New pragmatism

Key takeaways

New pragmatism belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect New pragmatism to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of New pragmatism from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

New pragmatism (Polish: nowy pragmatyzm) is an original paradigmatic and heterodox theory of economics created by Grzegorz W. Kolodko to address the contemporary civilizational challenges and economic system transformations. It is based on the imperative for a harmonious triply sustainable social and economic growth. New pragmatism, by creating a new, multidisciplinary epistemological perspective for analyzing economic phenomena and by providing new, enriched cognitive and analytic methods and tools stands for abandoning the economic orthodoxy in favor of what works, and what may be a useful basis for solving actual social and economic problems. Cognitive and methodological eclecticism is inherent in this approach.

Characteristics New pragmatism as a theoretical concept fits squarely in the sequence of views of philosophers and economists who believed the meaning and purpose of economics as a science is to find the rules governing the functioning of a good economy in specific temporal and spatial conditions (Adam Smith, Karl Marx, John M. Keynes, John K. Galbraith, Douglass C. North, Edmund S. Phelps, Joseph E. Stiglitz), rather than to look for universal timeless economic laws. New pragmatism searches for a reasonable compromise between an economic policy of national states and the policy run at a regional and international level. The economics of the future emerging from new pragmatism creates and equips politicians with tools to prevent “Yet Grander Crises”, as Kolodko calls them. What should be an important rule governing the economy of the future is moderation, or consciously adapting the size of human, material and financial flows to the requirement to maintain a long-term dynamic balance. In descriptive terms, new pragmatism explains the historic development process, emphasizing not only the significance of respective causative factors but also their coincidence. In normative terms, new pragmatism indicates the goals of economic activity, which should involve:

economically sustainable growth, i.e. sustainable with respect to goods and capital markets as well as investments, finance and labor; socially sustainable growth, i.e. sustainable with respect to socially acceptable, fair division of income, which favors capital accumulation, and to appropriate participation of basic population groups in public services and access to public goods; environmentally and spatially sustainable growth, i.e. sustainable with respect to maintaining appropriate relations between human economic activity and nature, both on a current and long-term basis; In new pragmatism, economics is seen as a science that is:

descriptive, explanatory and evaluative alike – a description is a point of departure and imminently leads to a normative (prescriptive), that is evaluative perspective; contextual – analyses and syntheses are not conducted in isolation from reality, in “pure” economic models but, instead, with reference to specific dynamic and variable complex circumstances, determinants, constraints and possibilities; complex – it combines elements of analysis and synthesis from various economic schools, from behavioral economics to political economics, as well as microeconomics with macroeconomics and global economics; multidisciplinary – the analysis of economic reality takes account of findings and methods of other disciplines of social sciences, most of all history, geography, philosophy, sociology, psychology, law and anthropology; comparative – the comparison of economic, cultural, geographic and political reality is treated as the basic research method. New pragmatism sees globalization – the historical and spontaneous process of liberalizing and integrating various markets into one interconnected and internally consolidated worldwide system – as an irreversible phenomenon. Hence, what becomes the fundamental economic problem of modern times is an effective coordination of economic policy and developmental strategies at a national and global level and rebuilding the institutional structure of global economy.

References

Further reading 1. Publications on New Pragmatism by Grzegorz W. Kolodko

Kolodko, Grzegorz W. (2011), Truth, Errors and Lies: Politics and Economics in a Volatile World, Columbia University Press, New York-London Kolodko, Grzegorz W. (2011), “New Pragmatism Versus Failing Neoliberalism”, Roubini’s EconoMonitor”, April 26th Kolodko, Grzegorz W. (2012), “Neither Washington, Nor Beijing Consensus, But the New Pragmatism”, Roubini’s EconoMonitor”, January 24th Kolodko, Grzegorz W. (2013), “The New Pragmatism and the Future of World Economy”, “Roubini’s EconoMonitor”, January 25th Kolodko, Grzegorz W. (2014), The New Pragmatism, or Economics and Policy for the Future, “Acta Oeconomica”, Vol. 64 (2) Kolodko, Grzegorz W. (2014), Whither the World: The Political Economy of the Future, Palgrave Macmillan, Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire Kolodko, Grzegorz W. (2017), New Pragmatism versus New Nationalism, TIGER Working Paper Series No. 137 Kolodko, Grzegorz W. (2017). “New Pragmatism: In the Quest for Economics and Development Policy in the 21st Century”, “Journal of Management and Business Administration. Central Europe”¸ Vol. 25, No. 2, s. 2-5 2. Publications on new pragmatism by other authors

Phelps, Edmund S. (2013). "Mass Flourishing: How Grassroots Innovation Created Jobs, Challenge, and Change", Princeton University Press, New York Baltowski, Maciej (2015), "Evolution of economics and the new pragmatism of Grzegorz W. Kolodko", Maria Sklodowska-Curie University (UMCS), Lublin Galbraith, James K. (2016), "Backwater Economics and New Pragmatism: Institutions and Evolution in the Search for a Sustainable Economics", Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, University of Texas, Austin 4. Baltowski, Maciej (2017), “Evolution of Economics and the New Pragmatism of Grzegorz W. Kolodko”, “TIGER Working Paper Series”, No. 136 (March 2017) ACTA OECONOMICA (2019) Vol. 69, Special Issue 1, Grzegorz W. Kolodko turns 70.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with New pragmatism

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what New pragmatism claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to New pragmatism before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about New pragmatism ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of New pragmatism

In research: New pragmatism appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses New pragmatism in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: New pragmatism is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Schools of economic thought, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for New pragmatism outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

How to study New pragmatism in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what New pragmatism means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain New pragmatism out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is New pragmatism in simple terms?

New pragmatism (Polish: nowy pragmatyzm) is an original paradigmatic and heterodox theory of economics created by Grzegorz W. Kolodko to address the contemporary civilizational challenges and economic system transformations.

Why does New pragmatism matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study New pragmatism?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on New pragmatism.