Economics for the future: inspiration from the writings of Karl Polanyi

The interesting approach offered with Polanyi’s insights can deal with current global macroeconomic challenges. Economic policy must be subordinated to broader social objectives. It can be used to give solutions to societal problems – including the consequences of the financial crisis in 2008. It could be inequality, poverty, environmental degradation, boom–bust monetary cycles, exorbitant housing prices, and many other problems. Polanyi was wrong in his prediction that universal capitalism was a dead doctrine, but his vision of the co-existence of regional economies with different and diverse economic institutions linked by flows of trade, knowledge, and people has new relevance for the world today. Polanyi’s approach can be further strengthened with the schema of Rodrik’s “political trilemma,” between cross-border economic integration, national institutions, and democracy.