In response to the challenges presented by the global economic crisis and the need to develop fresh approaches to economic theory, a group of academics, policy makers, and private sector leaders that includes financier George Soros has announced the creation of a new economics policy think tank.

Featuring a star-studded roster of economists from around the globe, the Institute for New Economic Thinking will award research grants, convene symposia, and publish a journal that explores the regulatory implications of the global financial crisis. By year's end, the institute will announce its initial round of grants to scholars at leading universities worldwide, followed, in April 2010, by its first conference at King's College in Cambridge, England. To help establish the institute, Soros has pledged $5 million a year for ten years through the Budapest-based Central European University.

The founding advisory board of INET includes Nobel laureates George Akerlof, Sir James Mirrlees, A. Michael Spence, and Joseph. E. Stiglitz, as well as Willem Buiter, Markus K. Brunnermeier, Robert Dugger, Duncan Foley, Thomas Ferguson, Roman Frydman, Ian Goldin, Charles Goodhart, Anatole Kaletsky, John Kay, Axel Leijonhufvud, Perry Mehrling, Y.V. Reddy, Ken Rogoff, Jeffrey Sachs, John Shattuck, William R. White, and Yu Yongding. Because Soros is both an INET benefactor and the proponent of an economic theory he calls "reflexivity," he will recuse himself from the grantmaking process.

Speaking at the CEU, which will serve as a hub of the INET network, Soros said, "The entire edifice of global financial markets has been erected on the false premise that markets can be left to their own devices. We must find a new paradigm and rebuild from the ground up. I decided to sponsor INET to facilitate the process. I hope others will join me."