Dr Imko Meyenburg

Imko’s research spans political economy, the philosophy and history of economic thought, and social ontology, with a particular focus on language and populism. A central application of his work is healthcare, examining provision, access, equity, and workforce planning from a pluralist, heterodox perspective grounded in the philosophy of economics.

[email protected]

Follow Imko on Twitter

Connect with Imko on LinkedIn

Background

Imko joined the Faculty of Business and Law at ARU in August 2016 after completing his PhD. He is currently the lead for the Health Economics and Policy Cluster in the Centre for Inclusive Societies and Economies (CISE).

He completed his PhD in Economics and Philosophy of Economics at ARU in December 2016. He did his undergraduate degree in Business Studies and Economics in Germany and his Master's in Economics at the AACSB accredited Business School at Auckland University of Technology (AUT) in New Zealand, where he was awarded Top Graduate in MBus Economics.

Imko's PhD research focused on the philosophy and history of economic thought, specifically on eclectic choices under pluralism in economics, utilising methodologies and knowledge from various disciplines in the humanities and social sciences, including economics and contemporary philosophy of (social) science.

His current research focuses on several strands in political economy, including the philosophy and history of economic thought, social ontology, and the political economy of language and populism. A key area of application of this work is healthcare, with particular attention to provision, access, equity, and workforce planning. He is also interested in philosophy of social sciences, particularly pluralism in economic methodology.

Imko has been a Lecturer in Economics and International Business in ARU, as well as Course Leader for BSc (Hons) Economics, since September 2016.

He is currently a member of the Cambridge Social Ontology Group, Global Labour Organisation, the International Network for Economic Method, and the Association for Heterodox Economics.

Spoken Languages

• German

Research interests

• Social ontology
• Political economy of language and populism
• Healthcare provision, access, equity, and workforce planning
• Pluralism and heterodox economics
• Philosophy and history of economic thought

Areas of research supervision

• Political economy (including healthcare and populism)
• Philosophy of economics and economic methodology
• Philosophy of language and political discourse
• History of economic thought

Teaching

• BSc (Hons) Business Economics
• BSc (Hons) International Business Management

Qualifications

• PhD in Economics and Philosophy of Economics, ARU, UK
• MA in Economics (First class honours), Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand
• BA in Business Studies, Carl-von-Ossietzky University, Oldenburg, Germany
• Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy

Memberships, editorial boards

• Cambridge Social Ontology Group
• Association for Heterodox Economics
• Global Labour Organisation
• International Network for Economic Method

Selected recent publications

Meyenburg, I. (2025) 'Neoliberalism and Right-Wing Populism–A Love Story', Journal of Economic Issues, 59(4), pp. 1084–1096. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/00213624.2025.2575146

Meyenburg, I. (2024) 'Pluralism in economics and the question of ontological pluralism', Journal of Economic Methodology, 31(2), pp. 106–119. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/1350178x.2024.2343490

Meyenburg, I. (2022) '“Brexit Means Brexit!”: Investigating the Production of Social Phenomena in Political Discourses', Symbolic Interaction, 45, pp. 570-595.

Andreoni, V., Kuehnlenz, S. and Meyenburg, I. (2022) 'Capitalism and Crises: A Comparative Analysis of Mainstream and Heterodox Perceptions', Business Ethics, the Environment & Responsibility, 32(51), pp. 52-64.

Meyenburg, I. and Turcitu, A. (2022) 'Vagueness and Social Ontology: Implications of inquiry resistant borderline cases for social ontological theorising', Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, 52(1), pp. 127-146 – Recognised as Wiley’s ‘Top Cited Article 2021-2022’ in the Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour.

Meyenburg, I. and Selmanovic, S. (2020) 'Gender and Inequality in the Workplace: Lessons from Institutional and Marxist Perspectives'. In: K.F. Zimmermann (Ed.) (2020) Springer Handbook of Labour, Human Resources and Population Economics. Berlin: Springer.

Recent presentations and conferences

Meyenburg, I., 2023. Milton Friedman could have had a Third Child – Or how possibilism makes counterfactual modelling and forecasting in economics ontologically tenable. Annual INEM Conference 2023, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Italy

Meyenburg, I., 2022. “Brexit Means Brexit!”: Investigating the Production of Social Phenomena in Political Discourses. 19^th STOREP Annual Conference, online event.

Meyenburg, I., 2021. Pluralism in Economics and the Question of Ontological Pluralism. 2022 Critical Social Ontology Workshop, online event.

Meyenburg, I., 2019. Pluralism in Economics and the Question of Ontological Pluralism. Envisioning the Economy of the Future, and the Future of Political Economy AFEP-IIPPE Conference, with participation by ADEK, AHE and EAEPE, University of Lille, France.

Media experience

Op-ed, 'Politicians weren't confident discussing Brexit – my analysis of parliamentary debates shows how', The Conversation UK, February 2023.

Op-ed, 'Eight charts that explain why Germany could be heading for recession', The Conversation UK, September 2018.

Op-ed, 'Germany’s deep-rooted obsession with saving – a brief history',The Conversation UK, May 2018.

Op-ed, 'Trade war on the cards as Trump takes office?', Cambridge News, January 2017.