Women Transforming Economics in Latin America

The second event of Canning House’s Women’s Day Series opened with a short presentation from the two speakers on the work of the SEA in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The core mission of the SEA is to introduce new theory, practice, voices to mainstream economic thinking. In doing so, it hopes to address the global age of crises we find ourselves in by putting people and planet at the centre, rethinking public and private governance, and turning theory into policy.

Instead of focusing on small-scale projects the SEA advocates for governments to create missions that drive concrete actions on a large scale. To do this, it partners with key actors at the top of governments to implement policy solutions to diverse economic problems.

Much of the SEA’s work is methodological: it calls for greater inclusion in the decision and policy making processes. In its missions in Mexico, Barbados, Brazil, Peru, and Colombia it aims to bring local economics and knowledge into the process to foster mutual learning. In particular, it seeks to amplify to voices of women, who have been traditionally excluded from mainstream economics. In adopting this stance, the SEA hopes to create reflective spaces and a community the will produce new policies and solutions to the world’s most pressing problems.

As the conversation opened up the discussion turned to ask how the inclusion of female economists might change the policy outcomes. Mariana explained how female economists are typically excluded, therefore when they reach higher positions, they tend to be more qualified. In addition, they often have worked in more heterodox fields of economics and bring an understanding of the complex relationships between economics and other fields.

Marcela and Manuel were keen to emphasise that this project does not aim to project a singular strain of economic thought. Instead, it calls for an inclusive approach to policy that involves diverse voices, and is embedded in the context of each economic problem. Through this approach the SEA hopes it can produce new economic theory that confronts global economic challenges.

Canning House would like to thank Manuel and Marcela for sharing their work and to all participants for an enriching discussion on new directions for economic theory.

Learn more about the SEA