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International Initiative for Promoting Political Economy

Fifth Annual Conference in Political Economy

“The Crisis: Scholarship, Policies, Conflicts and Alternatives”
September 16-18, 2014, Naples, Italy

Conference Programme

Please click here to download (FINAL, updated September 12).

Plenary Talks

Non-Plenary Talks

Practical Information

Practical information (how to get to Naples, accommodations, etc.) can be found here (updated September 12).

Call for Papers is closed

Call for Papers

The economic crisis that started in 2007 has become the deepest global contraction since the Great Depression, and the economic recovery has been the slowest and weakest on record. The costs of the crisis include a wave of unemployment that may take another decade or longer to clear, and higher taxes and reduced public services for working people, such as healthcare and education, in order to bail out wealthy bankers and bondholders. A whole generation, especially the youth, has been blighted by the crisis, which has had devastating consequences for hundreds of millions of people across the world. Protests and violent conflicts have flared up on several continents, in particular in Southern Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, which may develop into larger scale conflicts. From the viewpoint of political economy, the current strategy of ‘adjustment within neoliberalism’ is economically inconsistent, socially dysfunctional and politically intolerable:

  • It is built on the premise that neoliberal capitalism is intrinsically stable, even though every finance-driven expansion since the 1970s has ended in a crisis requiring a large state bail-out. In other words, neoliberalism is dynamic only between crises, and it depends in boom and recession on extensive, supportive government intervention.
  • It is built on a misguided position on the role of the government in the economy, which assumes that massive fiscal spending is appropriate to support finance in crises, while it is never appropriate for governments to spend even much smaller amounts to protect employment, incomes, living standards and public services, either in better times when obtaining government revenue would be easier or – even – as a more effective response to crises.
  • It is also built on the notion that economic and social provision should be subjected to the self interests of the financial system, an unacceptable proposition in itself that becomes absurd when the financial system has clearly demonstrated that it has become highly dysfunctional under neoliberalism.

The Fifth Annual Conference in Political Economy will examine the global crisis from the complementary angles of scholarship, policies, conflicts and alternatives. Papers on all aspects of poitical economy are welcome, while those on these topics are especially encouraged.

Practical Information

IIPPE welcomes the submission of (a) proposals for panels (or streams of panels) and (b) proposals for individual papers (which IIPPE will group into panels).

All proposals can be submitted to either the Working Group coordinators or directly to the Conference Programme Committee, as indicated on the application form (see below). Any papers or panels which cannot be accepted by the Working Groups will be forwarded for further consideration by the Programme Committee, without prejudice.

Note that an individual can normally only present only one paper at the conference, although multiple co-authorship is allowed. Please contact Al Campbell (al@economics.utah.edu) if there is a pressing case for someone to present more than once. On the Conference Programme only the designated presenter will be listed, and co-authors will only be listed on those papers submitted and posted on the IIPPE site.

The deadline for submission of proposals for papers and panels is 1 April 2014. Successful submissions will be confirmed by 20 May 2014. The deadline for registration (registration will possible starting in late May or early June, and people will be informed by email and on this Web site) for the Conference is 29 June 2014.

If you have any questions concerning your submision, please contact Al Campbell (al@economics.utah.edu).

Scientific Committee:

  • Emiliano Brancaccio, University of Sannio, Italy
  • Al Campbell, University of Utah, USA
  • Michela Cerimele, L’ Orientale University, Naples, Italy
  • Cedric Durand, University of Paris 13, France
  • Trevor Evans, Berlin School of Economics and Law, Germany
  • Ben Fine, SOAS, University of London, UK
  • Niels Hahn, SOAS, University of London, UK
  • Pietro Masina, L’ Orientale University, Naples, Italy
  • Dimitris Milonakis, University of Crete, Greece
  • Jo Mitchell, University of the West of England, Bristol, UK
  • Simon Mohun, Queen Mary College, University of London, UK
  • Ioana Negru, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, UK
  • Susan Newman, ISS, Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Hague, the Netherlands
  • Mario Pianta, University of Urbino, Italy
  • Riccardo Realfonzo, University of Sannio, Italy
  • Mary Robertson, SOAS, University of London, UK
  • Alfredo Saad Filho, SOAS, University of London, UK

Local Organising Committee: 

Conference Programme Committee: