February 2021 see also. 5 March 2021 z3. 25 March 2021 z4. 16 April 2021 z5. 5 May 2021 z6. 31 May 2021 z7. 14 June 2021 z8. 24 June 2021 z-points, redid discussion bullets, spelling correction. 9 July 2021 z-points new title; added links to critiques of others; z9. 31 July 2021 z10. 1 August 2021 gestation. 31 August 2021 contents. 1 September 2021 z11. 10 October 2021 Organised page better; link to rldg.rethink. 25 October 2021 z12, and reversed order of discussions to have latest first. 2 December 2021 z13. 7 January 2022 z14. 19 March 2022 ze15, grouped the discussions. 13 May 2022 ze17. 21 June 2022 ze18. 15 July 2022 ze19, changed page title. 20 September 2022 ze20. 21 January 2023 ze21. 31 January 2023 ze22. 8 November 2023 ze24; link to rethink 2, moved old stuff to end. 18 December 2023 ze26, ze25.

Discussions on Rethinking Economics

stimulated by the Reith Lectures 2020

Results of Our Discussions

The Discussions Themselves

Individual Pieces of the Discussion

See also: