Call for papers:

Public goods, externalities, public decision making: a perspective from the
history of economic thought

Paris, 11-13 December 2008

 

There have been over the past three decades important developments in the
history of economic thought, opening up many theoretical fields to
historical scrutiny.  Public economics has not however been subjected to
systematic investigation.  Nonetheless, leading theoreticians such as
Richard Musgrave and Alan Peacock have shown how the history of economics
can be useful and productive not only as a specialized field per se, but
also as a means to an improved understanding of modern concepts and
theoretical elaborations ?even providing a source of inspiration for new
ideas. Two historical surveys were published more than twenty years ago ? by
John Creedy in 1984 and Richard Musgrave in 1985 ? but there has since been
little new historical research in this area.

It is therefore proposed to hold an international conference on the history
of public economics to stimulate new historical research on the development
of core concepts, models and issues in modern public economics.  All topics
relevant to the domain of Public Economics, broadly understood, are welcome,
including: theory of the state, public expenditure and revenue, public
decision-making, regulation, externalities, social security and insurance,
equity, justice, and also study of national traditions of thought in the
field. Historical perspectives on public economics from other disciplines ?
for example the philosophy of law and political philosophy ? are also
sought.

The conference will take place in Paris, at ERMES and Panth?on-Assas
University. It will be supported by the European Science Foundation
programme Public goods, public projects, externalities, in collaboration
with ERMES (UMR CNRS 7181) and The European Journal of the History of
Economic Thought (EJHET).  

The keynote speaker will be Alan Peacock.

 

Scientific Committee

Denis Baranger (Panth?on-Assas University, Paris, France)

Bradley Bateman (Desison University, USA)

Jos? Lu?s Cardoso (University of Lisbon, Portugal)

Gilbert Faccarello (Panth?on-Assas University and ERMES, Paris, France)

Domenicantonio Fausto (University ?Federico-II?, Naples, Italy)

Monique Florenzano (Centre d??conomie de la Sorbonne, Paris, France)

Richard Sturn (Karl-Franzens University of Graz, Austria)

Keith Tribe (University of Sussex, Great Britain)

 

Submissions:

 Please submit proposals in the form of an abstract of no more than 700
words before May 15, 2008 to the following e-address:
[log in to unmask]

The deadline for the reception of the papers is November 15, 2008.

 

Postal address:

History of Public Economics Conference

ERMES, Universit? Panth?on Assas (Paris 2)

12 place du Panth?on, 75231 Paris cedex 05, France

 

Jos? Lu?s Cardoso