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CALL FOR PAPERS 
HOPE CONFERENCE 2004 
 
The Economic Role of Government in the History of Economic Thought 
 
Peter J. Boettke and Steven G. Medema 
 
The analysis of the appropriate role for government within the economic system has been a
centerpiece of economic thinking from its inception. No area of economic analysis has been
untouched by this issue: public finance, money, labor, development and growth, industrial
organization, international economics, etc. all have wrapped up within them, throughout
the history of economic thought, issues regarding the role that government plays or ought
to play, the analysis of the impacts of policy or potential policies, and so on.
 
This aspect of economic analysis has been the focus of a not insignificant body of
scholarship.  However, there has been no integrated study of this subject.  We have the
treatises on classical economic policy by Lionel Robbins and by Warren Samuels, articles
and bits in textbooks examining the stances of individual authors or perhaps juxtaposing
the views of two or three authors, but practically nothing has been done by way of pulling
out and juxtaposing larger themes and the evolution of thought over time.
 
We desire to bring together a group of scholars with substantial interest and expertise in
this subject. Potential paper topics may include:
· studies of the view of the appropriate role for government espoused by individuals or
schools and comparative studies of the same;
· the evolution of views over time and the underlying reasons for it; 
· varieties of approaches to the subject within particular schools of thought; 
· tracing the evolution of particular aspects of the theory (e.g., regulation, taxation)
over time;
· the role of internal (e.g., tools) and external factors (e.g., then-contemporary events)
in the development of ideas;
· the role of ideology; 
· positive versus normative analysis; 
· the determination of the role ascribed to government within the economic system (e.g., a
priorist v. “theoretically derived”);
· the impact of service in government on attitudes toward this question; 
· the effect of the general gestalt in which economists live; 
· the modeling of governmental behavior; 
· the efficacy of markets versus government; policy instruments (e.g., law, direct
regulation, taxation);
· the role of implicit assumptions in models of the economic role of government; 
· sophisticated versus naïve formulations of particular approaches. 
 
Given the enduring importance of the analysis of the economic role of government within
economics, as well as the still relatively unsettled, or controversial, nature of this
issue within contemporary thinking, we believe that this conference is highly topical.  In
the end, the goal would be both to gain a greater understanding of the evolution of views
regarding the economic role of government over time and, by building up from these “micro-
studies,” to attempt to get a sense for the larger themes and issues within this area and
perhaps achieve a higher level of understanding and analysis of the economic role of
government and its historiography.
 
The conference will take place at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, on April 23-25.
 
Proposals for papers (roughly five hundred words) should be sent to the conference
organizers, Peter Boettke and Steve Medema, by July 15, 2003 (see contact information
below). Both junior and senior scholars are encouraged to submit proposals, and we are
hoping for proposals that reflect a wide range of both topics and historiographic
perspectives. Papers will be selected and authors notified by August 31, 2003.
 
In keeping with tradition, all conference sessions will be plenary and the number of
papers will be limited to around fifteen, leaving ample time for a general discussion. To
facilitate this discussion, all papers for the conference will be circulated to conference
participants in advance, and thus must be completed no later March 1, 2004.
 
Following the conference, papers will be refereed for inclusion in a special supplement to
the History of Political Economy, and to be separately published as a volume by the Duke
University Press. Participation in the conference through submission of the paper will
give History of Political Economy first refusal rights to publish the paper.
 
For further information, please contact Professor Peter J. Boettke, Department of
Economics MSN 3G4, George Mason University, 4400 University Drive, Fairfax, VA 22030 USA
(e-mail: [log in to unmask]) or Professor Steven G. Medema, Department of Economics, CB 181,
University of Colorado at Denver, PO Box 173364, Denver, CO 80217 USA (e-mail:
[log in to unmask]). The use of email is particularly encouraged in the interest
of minimizing transaction costs.
 
 
 
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