CALL FOR PAPERS  
Session(s) on Lionel Robbins Essay on the Nature and Significance of   
Economic Science after 75 Years  
HES 2007 AND ESHET 2007  
  
  
In 1932, Lionel Robbins published a slim (less than 200 pages) but   
nonetheless "dangerous revolutionary document," as William Baumol has   
called it--his Essay on the Nature and Significance of Economic   
Science. A most influential economic treatise, the Essay helped to give   
birth to modern economics and contributed to the development of the   
scientific dimension of the discipline. Robbins not only proposed a   
definition of economics that seems to have helped pave the way for   
economic imperialism, he also criticized the claims that Welfare   
Economics could be scientific and argued that "economics," or economic   
science, should not be confused with "political economy."  
  
We propose to organize one or more sessions at the 2007 meetings of the   
History of Economics Society and the European Society for the History   
of Economic Thought to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the   
publication of Robbins' Essay. The papers should deal with some aspect   
of the writing, reception, impact, and diffusion of the Essay. Papers   
that examine how the Essay influenced economic thinking during the   
second half of the twentieth century are particularly encouraged.  
  
The 2007 History of Economics Society conference will take place June   
8-11 at George Mason University in Fairfax, VA. The 2007 conference of   
the European Society for the History of Economic Thought will take   
place in July 5-8 in Strasbourg, France.  
  
Contact:  
Professor Alain Marciano  
Universite de Reims Champagne Ardenne (Economie du Droit et de la   
Justice)  
and EconomiX-Cachan-CNRS  
Faculte des Sciences Economiques et de Gestion  
57 b, rue Pierre Taittinger  
F - 51096 Reims Cedex  
France  
Email: [log in to unmask]  
  
Professor Steven G. Medema  
Department of Economics, CB 181  
University of Colorado at Denver  
P.O. Box 173364  
Denver, CO 80217-3364  
USA  
Phone: 303-556-8511  
Fax: 303-556-3547  
Email: [log in to unmask]