Summer Academy for Pluralist Economics

Do you share the impression that current societies are facing significant challenges that must be addressed on an economic level? Are you wondering how we can analyze, understand, and shape the economy? Current discourses around economics and economic policy are often dominated by buzzwords like “there is no alternative” or “the hard facts.” Our answer: The economy is a diverse, complex phenomenon that cannot be fully captured by mainstream economic approaches, as they are too limited and one-dimensional and offer little room for critical reflection.

It’s time to change that—time for our Summer Academy! Here, you’ll have the opportunity to unleash your curiosity and thirst for knowledge, explore alternative approaches to economics, and engage with a group of like-minded students, inspiring activists, and leading academics.

This year’s Pluralist Summer Academy brought together around 70 critical thinkers in the unique setting of the Alte Nudelfabrik in Zeitz. For several days, students and young researchers from different universities, along with practitioners and activists, came together to learn, question, and reimagine economics. All participants arrived with a lot of enthusiasm and excitement to explore pluralist perspectives on economic policy – and left with fresh perspectives, valuable insights, and a sense of empowerment. Across twenty-four workshops facilitated by lecturers and experts and a diverse program of side activities the Academy became a living space of dialogue, exchange, and utopian imagination. Supported by various partner universities and cooperating organizations (list follows), the Summer Academy showed what pluralist, transformative economics can mean for the next generation of thinkers and changemakers.