New economists have “responsibility” to question Adam Smith

The next generation of economists have a duty to make global trade more ethically led, the organiser of Scotland’s largest student conference has said.

Sephora Sissi Mazodila, President of the 2020 Scottish Economics Conference, believes that the country’s leading young minds must help shape the financial trends of tomorrow by questioning traditional business practices.

Issues of globalisation and current economic ideology will form the main talking points of this year’s conference, which is being hosted at the University of Dundee.

Hundreds of delegates and a host of leading academics will attend the event, which takes place on Saturday 8 and Sunday 9 February.

Featuring addresses from experts based at London Business School, the University of Manchester, and Princeton University, it is the first time that Dundee has hosted the showpiece event.

Sephora, a third-year Financial Economics student at Dundee, said, “The economic and political models of today are undoubtedly culpable for some of the problems we face as a planet.

“In the developing world, there are child labourers dying in cobalt mines to source metals that consumers desire. On the other hand, in other areas of the world, there are new billion-dollar trade alliances being formed which will increase regional integration, all thanks to a ‘globalised’ world.

“Adam Smith’s teachings will always be placed as the foundation of modern economics, therefore as the next generation of world leaders we have a responsibility to question whether these remain valid – or to what extent.

“At the University of Dundee, we are encouraged to evolve economic thinking and determine how this can affect positive change. We look forward to welcoming visitors from across the world for this year’s Scottish Economics Conference to further discuss how our studies can achieve this.”

Adam Smith was the Scottish economist known as the “Father of Capitalism”. His 1776 text, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, is regarded as the founding document of free-market economic thinking which is still employed throughout much of the world today.

Now in its third year, the Scottish Economics Conference is organised by six of Scotland’s leading universities. Running over two days, the programme of events provides a valuable forum for the nation’s next generation of economists to learn from some of the sector’s leading minds, with previous keynote speakers including Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of England.

This year’s Scottish Economics Conference takes place in the University of Dundee’s Dalhousie Building, Old Hawkhill, on Saturday 8 and Sunday 9 February.