[CfP] Conference 2017 – History of Economic thought, Economic Methodology and Critique of the Mainstream WG

Call for Papers

“History of Economic Thought, Economic Methodology and Critique of the Mainstream” Working Group

8^th Annual IIPPE Conference in Political Economy, Berlin 13-15 September 2017

Classical political economy treated the economy in its wider social and historical context and economic science as a social science with correspondingly important social and historical dimensions. Following the marginalist revolution of the 1870s, the rounded approaches of classical political economy have gradually given way to the asocial and ahistorical approach of neoclassical economics according to which economics is a quantitative and deductive science on a par with a stylized (and false) view of the physical sciences. Following the so-called formalist revolution of the 1950s, the pre-war pluralism has been displaced by the increasingly monolithic, non-pluralist and formalistic approach to economic phenomena characteristic of modern mainstream economics. According to this approach there is only one way to deal with economic reality, and this is through mathematical modeling. If it is not modeled, it is not economics, it is not science. How did this state of affairs come about, and what can be done to reverse it, is one of the main questions we will try to explore through in-depth and foundational critique of mainstream economics. These tasks lead directly to the realm of the history of economic thought and economic methodology each of which provides vital insights. But there are other reasons for engaging these issues. The increasing homogenisation of economic science is accompanied by its total lack of critical self-reflection, coupled with a whiggish approach to the history of our subject. As a result, all that is good in the history of economic thought is deemed already to have been incorporated into prevailing analyses and so there is no need to read anything that was written more than ten or twenty years ago. This has meant that subjects such as the history of economic thought and economic methodology have suffered barbaric dismissal as fields of research quite apart from being discarded from most economics curricula. This state of affairs is as pervasive as it is intellectually vulnerable Finding ways of redressing these imbalances is an additional aim of this stream. We therefore encourage anyone who is interested in these issues to send an abstract through the procedure described below.

Proposed themes

• History of economic thought
• Economic methodology
• Philosophy of economics
• Economics imperialism
• Economics and history
• Mathematisation and formalisation of economic science
• Critique of mainstream economics

The submission deadline for abstracts is 1^st April 2017. Abstracts must be done via the Electronic Proposal Form, which you can access through (http://iippe.org)

In case you cannot access the submissions forms, or have any questions concerning your submission, please contact the “History of Economic Thought, Economic Methodology and Critique of the Mainstream“ Working Group Coordinator: Dimitris Milonakis (d.milonakis@uoc.gr).