The First Forum of New Economics
On May16th and 17th, 2015, hosted by School of Systems Science and Han De Academy, initiated by the Book Club of New Economics, the first forum of New Economics was held in Ying Dong Academic Conference Hall of BNU. This forum used “reflection and reform” as the theme, built a platform for communication between students majored in Economics and scholars who agree with the concept of New Economics, helped young scholars to know better the direction of reform on New Economics, and promoted more real and objective ideas of New Economics.
The morning of May 16th was arranged as scholar session. Dean Di Zengru, Secretary Li Honggang, professor Wang Yougui from School of Systems Science, Deputy Dean Yang Chengyu, Professor He Liping from School of Economy and Business Management , Professor He Fan from Institute of World Economy and Politics of Academy of Social Sciences and Deputy Director Xu Min from Circulation Industry Promotion Center of Ministry of Commerce attended this forum. This session was hosted by Professor Yang Chengyu and Wang Yougui. Professor Steve Cohn of Economics in Knox College and Chief Editor Xu Jin of financial pages of FT Chinese also participated online.
First of all, Secretary of School of Systems Science Li Honggang and the initiator of Book Club of New Economics Xiong Wanting made an opening speech. Afterwards, the attending scholars made keynote speeches. Professor Steve Cohn suggest that our students should accept the diversity of economics and put theories into practice. Professor He Fan expressed the idea that there is more than one kind of economics and also diversified solutions to problems in economics through his own experience of learning economics. Mrs. Xu Jin stressed the importance of economics in real world through three perspectives, which are “traditional classics and historical documents”, “theories and reality”, “tradition and innovation”. Profess Yang Chengyu taught us the methods of evolvement of macroeconomics and new research questions profoundly but in a simple way. The attending students were attracted by his logic power, intelligently trained and deeply moved by his meticulous attitudes towards studies. Professor He Liping talked effusively to express that financial crisis does not prove the failure of economics theories, tell us to find new solutions through focusing on reality of world and reflection on theories of economics.
In the discussion session, students competed to ask questions, express their quest and questions about economics bravely. The teachers responded patiently and meticulously, leading them to understand and pursue the truest economics through multiple perspectives.
In the afternoon, it was the student session. Our students connected Yang Yuan, the initiator of International Reflective Economic Society and shared their confusions in learning and studying economics with overseas students. Yu Boyang brought the textbook edited by Gao Hongye and put forward that we should never live in the exercise books. He believed that economics is a discipline of explaining facts. We should concern real world and enrich our knowledge through various methods, absorb all kinds of ideas to build our own views. As for Wang Shengyu, Economics was more like an unusual way of education. Mainstream Economics dominates the classroom, so that those who are interested in different theories learn them by MOOC or offline communication, which is how he got to know New Economics. The attending students all hoped more people could join the group of Reflective Economics. As said by Mrs. Thatcher, “Economics is so important that it cannot be left merely to economist”.
On the morning of May,17th, four graduate students were invited to share their research progress and achievement. Qiu Muyuan from School of Economics, Peking University introduced how to analyze the trend of aging of population based on generation overlapping model, and the intervention of abandoning One Child Policy. Zhang Yuxia from School of Systems Science of BNU put forward the question “could Central Bank totally control MS?” against the background of inefficiency of QE after the U.S. financial crisis. After building the model of consistent stock and flow, she believed that “MS’s nature is Endogeneity, while exogeneity is the appearance. The volatility of money multiplier cannot be decoded but the effect of the volatility is the new solution”. Xu Li from School of Economics and Business Administration of BNU analyzed the influence of structure of educational investment on intergenerational mobility of income of urban residents through the policy experiment based on the model of OLG, and discussed the influence and crowding-out effect of family investment and government investment at both stages of elementary education and higher education. Zhou Xuan from School of Systems Science of BNU studied the influence of credit trading on market based on the model of multi-agent credit trading of bi-directional auction mechanism.
She believed that when introducing credit trading, bi-directional market will be more steady and effective than unilateral market, thus it is necessary to open bilateral market. Professor Wang Yougui commented on the work of the four students, appreciated their enthusiasm to economics and finance and their achievements, and looked forward to seeing more young students join the group of Reflective Economics.
Until now, the first forum of New Economics ended successfully. This forum was initiated by students, invited many scholars to jointly discuss reform on research methods of Economics and leading-edge achievements at home and abroad. The attending scholars shared the research status of New Economics with the students, listened to their ideas and reflected about education of Economics with them. This forum was a precious experience, benefiting both teachers and students profoundly.
Group Photo
Li Honggang
Xiong Wangting and Pro. Steve Cohn
Li Honggang and Di Zengru
He Fan
Wang Yougui, He Liping and Yang Chengyu
Qiu Muyuan
Zhou Xuan
Xu Li
Zhang Yuxia