Rethinking Economics
As Chief Economist for think tank Our New Economy, I work to rethink and redesign education in economics and business.
Why rethinking economics?
Our current economy is not sustainable. Wanting to help change this, I chose to study economics (CV). While I learned many useful skills, I also found the curriculum narrow, abstract and disconnected.
So I co-founded Rethinking Economics NL, the Dutch chapter of a worldwide network of students and academics working to make economics education more open-minded and socially relevant. I have been working in this field for 10 years.
Currently, most of my work is as Chief Economist for Our New Economy (ONE), an independent think tank located in Amsterdam. We provide frameworks, tools and expertise for redesigning economics programs, from secondary school level to university. Together with Sam de Muijnck, I wrote Economy Studies: A Guide to Rethinking Economics Education, a practical toolkit for professors to (re-)design economics courses and programs.
Below is an overview of my current work in rethinking economics.
P.S.: Curious to learn about economics yourself? I recommend Ha-Joon Chang’s work, Exploring Economics and the excellent (and fun!) online courses of Tim Thornton’s School of Political Economy.
University economics curriculum change
Academic economics programs are the primary training ground for our society’s most powerful technocrats: economists. What is taught in these programs determines the problems they recognize and the solutions they have on offer. The current curriculum is too narrow on both sides.
Currently I am part of the Economy Studies team, building out our toolkit for curriculum change, including plug-and-play educational materials for lecturers willing and able to change their teaching.
Business studies curriculum
Since 2021, I have been part of the effort at Our New Economy to build a curriculum change toolkit and network for sustainable business education for the Dutch Universities of Applied Sciences (Dutch). We offer workshops for teams and programs who want to bring their teaching up to date.
I am in the starting phase of working with Leerlevels, a young and exciting online-first publisher of micro-modular teaching resources, to set up their economics line (Dutch).
Secondary school economics
Since 2023, I work as part of the Economiesles.nu team, creating ready-to-teach packs for secondary school economics education (Dutch). In addition, I work with Sam de Muijnck to support the process for secondary school curriculum redesign.
Ways of organising economies
Our current economic system is not sustainable. Many teams worldwide are developing alternative structures, each of which has their own strengths, weaknesses and blind spots.
With Sam de Muijnck and Florian Rommel of the trailblazing Cusanus Hochschule, I work since 2024 on creating a framework that brings them together, allows for insight, contrast and comparison, and helps these teams grow and cross-pollinate.
(early phase, no materials available yet)
