CYCLES, MARKETS AND NETWORKS The Quantitative Approach to Business Cycle Analysis in the 1930s and 1940s Conference to be held at the University of Antwerp, Belgium 15-16 September 2005 CALL FOR PAPERS Many of the pioneers of the econometric movement in the 1930s made important contributions to the mathematical and statistical analysis of business cycles. The works of Jan Tinbergen, Ragnar Frisch and Michal Kalecki are well-known examples of the econometric approach to business cycle analysis. But this type of research was by no means limited to a few frontrunners. Throughout the 1930s economists, engineers, mathematicians and others were constructing models and applying quantitative techniques in order to explain and to understand the cyclical movements of the economy. This led, for instance, to the interdisciplinary research of the X-Crise group at the Ecole Polytechnique in Paris, or to the solitary work of the engineer Bernard Chait on networks of markets. In the 1940s further developments were made by the dynamic interpretations of input-output and activity analysis models. The purpose of the conference is to focus on the history of these early attempts to use quantitative techniques in the analysis of the business cycle. The subject can be tackled from a wide variety of perspectives, including amongst others: the assessment of individual contributions; the analysis and evaluation of the impact of learned societies (e.g. the Econometric Society), of research centres (e.g. the Cowles Commission), of journals (e.g. Econometrica), or of conferences (e.g. the meetings of the Econometric Society); the significance of the introduction of new mathematical techniques; their influence on economic policy, etc. The conference is by no means limited to the European or American traditions, or to the 'econometric' method per se. We welcome proposals dealing with contributions which came from other parts of the world or that were critical of the econometric approach. We especially encourage the submission of papers based on archival research and of papers rich in detail and yielding original insights. Paper proposals must provide information about the author (name, address, institutional affiliation) and the title of the contribution, and contain an abstract of about 500 words. Proposals should be submitted electronically, either in Word or PDF format. The deadline for submissions is 31 January 2005. Authors will be notified of acceptance or rejection by 1 March 2005. The final papers are due on 1 August 2005. Submissions and requests for information should be addressed to: Guido Erreygers Department of Economics, University of Antwerp Prinsstraat 13, 2000 Antwerpen, Belgium Tel. +32-3-220 40 52, Fax +32-3-220 45 85 [log in to unmask] Additional information will be made available at the conference website: http://www.ua.ac.be/cycles The scientific committee consists of Mauro Boianovsky (University of Brasilia), Guido Erreygers (University of Antwerp), Albert Jolink (Erasmus University Rotterdam) and Wilfried Parys (University of Antwerp). Guido Erreygers