This proposal aims to strengthen the intellectual foundations for diagnosing problems and designing policies beyond the logics of growthism. In the discipline of economics, the continued predominance of Eurocentric frameworks treat the historical experience of Western Europe as a neutral and universal reference for development. In doing so, these approaches frequently abstract from the historical roles of colonialism, slavery, dispossession, racialisation, patriarchy, and global power relations, limiting the discipline’s capacity to accurately diagnose patterns of poverty, inequality, and underdevelopment. The political and social stakes are high: these economics frameworks shape how governments, universities, and international institutions define problems and design policies, often legitimising growth centered strategies that ignore historical exploitation, reinforce dependency, and fail to meet human needs sustainably. This proposal advances a set of practical and connected policy instruments to reform and decolonise economics education and knowledge production, by systematic historical re-grounding of core economic concepts; curriculum reform that embeds plural and Global South epistemologies; audits of Eurocentric categories such as “developed” and “underdeveloped”; reforms to journals, hiring, and citation practices; and the creation of policy review units to reassess IMF and World Bank style frameworks. Importantly, these approaches are not speculative: similar interventions have already been implemented in parts through institutions such as UNCTAD, ECLAC, CODESRIA, anticolonial development traditions, and more recently through curriculum reforms and pluralism initiatives linked to movements like Rethinking Economics. This proposal seeks to redistribute epistemic power within economics. It changes whose histories and experiences count, challenges who defines “rigour” and “neutrality,” and unlocks alternative policy tools grounded in structural analysis rather than GDP growth. By shifting attention to power relations, global hierarchies, and social reproduction, it enables more accurate diagnosis of poverty and inequality, as well as to escape the preponderance of extractivist development models.
More generally, it is important to reform the education provided in economics, notably in business schools, where many future business and political decision-makers are trained (e.g. BBAs, BScs, MScs, (E)MBAs). Business schools have long been overdue in shifting their focus away from neoclassical and neoliberal theories. These theories and strategies promote one-sided growth while disregarding the social and ecological dimensions of, and degradation caused by the economic activity they endorse. The proposal calls for pluralistic economics and multi-perspective critical thinking to be embedded in university and business school curricula, as well as in training programmes for future business and political leaders, and professional accreditation bodies. This would include teaching philosophy (multicultural ethics), human rights, ecological economics, feminist economics, and political economy as the foundation of all economic activity. Implementation requires a complete revision of current academic curricula as well as interdisciplinary collaboration and teaching. For example, ethics and human rights would become compulsory study areas rather than optional ones . The proposal aims to ensure that future decision-makers prioritise ecological and social concerns, rather than growth for growth’s sake. This is desirable because it would strengthen the intellectual basis for economic activities centred on human rights, justice, and sustainability.
