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[NOTE: The original call for papers appeared in November 1997 on the HES  
list. This revised call is also available at  
http://www.eh.net/ehnet/HisEcSoc/Conferences/HOPE99.shtml --RBE] 
 
THE HISTORY OF APPLIED ECONOMICS 
History of Political Economy Conference 
Duke University, 26-28 March 1999 
 
Second (final) Call for Papers 
 
Why the history of applied economics? 
 
Applied economics is important for at least three reasons. An 
enormous amount of economics (maybe even the majority) is applied 
economics, not theory. In addition, if economics is important 
because of its relevance for government policy or business 
decision making, applied economics is the most important part of 
economics. Unless applied, theory and techniques are irrelevant. 
But perhaps more important than either of these reasons is that, 
as it has often been written, the history of economic thought has 
been centered on economic theory. The underlying presumption is 
that the evolution of theoretical concepts, particularly those 
relating to questions of value and distribution, is central to 
the history of the discipline, and that this evolution can be 
analyzed in isolation from the applications of those concepts. 
This conference is being organized on the assumption that this 
presumption deserves to be challenged. It should certainly not be 
taken for granted. [NOTE: This picture is clearly an over- 
simplification, and is most characteristic of the period since 
the marginal revolution. Accounts of classical and pre-classical 
economics typically locate theoretical developments in policy 
problems.] 
 
What is applied economics? 
 
This all raises the question of what the term applied economics 
means. Our initial working definition is the following. 
A piece of literature, or a field within economics, is considered 
applied economics if its primary purpose is the analysis of a 
specific real world phenomenon or set(s) of related phenomena, or 
if it deals with existing or proposed policies of an organisation 
or government; and if the authors are employing what they believe 
to be, or identify as, economic theoretical tools or concepts. 
 
In many cases the definition would appear to be clear-cut. 'The 
demand for food in the Netherlands, 1950-1970' is an example of 
applied economics, as is 'The use of microeconomic theory in 
anti-trust cases', whilst Gerard Debreu's The Theory of Value 
(1959) is an example of pure theory. To focus on such examples, 
however, conceals fundamental conceptual ambiguities concerning 
both what it is that is being applied and the nature of the 
application that qualifies a piece of work as applied economics. 
Is macroeconomics 'theory' or an application of microeconomic 
theory? Is it necessary for applications to engage with data? Is 
a Becker-type theoretical model of marriage and divorce applied 
economics? 
 
To clarify the issues involved, take the example of industrial 
economics. 
 
If economic theory is assumed to be about the real world, theory 
makes statements about industries in general, and applied 
industrial economics deals with specific industries. A model of 
oligopolistic price setting would be theory, but one of the US 
motor industry would be applied. 
 
If theory is perceived not to be about the real world, but about 
hypothetical worlds, or simply what one would observe if certain 
conditions were satisfied, then a model of oligopolistic price- 
setting might be seen as applied, telling us about a specific 
problem   oligopolistic markets. 
 
If application is seen as involving a direct link with reality, 
we could see a model of the US motor industry (even an empirical 
model) as the theory which becomes applied only when conclusions 
are implemented by policy-makers, or when confronted with 
empirical data. 
 
Answers to the question of where the dividing line between theory 
and application is drawn are negotiated within the economics 
community. To impose a specific, precise definition would 
therefore be inappropriate in a historical inquiry. One of our 
tasks is to explore the way in which the boundary has been 
established, and how and why it has changed over time. 
 
Fields and the application of techniques 
 
Though the they overlap, it is useful to distinguish two aspects 
of this boundary: the establishment and evolution of applied 
fields, and the application of particular techniques, both 
theoretical and empirical.  
 
Applied fields 
 
How have certain areas of inquiry in economics come to be defined 
and institutionalized as 'applied fields', regarded as distinct 
from some core body of knowledge that is presumably being 
applied? 
 
What happens to the applied fields once they are established? 
 
What have been the relationships between various applied fields 
and the 'core' of economics, as well as other disciplines? 
 
Application of techniques 
 
What has determined the application of techniques? Has the 
availability of a technique prompted the application, or the 
other way round? 
 
Have techniques evolved in response to attempts to apply them, 
and if so how? Alternatively, what feedback is there between 
applications and the core of economic theory? 
 
In both cases the aim is to explore links in both directions - 
from theory to applications and from applications to theory. It 
should not be presumed that the links run in only one direction. 
Indeed, the nature of links may change over time, at one time 
running from theory to application, and at other times from 
application to theory, or it might be a process of continual 
interaction. 
 
Papers accepted so far 
 
In response to the initial call for papers, the following have 
been accepted (all titles are provisional). 
 
Yngve Ramstad (University of Rhode Island) 'Paradigm conflict 
between the California school and the Harvard School in 1950s 
labor economics' 
 
Stephen Meardon (Duke University) 'Economic geography and 
economic policy in 20th-century North America' 
 
Steven Medema (University of Denver) 'Public choice analysis as a 
case study in the professionalization of economics' 
 
Judy Klein (National Humanities Center and Mary Baldwin College) 
'The normative economics of statistical quality control in WWII' 
 
Robert S. Goldfarb (George Washington University) 'The 
"rationality" of economic forecasts' 
 
Warren Young (Bar Ilan University) 'Atomic energy costing in the 
US and UK: economists versus scientists, engineers, bureaucrats, 
and politicians' 
 
Robert Dimand (Brock University) 'Strategic games from theory to 
application' 
 
Michael Bernstein (University of California, San Diego) 
'Statecraft and its retainers: economics and public purpose in 
20th century America' 
 
Pedro Nuno Teixera (University of Porto, Portugal) 'The emergence 
of a new economic branch: the economics of education, 1960-1995' 
 
Bruce Kaufman (Georgia State University) 'Personnel management: 
its roots in applied labor economics' 
 
Call for papers 
 
Anyone wishing to submit a proposal for one of the remaining 
spaces should send us a 2-page proposal  by July 31, 1998. This 
can be sent to either Roger Backhouse ([log in to unmask]; 
fax +44 121 414 7377) or Jeff Biddle ([log in to unmask]; fax 
+1 517 432-1068). Email is preferred. We can decode most attached 
word processor files. We intend to make the final selection soon 
after this date. 
 
Obviously we are looking for papers that will complement those 
already accepted. However, provided there are significant 
complementarities, proposals on fields already covered are not 
excluded. 
 
Practicalities 
 
The conference is provisionally scheduled for March 26-28, at 
Thomas Center, Duke University. Though the date is (we hope) very 
unlikely to change, it will be confirmed six months beforehand. 
HOPE can cover local expenses (food and accommodation) but at 
present we are not able to cover travel. We are still putting 
requests in to foundations that might support the conference, but 
have not yet been successful. If anyone has suggestions of places 
that we might not have tried, these will be welcome. So for the 
moment, we have to ask contributors to find support for their own 
travel themselves. 
 
After the conference, papers will be refereed, decisions made and 
revisions undertaken to a very tight timetable. We are accepting 
more papers than we anticipate being able to include in the HOPE 
supplement, so acceptance is not guaranteed. Conferees may be 
asked to act as referees on other papers at the conference. 
 
Drafts of papers will be expected by February 1999 so that they 
can be Xeroxed and circulated in advance.  
 
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