Last month, Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, implicitly undermined much of the economic paradigm that shaped the central bank's thinking on policy matters pre-crisis.

In a talk delivered at Princeton, Bernanke set out the directions in which he feels economics must move if it is to fulfill its duties in helping policymakers stave off future crises. Many of the areas flagged - such as the tendency of financial markets towards disequilibrium, illiquidity and barriers to price