- Booklet outlines emergence of new economic paradigm;
- 'Market humanism' provides an alternative to the failed orthodoxies of neoliberalism, and the chaos of economic populism;
- This new paradigm has the potential to change our thinking on policy and business, re-configure our politics, and engage the public.
A booklet outlining the emergence of a new economic paradigm change has been launched at the University of Oxford.
Markets Built for Humans, which is based on the forthcoming book Market Humanism, is written by INET Oxford Executive Director Eric Beinhocker, and entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and civic leader Nick Hanauer. It is a brief guide aimed at policymakers, political strategists, business leaders, journalists, and advocates who are grappling with the profound economic, political, and social challenges of our time. Its goal is to equip readers with an understanding of the deep limitations of the economic orthodoxy that dominated policymaking and our politics over the past decades and introduce you to a 21st century economic paradigm that is built to address the challenges we face.
Launching the booklet at a lecture and discussion at the Oxford Martin School on 5 March 2026, Eric Beinhocker and Nick Hanauer said that we were in the midst of a change in the global economic paradigm:
"The neoliberal consensus dominated policy, politics, business, and academia from the 1970s until it collapsed in the 2008 financial crisis. Since then, we’ve been living in a paradigm vacuum that has been filled by economic populism and the politics of grievance. This paradigm vacuum is not only a threat to democracy and the geopolitical order but also prevents us from addressing critical issues such as climate change and the rise of artificial intelligence.
"But there is hope. Synthesising across a wide range of work from modern economics to philosophy, behavioural science, anthropology, sociology, political science, complex systems theory, evolutionary theory, computer science, and other fields, we assemble the pieces of what a new, and better, economic paradigm might look like.
"We call this new paradigm, ‘Market Humanism’ - an economy built for human flourishing and an economics built on 21st century science. This booklet describes what Market Humanism is, how it has the potential to change our thinking on policy and business, and how it might re-configure our politics, with new narratives that can engage the public."
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