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EUROPEAN CONFERENCE ON THE HISTORY OF ECONOMICS 
(ECHE 98) 
University of Antwerp (UFSIA), Belgium 
23-25 April 1998 
 
CALL FOR PAPERS 
 
EXCHANGE AT THE BOUNDARIES: 
Crossing borders in the history of economics 
 
Throughout the history of economics, its boundaries have shown 
themselves to be multiple, unstable, and permeable. Thus, innovation 
and practice in economics have been shaped by images, concepts, and 
methods adopted from other fields of inquiry. Recent work has begun 
to emphasize the importance of the natural sciences, and the list can 
be extended to embrace mathematics, psychology, engineering, and 
other sciences. By the same token, images and concepts from economics 
have helped configure thinking and practice in a plethora of 
`non-economic' fields. A case in point is the theory of natural 
selection, where Darwin read Malthus, but other areas also spring to 
mind, such as history, sociology, philosophy of science, linguistics, 
literary criticism, and law. 
 
In many cases fruitful exchanges have been made, resulting in the 
development of new subdisciplines in economics (e.g. `law and 
economics') or in joint efforts to create entirely new disciplines 
(e.g. game theory). Yet the relationships have not always been 
friendly; more than once economists have been accused of 
`imperialism', of attempts to invade the territory of neighbouring 
social sciences. In addition, there have been complaints that 
economists in general are not well aware of what is going on in other 
disciplines, whereas economists sometimes accuse non-economists 
of a lack of economic knowledge, tendencies reinforced by an 
ever-increasing specialization. 
 
The links between economics and other areas of inquiry have been 
drawn by real people, thinking and acting in particular historical 
contexts. For this conference, we invite papers which will shed 
historical light on the to-ing and fro-ing at the boundaries between 
economics and other disciplines. Preference will be given to original 
accounts, based on detailed archival or other research, aimed at 
yielding rich, sophisticated, understandings. 
 
To participate, please submit a proposal, containing roughly 1000 
words and indicating clearly: 
 
(1) the original contribution of the paper; 
(2) in what sense the paper contributes to the theme of the 
conference.  
 
The deadline for the submission of paper proposals is August 15, 1997. 
Notice of acceptance/rejection will be sent on September 15, 1997. 
Completed papers will be due on February 15, 1998. 
 
The organizing committee consists of: 
 
Jose Luis Cardoso (Technical University, Lisbon) 
Guido Erreygers (Ufsia, University of Antwerp) 
Philippe Fontaine (Universite des Antilles, Guadeloupe) 
Albert Jolink (Erasmus University, Rotterdam) 
Robert Leonard (University of Quebec, Montreal) 
Michalis Psalidopoulos (Panteion University, Athens). 
 
All proposals and requests for information should be sent to the 
following address: 
 
Guido Erreygers 
SESO-UFSIA, Universiteit Antwerpen 
Prinsstraat 13 
2000 Antwerpen 1 
Belgium 
Tel. +32-3-220 40 52 
Fax +32-3-220 40 26 
e-mail: [log in to unmask] 
 
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