The Institute for New Economic Thinking at the Oxford Martin School (INET Oxford) How do we re-invigorate economic growth and innovation?
The Institute for New Economic Thinking at the Oxford Martin School (INET Oxford) is a multidisciplinary research institute dedicated to applying leading-edge thinking from the social and physical sciences to global economic challenges. The Institute includes over 60 affiliated scholars from disciplines that range from economics, to mathematics, computer science, physics, biology, ecology, geograp
hy, psychology, sociology, anthropology, philosophy, history, public policy, business, and law. INET Oxford is unique in its ability to bring these multiple perspectives to bear on problems that include:
How do we make the global financial system more robust and resilient? How do we address rising economic inequality? How do we create a model of economic growth that is environmentally sustainable? How should we teach economics to the next generation of leaders? INET Oxford researchers work closely with policy-makers and leaders in business and civil society to bring new economic ideas and thinking into debates and practice in the public, private and non-profit sectors. In addition to its applied work, INET Oxford conducts theoretical and empirical research on economic issues using innovative approaches and tools ranging from complex systems theory and agent-based modelling, to network analysis, novel econometric techniques, behavioural and experimental economics, and "big data" techniques. INET Oxford was established in May 2012 as a result of a grant to the University by the Institute for New Economic Thinking (INET). INET is a philanthropic foundation based in New York that was founded in 2009 in the wake of the financial crisis to promote innovative, cross-disciplinary, policy-relevant economic research. INET Oxford is a part of the University’s Oxford Martin School, a community of over 300 scholars working on the major challenges of the 21st century . INET Oxford’s staff includes faculty members from across the University’s departments, schools and colleges, post-doctoral researchers, graduate students, and visiting researchers from around the world. In addition to core funding from INET, the Institute is grateful for support for its research programmes from the Resolution Foundation, European Commission, Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), US Department of Energy, Rockefeller Foundation, Saïd Business Foundation, Dr. Otto Poon, and the Oxford Martin School Endowment.
No one can fault Professor Doyne Farmer’s ambition. The American economist is confident that, with the right funding, he can build a computer simulator of the world’s economy. As it sounds, this is no mean feat.
Read J. Doyne Farmer's interview with the London Evening Standard
Target: Developing a Complexity Model of the Global Economy
In a long-form profile for The Guardian, Complexity Economics Programme Director J. Doyne Farmer outlines 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.
This super simulator could be built for what Prof Doyne Farmer calls the bargain price of $100m, thanks to advances in complexity science and computing power.
Oxford Martin School Santa Fe Institute Centre for Economic Policy Research - CEPR
The Post-Doctoral Researcher will work directly with Prof. Zachary Parolin. The desired candidate should lead independent research, and eventually be able to pursue independent grant funding, in one of three areas:
(1) use of LLMs and incorporation of artificial intelligence into inequality research,
(2) the study of policy strategies to reduce inequality in high-income countries, and/or
(3) the study of social mobility and its relationship to economic inequality.
The post holder will work with the INET Oxford programme on Economics, Inequality, and Opportunity.
This is a full-time, fixed-term post for 12 months, with a suggested start date of 1 September 2026 (though earlier starts are welcome).
Lukas Lehner has received two international awards for his dissertation completed at the University of Oxford under the supervision of Professor Emeritus Brian Nolan and Professor Bernhard Ebbinghaus.
Lehner's dissertation, 'Beyond Unemployment: An Investigation of Social Policies to Empower Workers in a Changing World of Work', combined field and survey experiments to provide new insights on employment programs, job training and labour market institutions.
His real-world pilot of a guaranteed employment scheme in a small town in Austria has been widely praised, with the policy having been picked up for a further roll-out by the Austrian Government and European Union. This work, completed at INET Oxford , was co-authored with Professorial Research Fellow Maximilian Kasy.
In an announcement on 6 November 2025, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research (Michigan) awarded Lehner first prize for the best Ph.D. dissertation on employment policies and issues during the 24-month period from 1 July 2023 to 30 June 2025. Since its inception in 1995, this marks the first time the first prize has been awarded to someone at a UK institution, and only the fifth time to someone outside the US.
This followed a decision by The Labour and Employment Relations Association (USA) to recognise Lehner with the Thomas A. Kochan & Stephen R. Sleigh Best Dissertation prize at their 77th Annual Meeting in June, for the papers which made ‘the most significant contributions to the body of research in the field during the calendar year'. This Award is regarded as the most prestigious dissertation award in Industrial Relations.
Commenting on the dual awards for his dissertation, Lukas Lehner, who is now an Assistant Professor at The University of Edinburgh , said: "I am deeply honoured. For many years, I have looked up to its past recipients as examples of the kind of scholar I have been striving to be."
"Receiving both awards, one in labor economics and one in industrial relations, serves as a great reflection of the evolving intersections and research potential I seek to contribute to: integrating rigorous empirical work in labor economics with institutional perspectives and approaches from industrial relations and social policy to advance our knowledge creation on the world of work."
Professor Emeritus Brian Nolan said: “These awards represent further well-deserved recognition for the careful, innovative and impactful research Lukas has presented in his doctoral thesis."
"This has underpinned the pilot guaranteed employment scheme in Austria which has been so effective in pushing forward the real-world evidence on the much-debated potential of such schemes, which has for too long been at an abstract rather than concrete level; the fact that this scheme is now being rolled out more broadly by the Austrian government provides ample proof of the importance of the research."
Welcome to Our New Era. What Do We Call It? In the The New York Times , Eric Beinhocker comments on 'the decisive test of our age':
"What’s changed? In a word: complexity. Today’s economy is no longer primarily built on bilateral trade of discrete goods between countries with clear borders and self-contained industries. Instead, Eric Beinhocker, executive director of the Institute for New Economic Thinking at the Oxford Martin School, points out that we now operate more and more inside global ecosystems, what he calls dynamic, “interdependent webs” of knowledge, skills, technology and trust."
Today, in the Polycene, “the more powerful engine is the division of knowledge.”
Saïd Business School, University of Oxford Global Solutions Initiative Foundation The Brookings Institution Centre for Economic Policy Research - CEPR UCL Oxford Martin School
⚠️ Debt and deficits are exploding
📉 Financial market trust has been shaken
🏦 Federal Reserve independence has been eroded
🌍 Geopolitical trust has collapsed
INET Oxford's Professorial Research Fellow Dennis Snower explains how the dollar became the world’s pillar - and why it’s now cracking.
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