Pathways Project Participates in Annual Emerging Political Economies (EPE) Network Meeting in London

The EPE Network originated from a 2023 meeting organized by the Santa Fe Institute (New Mexico, USA) and is supported by the Ford Foundation, Open Society Foundations, Hewlett Foundation and Omidyar Network. Through research, the network aims to address critical issues such as informality, the adoption of labor platforms, care work unemployment, environmental crises and the decline of democracy.

A meeting was held on the first day between Global South-based research centers, laying the groundwork for future cooperation and cross-context agenda setting. The meeting included workshops covering various topics such as outreach and communication planning, identifying what GS centers can do moving forward with activities and explaining ways to collaborate. Another workshop was on teaching in the Global South and the type of relationships teaching in the Global South may want to cultivate moving forward, and the activities that may be involved as a result. The idea of a joint course in political economy was also discussed. The GS meeting ended with a session on the future of PEGS (Political Economy of the Global South conference) on how we may fund it as GS centers, the organization of PEGS and agendas. It was a great opportunity for the GS centers to discuss and explain how we will and can collaborate.

The second day featured a series of in-depth discussions on key political economy challenges and concluded with a public panel titled “The London Consensus: Economic Principles for the 21^st Century”, featuring Andres Velasco (LSE), Dani Rodrik (Harvard University), Margaret Levi (Stanford University) and Oriana Bandiera (LSE).

Among the key contributions from the Pathways team, Principal Investigator Amr Adly (The American University in Cairo) moderated the session titled “Meeting the Challenges of Industrial Policy.” This session explored how industrial policy is being reimagined globally in response to persistent developmental and structural challenges, especially in the Global South.

Over the two conference days, sessions tackled timely questions including:

• What is a Fair and Just Economy?
  Moderator: Daniel Chandler (LSE)
  Presenters: Lea Ypi (LSE), Marcos Nobre (Unicamp–Brazil), Ingrid Robeyns (Utrecht University)
   
• The Future of Work
  Moderator: Simon Johnson (MIT)
  Presenters: Raymundo Campos-Vázquez (Colmex), Barbara Petrongolo (University of Oxford), Simon Jäger (MIT)
   
• Money for a Fair and Just Society
  Moderator: Katharina Pistor (Columbia University)
  Presenters: Katharina Pistor (Columbia University), Daniela Gabor (University of the West of England), Anush Kapadia (Indian Institute of Technology – Bombay)
   
• What Might Replace the Washington Consensus as a Program for a New Political Economy?
  Moderator: Steve Teles (Johns Hopkins University)
  Presentation: Tim Besley (LSE)
  Discussants: Hassan Damluji (LSE), Henry Farrell (Johns Hopkins University)
   
• Technology and AI for a Fair and Just Society
  Moderator: Will Davies (Goldsmiths, University of London)
  Presenters: Marion Fourcade (University of California, Berkeley), Sergei Guriev (London Business School), Sandra Wachter (University of Oxford)
   
• What Next for Globalisation?
  Moderator: Steve Vogel (University of California, Berkeley)
  Presenters: Simon Johnson (MIT), Julen Berasaluce Iza (Colmex)
   
• Teaching Political Economy
  Moderator: Laura Juarez Gonzalez (Colmex)
  Presenters: Sam Bowles (Santa Fe Institute), Wendy Carlin (Santa Fe Institute and University College London), Paula Jaramillo Vidales (Universidad de los Andes), Michael Ralph (Howard University)
   
• Political Challenges for a Fair and Just Economy
  Moderator: Neil Fligstein (University of California, Berkeley)
  Presenters: Paul Pierson (University of California, Berkeley), Peter Hall (Harvard University), Kenneth Roberts (Cornell University)
   
• Keynote Lecture – Remaking Liberalism
  Delivered by Daron Acemoglu (MIT)
   

The conference provided a space for rigorous debate, shared learning, and strategy-building among researchers from both the Global North and South. Pathways’ participation ensured that critical MENA region perspectives were part of this global effort to envision economic futures grounded in justice, inclusion and sustainability.

For more info about the topics and presenters, check the agenda here.