Resumen de Sixty Years of Economics: Some Lessons for the Future
Economics is contextual and evolves. For this reason, in this chapter, I have selected some relevant milestones of a long period of 60 years. The choice, the questions and the conclusions are personal and probably controversial. The chapter begins with the great failure of the Economy: the gap in the distribution of wealth even in developed countries. It continues asking the following questions: What have we learned from the seventies crisis? What are we learning from the current crisis? What is wrong with Economics as a social science? Can Experimental Economics allow us to understand and accommodate the social complexity of the Economy? What is the scope of Artificial Economics? Finally, since Artificial Economics provides solutions to complex problems, can we export socially inspired methods to other areas of Management Engineering? I conclude that there are tools to improve Economics and to help us in designing proper institutional frameworks. However, solving the actual economic challenges will require changes in methods and institutions far beyond Economic Policy. The changes must be institutional and can not be delayed. Not so much improvements in Economic Policy as changes in Political Economy.
