Review: INET Summer Research Meeting 2026

The Institute for New Economic Thinking at the Oxford Martin School's Summer Research Meeting 2026 took place on 11 June 2026 at the Oxford Martin School.

The event included research updates from INET Oxford's five programme teams, as well as two panel discussions: 'The New Geopolitics and the Economic Order', led by Dennis J. Snower, David Vines, Cameron Hepburn, Manal Shehabi and Eric Beinhocker; and 'AI as a Scientific Instrument for Economics', led by François Lafond, Prashant Garg, Matthew Bone and Eric Beinhocker.

In reviewing the academic year, Executive Director Eric Beinhocker gave some of the highlights across the four areas over which INET Oxford measures its impact: Scholarship; Public Policy; Public Debate; and Training the Next Generation.

Scholarship

The Centre had over 175 publications across the academic year, and launched 35 working papers as part of the INET Oxford Working Paper Series.

One significant publication, led by eight INET Oxford researchers, was a new book, 'The Economy as a Complex Evolving System IV', bringing up to date the major developments in complexity economics.  This publication's 31 chapters explore the theoretical advances and methodological developments in the discipline, showing how these ideas are increasingly being used in practice by central banks, regulators and researchers to tackle real problems.

The Centre as a whole hosted 35 events across the years, including three seminar series, keynote Oxford Martin School lectures, and workshops.  A further month-long 'Complexity retreat' held at the Santa Fe Institute provided a unique opportunity to bring together the leading scientists tackling economic problems from Europe, America and Asia.

Public Policy

Research from the centre has been taken on by policymakers across a range of areas.

One of the major collaborations during the year has been with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) on the project 'Macroeconomics of the Seventh Carbon Budget'. Using data-driven agent-based models to model macroeconomic and inequality impacts, simulating the interactions of households, firms, government and the financial sector, the project team, led by Tom Youngman, was able to provide provisional analysis in time to influence the 2026 Seventh Carbon Budget, covering the years 2038 to 2042.

Public Debate

The Centre has helped shape public debate in areas such as housing policy, the energy transition and economic paradigm change.

A two-pronged policy proposal to reform Britain's property tax system put forward by Professor John Muellbauer generated national attention and debate in the run up to the Autumn Budget. Acting as a spokesperson for the University of Oxford, John's work included writing several policy papers, opinion articles and hosting an event at the Oxford Martin School.

In a long-form profile for The Guardian, J. Doyne Farmer, Director of the Complexity Economics Programme at INET Oxford, outlined his plan for a super simulator: An economic model of the world in which every company is individually represented, making realistic decisions that change as the economy changes.

A booklet, Markets Built for Humans, outlining the emergence of a new economic paradigm change was launched at the University of Oxford 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.

Training the next generation

INET Oxford is currently the largest training centre for new economics scholars in the world, with 226 alumni since 2012.  The Centre currently has 31 DPhil students working on a range of projects.

Our scholars were recognised with a number of awards during the academic year.