10 CADMUS, Volume 3, No.2, May 2017, 10-44 Quest for a New Paradigm in Economics A Synthesis of Views of the New Economics Working Group * Garry Jacobs Chief Executive Offcer, World Academy of Art & Science; Vice President, The Mother’s Service Society Mark Swilling Distinguished Professor, School of Public Leadership, Stellenbosch University; Fellow, World Academy of Art & Science Winston P. Nagan Chairman of the Board of Trustees, World Academy of Art & Science; Sam T. Dell Research Scholar Professor of Law, University of Florida Barry Gills Professor, Department of Political & Economic Studies, University of Helsinki; Fellow, World Academy of Art & Science Jamie Morgan Leeds Business School, UK Abstract The remarkable economic achievements of the past two centuries have cast an illusion of omniscience on the discipline of Economics, which even repeated catastrophic policy failures have still not entirely banished. The gap and disjuncture between prevailing economic wisdom and its effective application to promote human welfare and well-being are enormous and widening rapidly. The gap between current economic performance and the economic potential of global society has never been greater. Both have been aggravated by the rapid evolution of economy and society in recent decades. An ideology masquerading as scientifc theory, mainstream theory fails to provide the necessary insights to guide us through the next phase of global social evolution. This paper summarizes major conclusions from a series of meetings organized by the World Academy of Art & Science over the past half-decade. It examines important premises and principles of a transdisciplinary framework for ecologically-sustainable, human-centered development founded on knowledge of the underlying social processes that govern human accomplishment and social evolution. It challenges the implicit values and assumptions on which current theory and practice are based. It exposes the central role played by social power in determining the operations of economy and the distribution of benefts in society. It seeks to construct a holistic paradigm to reunite and integrate thinking about economy with the political, legal, social, organizational, ecological and psychological dimensions of which economy has always been an inseparable part. It points to the need for a transnational theoretical framework as a unit of analysis * See detailed acknowledgement of group member contributions at the end of the paper prior to the endnotes.