INET YSI Deck

Join us in shaping the trajectory of tomorrow’s global thinkers.

2008 Global Financial Crisis, founding of INET INET was founded on the premise that the 2008 crisis was not only an economic crisis, but a crisis of economic thinking.

Nonpartisan, nonprofit organization with a global footprint.

Founding gifts from George Soros ($50M) and William Janeway ($25M) Advisory board of nearly 40 prominent thinkers, incl. six winners of the Nobel Prize in Economics.

INET President Robert Johnson

Advisory board of prominent thinkers

Flagship conferences 2010, Cambridge, UK: INAUGURAL CONFERENCE. In collaboration with King’s College, Cambridge Univerisity.

2011, Bretton Woods: CRISIS AND RENEWAL | Financial instability.

2012, Berlin: PARADIGM LOST: RETHINKING ECONOMICS AND POLITICS | The Eurozone crisis. In collaboration with the Mercator Foundation.

2013, Hong Kong: CHANGING OF THE GUARD | The emergence of Asian Economies. In collaboration with Fung Global Institute.

2014, Toronto: HUMAN AFTER ALL | The economics of innovation In collaboration with the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI).

2015, Paris: LIBERTÉ, EGALITÉ, FRAGILITÉ | The economics of inequality.

In cooperation with the OECD, INET convened in Paris, with Thomas Piketty.

2016, Detroit: ECONOMICS OF RACE | Racial inequality and pathways forward.

Andrew Michael Spence— Nobel laureate, Chair of INET’s Commission on Global Economic Transformation

2017, Edinburgh: REAWAKENING | The past, present, and future of the economics profession.

Research grants INET has given 400+ grants, totalling $65 million over 14 years.

The grant program supports a wide variety of projects, ranging from the establishment of multimillion-dollar research centers to individual studies and events.

Thematic areas include financial stability, political economy, inequality, private debt, global transformation, and many others.

Commission on Global Economic Transformation (CGET) In 2016, with support from the Centre for International Governance Innovation, INET initiated a global team of leaders and scholars calling for new thinking and new rules for the world economy, led by Nobel Prizewinning economists Joseph Stiglitz and Michael Spence.

INET’s work Inspire, produce and fund innovative research Provoke critical thinking on the pressing issues of our time Nurture the intellectual formation of the next generation

Young scholars‘ challenge

Young scholars want to address the challenges facing society.

But neither their curricula nor their institutions are equipped to support them on that path.

Universities remain silo’d, rigid, and disconnected from one another, while challenges grow.

Academic associations failed to fill the void.

Most are centered in the global north, have a very senior membership base, and fail to meet young scholars’ demand for year round activity and support.

In 2012, INET recognized that new thinking comes from new thinkers.

The huge presence of young scholars at the 2012 Berlin “Paradigm Lost” conference led to the launch of YSI.

Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz stepped outside to address a crowd of young thinkers.

INET’s work opened up spaces outside of the conventional wisdom, and encouraged young scholars to fill it with new ideas and a community.

Rob Johnson (President of INET) at the YSI Plenary in Budapest, 2016: “I hope that 20 years from now, YSI is an enormous organization, a significant share of the population of people aspiring to be economists, in favor of dynamism and flexibility; all the things economists prescribe for the world, when they run their own profession like a politburo.”

In 2016, YSI had 2000 members.

Today, YSI is a thriving global community of 25,000 members in 120 countries. The model works.

The model

Barriers to progress

How we break them

Rigid thinking Conformist, competitive, method-centric.

Promotes the detached observer over the engaged citizen. Little interdisciplinary work.

Collaborative culture Creative, cooperative, question-driven. Rooted in service to society and driven by engaged, transdisciplinary thinkers.

Lack of support for innovative work Many scholars, especially in under-resourced regions, work in isolation without access to networks, mentorship, or funding.

Vibrant learning environment Mini-grants fuel 200+ member-led projects each year—on real-world challenges, with INET’s senior scholars and global allies.

Disconnected institutions.

Efforts remain fragmented, with little structure for follow-up, synthesis, or sustained collaboration.

Structure to bring learnings together A custom digital platform pools learnings, nurtures community, and drives forward a shared agenda for change.

We envision economic thinking that is free of intellectual barriers, resonates with reality, and serves our global society.

Community volunteers 21 Working Groups Structure activity into thematic areas Coordinators Serve their working group for a 2yr term Onboard new organizers to their group Lead mandate setting process for their group Document output, progress, and partnerships Liaise with partner organizations in their field Organizers Organize projects on behalf of their working group

Management team High-level guidance recruits and appoints coordinators every two years aligns YSI projects with INET priorities organizes large events and strategic initiatives supports coordinators in annual mandate-setting reports on the impact of the community Day-to-day operations reviews project proposals, approves budgets disburses payments, collects reports and recordings administrates community platform and online presence

A typical member-led project Averaging 10-12 participants and a $3000 budget, most in-person projects entail: Call for papers

Thematic programming

Partner engagement

The organizer publishes a call for papers, inviting peers to submit their work for presentation.

Scholars are selected based on merit and diversity.

Selected participants come together to present and get feedback from each other, and from a senior scholar. A shared meal allows participants to bond and make plans.

Most organizers position their project alongside a larger partner conference so they can leverage the presence of key speakers and benefit from strategic synergies.

Guidance from senior scholars Young scholars have engaged 1000+ senior scholars in their projects.

Notable contributors include Nobel laureate Joseph E. Stiglitz, philosopher Amartya Sen, global-development champion Jeffrey Sachs, Harvard philosopher Michael Sandel, finance historian Adam Tooze, innovation strategist Mariana Mazzucato, centralbank scholar Charles Goodhart, SOAS economist Ha-Joon Chang, urban-studies trailblazer Saskia Sassen, and inequality expert Jayati Ghosh.

George Akerlof addressing young scholars at the North America Convening 2019 in Los Angeles

Our partners include

Finance Ministry of Saarland

Global impact

190 member-led projects in 2024.

Strengthening global connective tissue Each project contributes to the connective tissue between geographies, instutions, and departments.

This globalizes, unifies, and prepares the community to address the challenges of the 21st century. It serves thus serves as a model how economics should function at large.

Africa Convening, Harare, Zimbabwe, 2018

North America Convening, Los Angeles, 2019

Latin America Convening, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2018

Regional Convening Track record

Participants

Community leaders gained

George Soros, Mariana Mazzucato, Adair Turner, Richard Koo

300

50

2017

Sheila Dow, Nadia Garbellini

150

24

Festival Edinburgh

2017

George Akerlof, Kate Raworth

600

45

Latin America Buenos Aires

2018

William Lazonick, Cecilia Nahon, Hyun Song Shin, Martín Guzmán

400

48

Africa Harare

2018

Fiona Tregenna, Camilla Toulmin, Eric Green

250

47

North America Los Angeles

2019

George Akerlof, Julie Nelson, Perry Mehrling

300

37

Asia Hanoi

2019

Naomi Klein, Jayati Ghosh, Katharina Pistor

400

50

2020

Joseph Stiglitz, Michael Spence, James Heckman, Michael Sandel, Martin Wolf, Yannis Varoufakis, Mariana Mazzucato

10000

60

Year

Notable senior scholars involved

Global Plenary Budapest

2016

Europe Trento

Global Plenary Virtual

Personal impact

What people say Members are transformed by the experience.

Meet Cecilia Rikap, a YSI alumn.

Cecilia joined us in 2018. Based in Buenos Aires, she had limited access to the global discourse.

In YSI, her working group shaped a new research agenda on the political economy of big tech for hundreds of young scholars.

She became the head of research at the Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose at University College London, founded by Mariana Mazzucato.

Today she is a leading voice on digital sovereignty, publishing widely and advising governments.

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Her department has hired 8 other YSI’ers

Other notable alumni YSI’ers grow into influential academics, policy-makers and professionals, globally connected, and committed to serving society.

Paying it forward

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Once established, they come to serve as mentors and provide new pathways for next cohort.

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increasing levels of influence

Members turn into alumni who continue to work on global challenges at increasing levels of influence.

Continuing collaborations Hundreds of alumni continue to work together, co-authoring papers, published their work, and growing their spheres of influence.

Join us to guide the next generation of economic thinkers.

And watch them change the world.

Thank you.

Appendix

Regional Convening program

Over three days, participants take part in: Senior scholar input talks

Participant presentations

Community-building activities

Senior scholars give input talks to on the big, societal questions that young scholars are grappling with.

Selected participants present their work and receive feedback from peers and a senior scholars.

An excursion or group activity creates shared memories and lasting relationships.

Regional Convening budget A local partner provides the venue free of charge.

Senior speakers engage without honorariums.

Programming and venue

We cover speakers’ expenses, and meals as well as social events for all participants.

$40,000

Participant travel and accommodation

We cover a portion of participants’ flight costs and provide shared rooms in university housing or an affordable hotel

$60,000

Staffing and logistics

Staff presence, local transport, and AV equipment allows for a seamless execution.

$25,000

Total

$125,000

Regional Convening Impact

A convening builds local regional capacity by: Brings exposure to top scholars in the field

Strengthens local knowledge systems

Kickstart relationships and projects

Participants connect directly with leading voices on a level that would otherwise not be available to them.

New connections are created between scholars and institutions that are local to the continent

Participants make new connections and brainstorm projects they can roll out across the year, either virtually or online.

Global membership YSI’s membership base and leadership is globally distributed:

Europe Undisclosed

Other Asia

Africa Latin America

North America

YSI team Based in different parts of the world, each team member brings a wide range of skills and knowledge.

Jay Pocklington Strategy

Heske van Doornen Operations

Christina Mosalagae Community

Innovative tech Our customized platform streamlines our processes, so we can effectively:

Maintain data on our users Manage 100’s of proposals efficiently Administer both in-pesron and online activity Process payments to 100+ countries with minimal bureaucratic hurdles Streamline and automate workflows Our platform is built on Wordpress. It uses Zoom and PayPal APIs along with many other integrations.