Dear colleagues,

You will find below the call for papers for the next conference of the 
French Charles Gide society for the history of economic thought.
We look forward to welcoming you in Strasbourg.

Best regards,

Sylvie Rivot




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16^th 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.

With this theme, we propose to raise the issue of conjectures and 
expectations along complementary lines of research. A first line of 
inquiry, for example, would question the way economists suppose economic 
agents shape their forecasts. On which basis of knowledge? And which 
kind of behaviour on the part of the other individuals do they 
conjecture? A second line of research could investigate how the question 
of market equilibrium has been addressed in different times and places. 
How have these expectations led to a specific market result? And how do 
individuals coordinate themselves in favour of any particular 
equilibrium? A third line of inquiry, which directly ensues from the 
previous ones, would address the issue of state intervention. How is the 
state able to influence the market equilibrium resulting from the 
interactions between individual decisions in transforming the way these 
forecasts are elaborated and coordinated?

*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)

Amos Witztum (London School of Economics, Great-Britain)