Learning from mistakes: can the Global Financial Crisis translate into social progress?

In this essay, I take position against the idea that contemporary societies necessarily learn from mistakes. Drawing on a constellation of different though converging theoretical templates, I first criticize the claim that the Global Financial Crisis will somehow inevitably translate into progress in the field of finance practice, through a plethora of measures such as a more effective and constraining regulatory environment. Learning from mistakes constitutes, and will always constitute, a fragile endeavour. Yet, in spite of the difficulties involved, I also maintain that some progress can be made, for instance when people are rendered more aware of the difficulties involved in realizing social change, and of the key issues and risks they face, individually and collectively, on the shorter and longer run. In this respect, I argue that the core of finance research has played a significant role in lessening society's ability to learn from mistakes -- since finance's lack of diversity in research styles translates into a body of knowledge which is not particularly meaningful when trying to make sense of infrequent yet highly significant events unfolding in the political economy. Although I am aware of the underlying obstacles, there is a need for finance academics to increase their commitment to the ideal of research diversity and engage more thoroughly in the examination of finance in action.