Other Economics

Other Economics refers to a diverse family of approaches that sit outside the mainstream neoclassical paradigm. It encompasses heterodox traditions—such as Marxian, post-Keynesian, institutional, feminist, ecological and complexity economics—which emphasise factors neglected by standard models: power relations, historical context, social norms, ecological constraints and structural uncertainty. Value and distribution are viewed as socially constructed outcomes of class or institutional struggles rather than the mechanical result of marginal utility and equilibrium. Methodologies range from qualitative narrative and systems thinking to quantitative indices and axiomatic frameworks. Key concerns include the biophysical limits to growth, the governance of common goods, the measurement of socially necessary labour time, the role of public institutions in shaping markets, and the drivers of persistent inequality. By integrating insights from ecology, political science, sociology and complexity science, Other Economics seeks richer explanations of phenomena such as institutional change, financial instability, ecological degradation and labour alienation. Its goal is pluralistic analysis and policy design that align economic processes with social justice, environmental sustainability and democratic governance.

Research from Nature Portfolio

Critical reviews of institutional reforms have shown that piecemeal regulatory changes risk weakening governance unless social, administrative and intellectual property streams are strengthened simultaneously. An analysis of a major omnibus law demonstrates how uncoordinated amendments may erode community cohesion and vocational training, undermining national competitiveness. Advances in economic complexity metrics now integrate trade data with patent and publication records to create a multidimensional index that robustly predicts inclusive green growth and lower carbon-emission intensity in economies with diverse capabilities. Large-scale panel regressions have also revealed N-shaped relationships between per-capita income and ecological footprints, with trade protectionism exacerbating environmental degradation in lower-income groups while high-income nations can mitigate harm through targeted policy stringency.

Other Economics publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in other economics across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Heterodox economics: A collective term for theoretical traditions that challenge mainstream assumptions of perfect competition, representative agents and equilibrium, emphasising power, history and institutions.

Economic complexity index: A composite measure combining trade volumes, patent applications and research-publication data to assess the diversity and sophistication of an economy’s productive capabilities.

Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC): A hypothesised inverted-U or N-shaped relationship between per-capita income and environmental impact over the course of development.

Institutional quality: The effectiveness of legal, regulatory and governance frameworks in enforcing contracts, protecting rights and supporting fair competition.

Revealed comparative advantage (RCA): An index comparing a region’s or country’s export share in a sector to its share in world trade, indicating specialisation relative to global norms.

Labour content: The total amount of direct and indirect labour embodied in the production of a commodity or service, measured in uniform labour-time units.

References

1. The importance of institutional quality: Reviewing the relevance of Indonesia’s Omnibus Law on national competitiveness. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications (2022).
2. Measuring Subnational Trade Competitiveness. Scientific Data (2023).
3. Do existing competitiveness models comprehensively assess the competitiveness context of the contemporary agribusiness sector? A systematic review. Cogent Business & Management (2024).
4. The measurement of labour content: An axiomatic approach. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization (2023).
5. Multidimensional economic complexity and inclusive green growth. Communications Earth & Environment (2023).
6. Reinvestigating the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) of carbon emissions and ecological footprint in 147 countries: a matter of trade protectionism. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications (2024).