Dear Colleagues,
The following items might interest you.
1. Call for Papers: The Future of the European Welfare State
2. Call for Papers: Global Business & Economic Review Special Issue
3. Call for Papers: European Association for Evolutionary Political Economy (EAEPE) 2004
Conference Special session on "Public policy and institutional change"
4. Rethinking Social Democracy Conference--very interesting
Fred Lee
The Network of Keynesian Inspired Economics, KIENET, organizes
European Conference on:
The Future of the European Welfare States - from social, political and economic perspectives
Date: 26-27-28 August 2004
Place: Roskilde University, Denmark
The crisis of the Welfare State is an often proclaimed dictum by conventional social scientists. However, this claim can be challenged by recent European experiences. Although unemployment and labour market marginalization is high and even rising in some countries, it is fact, that the number of people employed in Europe has never been higher than today. Especially the participation rates among women have gone up with an astonishing speed, which, of course, calls for a restructuring of some of the welfare systems.
Demographical trends will change even faster in the future, but, in no way, it is obvious that this transition evidently causes a crisis. The welfare state has coped with a baby boom in the 1950s and 1960s which by necessity passes into a senior boom in the coming decades.
Economists and political scientists often make the success of the welfare state equivalent to balance of the public sector budget. This is a very instrumental view on the welfare state taking its multidimensional social tasks into consideration. The original aim of setting up the welfare states after World War I/II was to make citizens, especially those within the most vulnerable and fragile social groups, feel secure and respected as a coherent part of the society. Of course, from a narrow market economic point of view redistribution of income and the provision of free public goods are demonstrated to be a 'burden' on society, because of so called 'dead weights losses' which are theoretically identified. But the understanding of the role of the welfare state requires a much broader social ontology.
In reality, we know much too little about the implications of the welfare state with respect to the interplay of economic, political and social processes in a European context and a changing global environment.
The overall theme of the conference is to make a contribution to the interdisciplinary analysis of these different challenges which the European welfare states have to cope with in the future. Where are the strong positions that make the European societies well situated to handle the transition into an unknown future and what are the weaker positions which might undermine the conventional welfare state?
Call for papers:
Papers that include an analysis of one of the following themes of the future of the European welfare states will be given priority:
· Unemployment
· Employment, Labour market (mis)match
· Families, gender, and equal social rights
· Migration challenge or opportunity?
· New Demographical trends, pensions, care and health
· Income distribution
· Public finances and social cohesion
· Globalization and social dumping
· European harmonization of different welfare systems
· Environmental issues and free riding
· Minimum general income support/negative income tax
Outlines of suggested contributions of max. 500 words within one of the themes of the conference should be submitted no later than 15 April 2004 to one of the above-mentioned persons by e-mail. A European scientific committee will be set up to deal with the proposals for papers. As there will be no parallel sessions only a limited number of papers can, unfortunately, by accepted.
Accepted papers have to be submitted before 1, August 2004
A volume with proceedings from the conference is planned to be published by an international publisher. All contributions will be peer reviewed.
Three invited keynote-lectures with be given during the conference:
1. The European welfare states - what are we talking about in the 21st century?
2. The Scandinavian welfare state - do we really need a change?
3. The European welfare states and the American welfare society - two different views on society
Further information can be obtained from the web-site: www.econ.ku.dk/Kienet.
Contact:
Professor Jesper Jespersen, Roskilde University -
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Professor Axel Mossin, Copenhagen University -
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Professor Claude Gnos, University of Dijon -
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CALL FOR PAPERS
Global Business & Economic Review Special Issue "The Political Economy of Transition"Guest Editor: Dr. John Marangos
There has been more than a decade of "transition" experience. The transition process has been associated with unemployment, inflation, inequality of income and wealth and a reduction in the standards of living for the average citizen in Russia, Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union republics and Asia. The advice from international financial institutions (IMF and World Bank) and mature market economies to privatize state enterprises, minimize government intervention and liberalize international trade was essential, based on their view, to stabilize the transition economies and create an environment conducive to "creative destruction". The obsession during transition with economic variables ignoring politics, institutions, ideology, culture and generally the initial conditions is a reflection of the dominance around the world of the neo-liberal conceptualization of economic theory. For most commentators the transition process has been completed.
The GBER, a publication of the Business & Economics Society International (B&ESI), wishes to devote a special issue to the theme The Political Economy of Transition with papers that will explicitly deal with issues from a political economy perspective during transition that have been ignored by traditional economic theory. The special issue would be a collection of papers that challenge the prevailing consensus on transition and as such illustrate alternative processes to the ongoing transformation of these societies. The transition was, and is, a holistic, historical, dynamic and comparative process in nature and, naturally, a political economy approach is most appropriate. Political economy stresses that making economic sense and understanding economic relationships is not feasible without explicit awareness of power, institutions and values. As Commons (1970, p.118) affirmed "I have never been able to think of the various social sciences as separate fields of history, political science, law, economics, ethics and administration," a statement that is quite consistent with the transition process. Researchers should aim to analyze issues and spawn conclusions subject to non-traditional economic theories. The focus may be, but not restricted to, alternative processes, politics, institutions, ideology-culture, inequality and gender during transition.
Papers will pass a double-blind referee process supervised by the Guest Editor subject to the final approval of the GBER Editorial Board. Final papers will be scheduled to appear in the December 2005 issue of the GBER. Information about the GBER may be browsed at www.besiweb.com There is no submission fee for the special issue. The special issue would include one Graduate Student Research Paper. The editor of the special issue invites graduate students to submit research papers. Proof of graduate student status should be provided with the submission. While the students' papers will go through the regular review process and be held to the same standards for acceptance as other submissions, the panel of reviewers will serve a mentoring role to advice the student to strengthen the paper. The best student paper will be published. Four copies and a disk of the completed paper should be submitted by May 1, 2005 to:
DR. JOHN MARANGOS, GBER-SPECIAL ISSUE
DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS
COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY
1771 CAMPUS DELIVERY
FORT COLLINS, CO 80523-1771, USA
E-MAIL [log in to unmask], TEL: (970) 491-6657, FAX: (970) 491-2925
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European Association for Evolutionary Political Economy (EAEPE) 2004
Conference
28-31 October 2004
Crete, Greece
Research Area C - Institutional Change
Special session on "Public policy and institutional change"
During the EAEPE Conference in Crete a session will be organised by Research Area C on "Public policy and institutional change". The items below are meant to provide possible guidelines only. All papers related to policy and institutional change, therefore, are welcome.
An important strand in institutional thought emphasises that economics should be a normative science that formulates social goals and objectives. This raises a range of issues that are worth examining.
· In an open system's view it is reasonable to believe that social priorities differ from private goals. How does this affect public policy? Is it a matter of trade offs or does the pursuit of social priorities involve specific institutional changes and thus also changes private goals?
· How can public policy affect the degree of embeddedness of the economy? What are the constraints it has to comply with? What type of institutional change does it require or entail?
· How does public action affect the economy? Does it entail some institutional change and in this way regulate the economy by providing "real" guidelines or does it also, at least to some extent, constitute the economy by providing cognitive guidelines?
· How does freedom relate to public policy? Is it an independent goal, a prerequisite or an aspect of the institutional change that policy needs to pursue?
These rather abstract questions may be addressed on theoretical grounds as well as in terms of applied studies. In the latter case, attention may go to the institutional peculiarities of a specific economy, such as its:
· Constitutional framework
· Patterns of industrial specialisation
· Patterns of consumption
· Patterns of industrial relations
or to specific types of policies, such as:
· Trade and financial liberalization policy
· Macroeconomic stabilization and employment policies
· Industrial and regional policies
· Social Welfare policy
Abstracts of 600-1000 words should be sent by March 31st to:
Paolo Ramazzotti
Dipartimento di Istituzioni Economiche e Finanziarie
Via Crescimbeni 14
62100 Macerata - Italia
fax +390733258205
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Further information on the EAEPE 2004 conference can be found at:
http://www.institutionaleconomics.org/eaepe.php?q=node/view/20
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Dear Sir/Madam,
Organisation of the first of the three Rethinking Social
Democracy Conferences is now nearing its completion. The
Conference will take place in London on 15 ? 17 April
2004.
We are happy to have received so many exciting
contributions and to have been approached by such variety
of interesting speakers (please refer to the Programme for
more detailed information).
A limited number of places are still available and we
would like to encourage the academics, activists and
politicians who would benefit from and well as contribute
to the Conference and the subsequent discussion to return
their Registration Forms without delay in order to secure
a place.
I attach the Conference Programme and the Registration
Form and would like to ask you to circulate them among
your colleagues or, alternatively, to forward them to your
mailing lists and to post them on your institutional
website. Thank you for your help!
Please contact me with all queries.
Kind regards,
Jana Tillotson
Conference Administrator
Rethinking Social Democracy
New Politics Network
6 Cynthia Street
London
N1 9JF
England
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7278 4443
Email: [log in to unmask]
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