16th international conference of the
Charles Gide Association
for the Study of Economic Thought
Strasbourg, 14–16 April 2016
Call for
papers
(Deadline for the submission of proposals: 15
November 2015)
The 16th international
conference of the Charles Gide Association for the Study of
Economic Thought will take place at the University of
Strasbourg, 14–16 April 2016. This conference is organised by
the laboratory Bureau d’Economie Théorique et Appliquée (BETA).
This
international conference will propose sessions on the theme
“expectations, conjectures and coordination”, although any other proposal in the
fields of the history of economic thought and philosophy of
economics is also welcome.
Expectations,
conjectures and coordination
Contemporary
economic analysis was born with the study of strategic
interactions between individuals. At the turn of the 17th and
18th centuries, Boisguilbert placed the issue of the available
information and of expectations at the core of his explanation
of economic fluctuations. For Boisguilbert, expectations of
future prices formed by agents on agricultural markets can prove
either stabilising or destabilising, depending on whether the
economy is in a situation of free trade or prohibition.
Later, Smith warned us about market exchange: “it
is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the
baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their
own interest”. Here, the issue is about an interpersonal
relationship: a consumer who would count on the acquisition of a
good thanks to the benevolence of a producer is most likely to
see his conjecture invalidated. Satisfying one’s needs through
market exchange thus requires accurate forecasting of the
behaviour of other agents, which is to forecast their own
conjectures.
Nearly a century later, but from a quite similar
perspective, Cournot’s law of demand raised the issue of price
expectations in the functioning of markets. He established an
empirical relation between the price of a good and its demand
function: “a commodity is usually more demanded when it is less
expensive”. Cournot even went further: not only does each seller
anticipate the reactions on the side of the buyers, but he also
needs to conjecture about actions on the side of the other
sellers. With Cournot, information and expectations henceforth
became at the centre of individual decisions. What ensues from
this is a conception of market equilibrium as the result of
interactions between strategic behaviours established by each
other.
With Keynes’s parable of the beauty contest, the
coordination mechanism not only applies to the results of other
agents’ behaviour, but calls into question the very foundation
of these results: how does an individual anticipate that the
other individuals will form their own expectations?
Last, with the rational expectations approach launched by
Lucas, the issue of strategic interactions has been extended to
the coordination between public authorities and private agents.
Submissions
of papers or proposals for sessions
Proposals for papers will take the form of an
abstract of about 500 words, submitted through the website: charlesgide2016.sciencesconf.org
Proposal for sessions are also welcome, whether
they are directly connected with the theme of the conference or
not. Contributions will either take place in French or in
English; parallel sessions will be organised accordingly.
Deadlines
Deadline for the submission of proposals: 15
November 2015
Notification to the authors: 20 December 2015
Deadline for the sending of contributions: 20 March
2016
Keynote
speakers
Anna Carabelli, Professor at the University of
Oriental Piemont (Italy)
Roger Guesnerie, Professor at the Collège de France
Organisation committee
Caroline Bauer (BETA, University of Strasbourg)
Jean-Daniel Boyer (Culture et Sociétés en Europe,
University of Strasbourg)
Charlotte Le Chapelain (CLHDPP,
University Lyon 3)
Rodolphe Dos Santos Ferreira
(BETA, University of Strasbourg)
Ragip Ege (BETA, University of Strasbourg)
Philippe Gillig (BETA, University of Strasbourg)
Herrade Igersheim (CNRS
et BETA, University of Strasbourg)
Simon Hupfel (BETA, University of Mulhouse)
Cyriel Poiraud (BETA, University of Strasbourg)
Lionel Rischmann (BETA, University of Strasbourg)
Sylvie Rivot (BETA, University of Mulhouse)
Scientific committee
Richard Arena (GREDEG,
University of Nice)
Michel Bellet (GATE-LES,
University of Saint-Etienne)
Pascal Bridel (University of Lausanne)
Annie L. Cot (CES,
University Paris 1)
Muriel Dal-Pont (GREDEG,
University of Nice)
Robert Dimand (Brock
University, Canada)
Rodolphe Dos Santos Ferreira
(BETA, University of Strasbourg)
Ragip Ege (BETA, University of Strasbourg)
Gilbert Faccarello
(Triangle, University of Paris Panthéon-Assas)
Ludovic Frobert (CNRS et
Triangle, University of Lyon 2)
Muriel Gilardone (CREM,
University of Caen)
Nicola Giocoli (University
of Pisa, Italy)
Herrade Igersheim (CNRS et BETA, University of
Strasbourg)
André Lapidus (Phare,
University of Paris 1)
Harald Hagemann (University
of Hohenheim, Germany)
Sylvie Rivot (BETA, University of Mulhouse)
Goulven Rubin (LEM,
University of Lille 2)
Nathalie Sigot (Phare,
University of Paris 1)