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- How a student rebellion became a global movement
- Why rethinking economic theory matters for climate and society
- From Johannesburg to Jakarta: local campaigns, global stakes
- Tools, methods and what readers can do next
- Actions to support a new economic education
- What is Rethinking Economics in simple terms?
- How does this movement connect to climate and sustainability?
- Which universities have changed their economics curriculum?
- Can people outside universities get involved?
- Why does economic education matter for everyday life?
When four people own more wealth than four billion, something in Economic Education clearly misfires. That statistic is not just a moral shock; it is a sign that the Economic Models dominating universities struggle to explain the world students see outside the lecture hall. Rethinking Economics
Across campuses, a quiet Revolution has grown into Rethinking Economics, a global Movement reshaping how economics is taught, debated and used. What started as walkouts in crowded amphitheatres has become a laboratory for new Economic Theory where climate risk, inequality and Social Justice sit at the core, not in a footnote.
How a student rebellion became a global movement
In 2008, as the financial system shook, students at Harvard and Manchester looked at their textbooks and saw almost nothing about bank crashes, debt spirals or ecological tipping points. Their frustration crystallised into study groups, open letters and a “post‑crash” society questioning why their courses felt detached from reality.
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Those scattered sparks converged in 2013 at the London School of Economics with the first gathering of Rethinking Economics. Organised on a shoestring by volunteers, it pulled in students from multiple universities and supportive academics like South Korean economist Ha‑Joon Chang, who compared the dominance of neo‑classical economics to medieval theology. From the outset, the goal was clear: Education Reform that treated competing Economic Models as legitimate, not as exotic outliers.
From lecture walkouts to curriculum redesign
Over the following decade, the Movement spread across more than 40 countries. According to its organisers, since 2019 alone it has supported over 80 campaign wins in universities across 35 nations, including 23 major curriculum reforms. These victories moved far beyond “one optional lecture” and reshaped what counts as mainstream Economic Education.
Concrete changes followed: a politics, philosophy and economics track at Goldsmiths in London, an interdisciplinary programme in Lille in 2020, and new “economics and society” degrees at Leiden University in 2023. Each example broadened syllabuses to include history, institutions, ecology and power – the messy realities that students were already tracking through news of climate talks and energy crises.
Why rethinking economic theory matters for climate and society
Behind the protests lies a scientific question: what happens when the dominant Economic Theory treats the economy as separate from nature and society? Traditional models often assume endless growth, perfectly informed individuals and markets that tend back to equilibrium. Yet the IPCC’s latest reports show global temperatures already about 1.2°C above pre‑industrial levels, with economic losses rising with every extra tenth of a degree.
Students argue that if models ignore planetary boundaries, they will misguide climate policy and investment. A course that sidelines carbon budgets or biodiversity loss cannot prepare graduates to design energy systems, food chains or urban plans that stay within a safe operating space. For many in Rethinking Economics, sustainability is not a specialist topic; it is the playing field on which every economic decision now takes place.
Making the invisible links visible
Supportive academics highlight how fresh perspectives can transform research. Studies on topics as varied as mammalian behaviour or women’s health and fertility tracking show how social norms, technology and biology interact in ways old models rarely capture. When similar lenses are applied to labour markets, energy demand or care work, hidden value and hidden costs become visible.
Economists like Clara Mattei describe today’s system as revealing its “most violent face”, with militarised budgets and widening gaps between the ultra‑rich and everyone else. Her collaboration with students in the Movement seeks frameworks that prioritise “the logic of need over the logic of profit”, connecting Economic Education to Social Justice and democratic agency.
From Johannesburg to Jakarta: local campaigns, global stakes
Nowhere is the demand for new Economic Models more vivid than in South Africa, where Rethinking Economics for Africa grew out of wider student protests over tuition fees and colonial legacies. Initially, universities resisted changes to mainstream teaching, so students carved out their own workshops, reading groups and summer schools inside existing institutions.
Participants came with questions born from daily life: How do war economies function? Why do climate negotiations matter for townships facing drought or flooding? Why does unemployment stay high despite official “growth”? Over time, progressive courses and festivals offered alternative answers grounded in power, history and ecology, even if they remained optional for most degree paths.
What changes in the classroom actually look like
To understand the shift, picture a fictional second‑year student, Amina, at a European university after a successful Reform campaign. Her microeconomics course now includes a module modelling energy markets under a 1.5°C carbon budget, while her macro class compares austerity with green industrial strategies and public job guarantees.
Instead of only solving equations in isolation, Amina works in teams to analyse city‑level data on housing, transport emissions and heatwaves. Lectures bring in union organisers, climate scientists and municipal planners alongside professors. By graduation, she has practiced Critical Thinking around trade‑offs, not just memorised supply‑and‑demand curves. For many students, that is the real Revolution.
Tools, methods and what readers can do next
The Movement’s organisers summarise their aim as making economics “plural, critical, decolonised and historically grounded”. That mission translates into everyday tools: open‑access textbooks that include feminist and ecological economics, podcasts demystifying inflation or central banks, and summer schools that train students to read both IPCC graphs and household budgets with equal attention. Rethinking Economics
For readers who never studied economics, the stakes remain very close to home. The same theories shaping interest rates and public spending also influence climate adaptation funds, public transit investments and food prices. Expanding Economic Education beyond the university walls helps communities question whether policies match their lived reality.
Actions to support a new economic education
Several concrete steps can push this transformation further, whether on campus or far from it:
- Ask universities and schools how their economics courses address climate risk, inequality and sustainability, and support students campaigning for broader syllabuses.
- Follow organisations like Rethinking Economics and local climate justice groups that connect policy debates to everyday concerns.
- Use media, book clubs or community groups to discuss alternative Economic Models, from degrowth to doughnut economics, and how they might play out in local transport, housing or energy decisions.
- Encourage public institutions and thinktanks to fund research that links economics with ecology, care work and long‑term wellbeing rather than short‑term GDP.
Each of these steps chips away at the old idea that economics is a narrow technical field reserved for specialists. In its place grows a vision of Economic Education as a shared civic language for navigating a warming, unequal world. Their Courses Were No Longer Relevant, so These Economics …
What is Rethinking Economics in simple terms?
Rethinking Economics is a global student‑led Movement that challenges how economics is taught. It pushes universities to include multiple Economic Theories, real‑world crises like climate change and inequality, and perspectives from the global South, instead of relying on one supposedly neutral model.
How does this movement connect to climate and sustainability?
Many traditional Economic Models treat nature as an external resource. The movement argues that the economy is embedded in ecology, so teaching must integrate climate science, biodiversity limits and Social Justice. This helps future economists design policies compatible with a 1.5°C or 2°C world.
Which universities have changed their economics curriculum?
Campaigns linked to Rethinking Economics have contributed to reforms in at least 35 countries, including new programmes at Goldsmiths in London, the University of Lille, and Leiden University. Changes range from adding core modules on history and institutions to complete programme redesigns.
Can people outside universities get involved?
Yes. Anyone can attend public events, follow online courses, join reading groups or support local campaigns for more inclusive Economic Education. Engaging with these debates helps citizens question policies on energy, housing or health rather than accepting them as purely technical choices.
Why does economic education matter for everyday life?
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Economic ideas shape taxes, wages, public services, housing rules and climate policies. When teaching is narrow, decisions may ignore inequality or environmental damage. Broader, more critical Economic Education equips people to spot trade‑offs, ask better questions and argue for fairer, more sustainable options.
