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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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