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Call for papers 
 
Conference on the History of Macroeconomics 
 
to be held in Louvain-la-neuve (20-21-22 January, 2005) 
 
Over  the  past  decade  or  so there has been growing interest in the history   of
macroeconomics.   Eminent  macroeconomists  (Blanchard, Woodford)  have reflected on the
history of their field. Books include Young's  book  on  IS-LM; Laidler on pre-Keynesian
macroeconomics; and Mehrling  on  Young,  Hansen  and Shaw. There have been conferences on
Patinkin  and  IS-LM. However, these efforts have been piecemeal, with many  people
working in isolation from others interested in the field.
 
We  believe  that  it  is time to organise a broader conference on the history  of
macroeconomics  that  will  draw  together economists and historians  of  economics  who
are working on the subject. Our hope is that  this  will  encourage more systematic
inquiries into the subject and  open up new ways of thinking about it. It may make it
possible to address  broader questions such as the identity of macroeconomics as a field
in  relation  to  economics  as  a  whole  as  well as a better understanding of its
origins  and  the  relevance  of  this  for understanding  contemporary  developments.
Our  aim  is  to  keep the conference  fairly  small  (around 30 people) to optimise
interactions and  discussion,  though  this  may have to be adjusted in view of the
response  we  get.  Proposals  for  papers can cover any aspect of the history of
macroeconomics. Areas that might be discussed include the
following: 
 
- Business cycle and monetary theory in the inter-war period and their relations to post-
war developments
 
-  The  first  generation  of  Keynesian economists: Hicks, Samuelson, Modigliani, Hansen,
Lange
 
-  From  the monetarist Counter-revolution to the Keynesian/monetarist synthesis 
 
- The neoclassical synthesis and the new classical macroeconomics 
 
- The rise and decline of Keynesian macroeconometric models 
 
- The interaction of economic theory and econometric techniques 
 
- Revisiting disequilibrium theory 
 
- From IS-LM to real business cycle models 
 
- Macroeconomics in textbooks 
 
Practical   details: 
 
-  The  conference  will  take  place at Louvain-la-neuve, home of the Université
catholique  de  Louvain  (Belgium), on January 20, 21, 22, 2005.  The  conference has very
limited financial support, which means that contributors are likely to have to cover their
own expenses.
 
-  Proposals  for  papers (five hundred words) should be sent as email attachments  to
the  three  conference  organizers,  Roger Backhouse, Pascal  Bridel and Michel De Vroey,
by March 1, 2004, to the addresses below.  Papers  will  be selected by April 1, 2004. All
papers for the conference  will  be circulated to conference participants in advance, and
thus must be completed no later than December 1, 2004.
 
- For further information, please contact: 
 
Professor  Roger  Backhouse,  Department  of  Economics, University of Birmingham,
Edgbaston,   Birmingham,   B15   2TT,   United   Kingdom
([log in to unmask])     
 
Professor Pascal Bridel, Centre Walras-Pareto,   University   of   Lausanne,   1015
Lausanne-Dorigny,
Switzerland   
([log in to unmask])   
 
Professor  Michel  De Vroey, Economics  Department,  Université  catholique  de  Louvain,
3  Place
Montesquieu, 1348 Louvain-la-neuve, Belgium  
([log in to unmask]) 
 
 
 
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