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Patinkin Conference
Call for papers. Second Announcement
Centre Walras-Pareto
University of Lausanne, 20-22 September 2001
On the initiative of Pascal Bridel (Universite de Lausanne) and Michel De
Vroey (Universite catholique de Louvain), the Centre Walras-Pareto of the
University of Lausanne is organising a Conference on Don Patinkin. As the
author of Money, Interest and Prices and many other books and articles,
Professor Patinkin is one of the most influential post World-War theorists.
The organisers' motivation lies in their admiration for Patinkin's work and
their perception of the important role he played in the unfolding of modern
economic theory. The aim of the conference is to assess Patinkin's role and
place in the unfolding of modern economic theory. Time has come, we feel,
for a critical assessment of his work. Contributions centred on the three
following themes are invited.
1) Patinkin as a monetary economist
Patinkin's major aim was to integrate money in a Walrasian general
equilibrium perspective as well as to study the implications of such
integration. With his stochastic payment approach, he attempted to provide
a micro-theory of the demand for money and laid the grounds to dynamics
analysis. With Hicks and Samuelson, he was probably one of he first authors
trying to transform Walras's complex abstract analysis into a pragmatic
four-market model, presenting itself as a simplified account of real-world
market economies. It would be worth assessing what is left today of
Patinkin's attempt in this respect. Of particular interests would be an
examination of his temporary equilibrium model, the part played by the
real-balance effect and his attempt at proving the existence of a monetary
equilibrium.
2) Patinkin as a Keynesian Economist
In chapter XIII and XIV of Money, Interest and Prices, Patinkin recasts the
Keynesian theory of involuntary unemployment in a disequilibrium
perspective. This interpretation has been highly influential. Patinkin has
also devoted a large part of his life to the study Keynes' work in a
history of economics perspective. For decades, he defended his own
disequilibrium interpretation of Keynes claiming that it was the only one
to respect Keynes' own intellectual agenda. The fact that his analysis was
an extension of his Walrasian model makes Patinkin a founding father of the
neo-classical synthesis.
3) Patinkin and other (past and present) economists
A distinctive feature of Patinkin's book is his appendix, where his views
are related to those of his great forerunners. Still today, it remains an
invaluable source of information. It would be interesting to re-evaluate
critically Patinkin's contributions as an historian of economic thought.
Another aspect of Patinkin's work, which is worth considering, is his
relation with other great economists of his time. As the Patinkin archives
held at Duke University reveal, he entertained a very lively intellectual
correspondence with about everyone who has counted in economics for the
last five decades. The study of this correspondence should certainly help
assessing more precisely Patinkin's positions.
In order to allow for fruitful intellectual exchanges, the format of the
conference will be voluntarily kept small. All sessions will be plenary and
the number of papers will be kept to around fifteen, leaving ample space
for a general discussion.
Proposals of communication (five hundred words) should be sent before
December 1, 2000 to:
Pascal Bridel, Centre Walras-Pareto, BFSH 1, Universite de Lausanne,
1015 Lausanne-Dorigny (Switzerland)
Fax : + 41 21 692 28 45
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Letters of acceptation will be sent in January, 2001. Final manuscripts
should reach us before July 1, 2001.
For any further information, feel free to contact either Pascal Bridel
([log in to unmask]) or Michel De Vroey ([log in to unmask]).
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