Predicting the economy is a perilous and unforgiving task, one suited to magicians and storytellers. Economists need to learn new tricks and tell fresh stories to satisfy their audience

Alchemy may no longer be taken seriously in scientific circles, but its influence on the finance sector is evident to this day

Like earthquakes, financial crises often involve a breakdown in friction. Economists are only just getting to grips with this fact

Money is often considered to be a type of magic, but what kind of alchemy gives currency its value? The gold standard could hold the answers

Men have long dominated economics, with women finding it difficult to successfully break into the profession. However, with the prevalent impact of the #MeToo movement, more are recognising the need for greater equality

Money was invented to represent goods that were for sale, but it became an indispensable part of society once coins started being used to motivate soldiers and control the public. Understanding money’s historic power helps us create better economic models

In November 2008, Queen Elizabeth II asked why no one saw the financial crisis coming. In the years following, many economists have attempted to answer her question, but few have come up with more than mere excuses

Left underwhelmed by mainstream economics’ attempts to revolutionise the field, David Orrell found a more radical way of thinking among quantum physicists. Could quantum thinking provide the upheaval economics needs?

In economics, statistical significance is often conflated with relevance, leading researchers to push data to fit with their theory. A Bayesian approach, instead, expects theories to evolve as data is collected. While this leads to less newsworthy findings, it is restoring statistics’ legitimacy