Co-authored with Duncan Wallace.
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Tony Benn, the UK Labour Party MP and a key proponent of democratic socialism within the party, once said that in politics there are signposts and weathercocks. There are those who change their positions according to the winds of opinion, and those who stick to their principles.
Andrew Leigh, Federal Labor MP for Fenner in the ACT and Shadow Assistant Treasurer, doesn’t quite fit Benn’s dichotomy. He’s a behavioural economist, which means that, uncharacteristically for economists, he’s interested in evidence. As he discussed in our interview with him, he’s willing to change his mind if there are convincing reasons to – so not quite signpost, but not weathercock either. He’s no radical, but he is very much interested in improving social capital and revitalising local communities through mechanisms such as government procurement policies, which is encouraging for the New Economy movement.
You can read the rest of this article at the New Economy Journal website.
Jacob Debets 