On Friday, November 13, 2026, Francisco Louçã delivered his final lecture as a professor at ISEG, launching a sharp critique against the neoclassical economic paradigm.
Criticism of Orthodox Economics
Louçã criticized orthodox economic assumptions during his address titled “Quod Errat Demonstrandum: The Renaissance of Economic Science.” He addressed an audience a day after turning 70, which is the maximum age for remaining in an academic career.
He referenced the 19th-century neoclassical economist Irving Fisher, who described an individual as a molecule operating without intelligence alone but obeying specific laws in groups. Louçã argued that this paradigm views the economy as populated by omniscient particles making optimal choices in stationary systems.
“The economy is populated by particles that are omniscient agents, capable of optimal decisions in well-defined choices, described by stationary systems,” Louçã said.
He added that this theoretical framework failed to foresee crises such as the subprime mortgage meltdown. He cited Nobel laureate Paul Krugman, stating that most work in macroeconomics over the last 30 years was useless at best and harmful at worst.
Did You Know? Francisco Louçã defended his doctoral thesis titled “Turbulência na Economia” in 1996, which was subsequently published as a book in the United Kingdom, the United States, and Portugal.
Proposals for a Heterodox Economy
To replace orthodox models, Louçã proposed a heterodox approach that substitutes equilibrium with complexity. This framework treats market disequilibrium as a natural condition and replaces traditional microeconomics with experimental economics, behavioral psychology, and business studies.
He outlined six central themes that this new economic science must address amid public debates. These include the impact of capital markets and shadow banking on public investments, the breakdown of the traditional inflation-employment link due to changing labor contracts, and fiscal pressures from anticyclical stabilization, climate change, and rising life expectancy.
“How to organize an economic democracy,” Louçã said when listing the necessary challenges, alongside building measures for housing access, recovering full employment and wage-based well-being, deciding priorities, and choosing industrial and sovereignty strategies.
“If the new economy is rebuilt as a realistic, empirically validated, formally rigorous science, it will be through innovative articles, bold books, inviting manuals, combative debates, and [broad] cooperation,” he said. “It is an immense enterprise, passion, and work, and our viability as an essential science for social choice depends on it.”
Expert Insight: Louçã’s retirement marks the formal conclusion of decades spent teaching the history of economic thought at ISEG.
Colleagues and Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa celebrate Louçã's career
A packed room of former students, professional colleagues, and former President of the Republic Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa gathered to celebrate Louçã’s academic career. Tributes highlighted his dedication to economic research and his long political involvement, which included joining other historical figures of the Left Bloc (Bloco de Esquerda) to support party lists in the 2025 legislative elections.
“Not even the excuse of having occupied myself with some extracurricular activities will reduce the sentence for the limitation of the work carried out,” Louçã joked during the session.
Colleagues praised his scholarly contributions and consistency.
Louçã entered ISEG with one of the highest entering grade averages in decades, according to Coelho. He later completed a master’s degree supervised by Américo Ramos dos Santos and defended a thesis in 1993 on technological-economic paradigm transitions. He subsequently started a doctorate under British economist Christopher Freeman.
Questions about Francisco Louçã's final lecture and academic milestones
When did Francisco Louçã deliver his final lecture?
Louçã delivered his final lecture on Friday, November 13, 2026, at ISEG, exactly one day after celebrating his 70th birthday.
What specific academic milestones marked his early research?
He defended a master’s thesis in 1993 titled “Transição de ‘Paradigma Tecno-Económico’ como Factor das Ondas Longas do Desenvolvimento Capitalista: O Caso da Revolução Micro-Electrónica” and an unanimously approved doctoral thesis titled “Turbulência na Economia” in 1996.
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