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Patinkin Conference
Call for papers
Centre Walras-Pareto
University of Lausanne, 20-22 September 2001
On the initiative of Pascal Bridel (Université de Lausanne) and
Michel De Vroey (Université catholique de Louvain), the Centre
Walras-Pareto of the University of Lausanne is organising a
Conference on Don Patinkin. As the author of Money, Interest and
Prices and many other books and articles, Professor Patinkin is
one of the most influential post World-War theorists. The
organisers' motivation lies in their admiration for Patinkin's work
and their perception of the important role he played in the unfolding
of modern economic theory. The aim of the conference is to
assess Patinkin's role and place in the unfolding of modern
economic theory. Time has come, we feel, for a critical
assessment of his work. Contributions centred on the three
following themes are invited.
1) Patinkin as a monetary economist
Patinkin's major aim was to integrate money in a Walrasian
general equilibrium perspective as well as to study the implications
of such integration. With his stochastic payment approach, he
attempted to provide a micro-theory of the demand for money and
laid the grounds to dynamics analysis. With Hicks and
Samuelson, he was probably one of he first authors trying to
transform Walras's complex abstract analysis into a pragmatic four-
market model, presenting itself as a simplified account of real-world
market economies. It would be worth assessing what is left today
of Patinkin's attempt in this respect. Of particular interests would
be an examination of his temporary equilibrium model, the part
played by the real-balance effect and his attempt at proving the
existence of a monetary equilibrium.
2) Patinkin as a Keynesian Economist
In chapter XIII and XIV of Money, Interest and Prices, Patinkin
recasts the Keynesian theory of involuntary unemployment in a
disequilibrium perspective. This interpretation has been highly
influential. Patinkin has also devoted a large part of his life to the
study Keynes' work in a history of economics perspective. For
decades, he defended his own disequilibrium interpretation of
Keynes claiming that it was the only one to respect Keynes' own
intellectual agenda. The fact that his analysis was an extension of
his Walrasian model makes Patinkin a founding father of the neo-
classical synthesis.
3) Patinkin and other (past and present) economists
A distinctive feature of Patinkin's book is his appendix, where his
views are related to those of his great forerunners. Still today, it
remains an invaluable source of information. It would be interesting
to re-evaluate critically Patinkin's contributions as an historian of
economic thought. Another aspect of Patinkin's work, which is
worth considering, is his relation with other great economists of his
time. As the Patinkin archives held at Duke University reveal, he
entertained a very lively intellectual correspondence with about
everyone who has counted in economics for the last five decades.
The study of this correspondence should certainly help assessing
more precisely Patinkin's positions.
In order to allow for fruitful intellectual exchanges, the format of the
conference will be voluntarily kept small. All sessions will be
plenary and the number of papers will be kept to around fifteen,
leaving ample space for a general discussion.
Proposals of communication (five hundred words) should be sent before
December 1, 2000 to:
Pascal Bridel, Centre Walras-Pareto, BFSH 1, Université de Lausanne, 1015
Lausanne-Dorigny (Switzerland)
Fax : + 41 21 692 28 45
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Letters of acceptation will be sent in January, 2001. Final manuscripts
should reach us before July 1, 2001.
For any further information, feel free to contact either Pascal Bridel
([log in to unmask]) or Michel De Vroey ([log in to unmask]).
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