The annual meeting of the American Economic Association (aea), which was due to begin in Denver, Colorado, on January 6th, will be the usual melee of receptions, networking events and seminars (more than 500 of them) on the latest economic research. But this year's shindig finds economists in an unusually reflective mood. One panel will discuss the failings of the discipline in light of the financial crisis. Another will consider how economics needs to change as a consequence. Most striking of all, for a profession that tends to pay little explicit attention to such matters, the first day's schedule also contains a debate on the role of ethics in the economics profession.
展开▼
