22nd Summer School on History of Economic Thought, Economic Philosophy and Economic History

22nd Summer School on History of Economic Thought, Economic Philosophy and Economic History: Applied economics and the development of new fields in modern economics

University of Porto (Portugal) – 2-6 September 2019

The 22^nd ESHET Summer School is organized by the University of Porto (Portugal) and Phare (University Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, France), with the support of the ESHET (European Society for the History of Economic Thought) . The Summer School is open to PhD students and young scholars (PhD degree after January 2018) from the fields of History of Economic Thought, Economic Philosophy and Economic History. Approximately 25 proposals will be selected for presentation. Previous summer schools have taken place in Thessaly (2018), Como (2017), Cargese-Corsica (2016), Stuttgart-Hohenheim, (2015), Zaragoza, (2014), Ankara, (2013). The full list of the summer schools can be found in the ESHET website.

Participants: PhD students and young scholars (PhD degree after January 2018)

Fields: History of Economic Thought, Economic Philosophy and Economic History (approx. 25 proposals will be selected for presentation)

Deadline for abstract submissions: May 31st, 2019

Abstracts must be sent to Pedro Teixeira: pedrotx@fep.up.pt

Young Scholar Workshops

Four to six papers will be presented each day on open themes, chosen on the basis of the students’ field of research, related to the history of economic thought, economic methodology, economic philosophy or economic history.

The students´ presentations will take place in the presence of the members of the scientific committee and of some invited speakers, thus covering a broad area of expertise. Each presentation will be commented by a discussant, chosen among the young scholars, followed by a question and answer session with the audience.

Contributions will be selected from extended abstracts in English of 750 to 1000 words, or full-paper proposals of up to 7500 words. Abstracts must be sent, together with the application form, a CV, and a letter of recommendation from a supervisor, to Pedro Teixeira: pedrotx@fep.up.pt

Applications not including the required documents – abstract or full paper in English, application form, CV, and a letter of recommendation – will not be taken into consideration.

Participants are expected to make their own travel arrangements and pay their travel costs. The registration fee is 120 €. Registration fees include accommodation (5 nights, check-in September 2nd, check-out September 7th), materials, daily breakfast and lunch and participation to the leisure program.

By mid-June 2019, the Scientific Committee will inform all the applicants about the outcome of the selection process.

Seminar´s Theme: “Applied economics and the development of new fields in modern economics”

One of the most important development in economics’ postwar history of the discipline that shaped much of its teaching is the emergence of a series of applied fields. This process gained attraction in the postwar decades and, by 1970, it was becoming well-accepted that economics was based on a common core of economic theory cantered on mathematical modelling of maximizing agents which could be strengthened by the extension of models based on maximizing behaviour to multiple fields (Backhouse and Cherrier, 2014). This expansion would cover not only market behaviour, but a growing set of individual and social behaviour in non-market contexts, such as education, health, the family, that was often labelled as economic imperialism and that was particularly associated with the pioneering work of Gary Becker, though it goes much beyond that (see Fine and Milonakis (2009) and Tommasi and Ierulli (1995). To these developments also contributed the spreading of econometrics and the wide use of statistical inference, notably regression analysis, in applied work, also fostered by the growing availability of data.

The rise in the dominant neoclassical school hegemonized the discipline and much of the training of new generations of economists and this created favourable conditions for the standardization of curricula. Hence, more than many other social sciences, the teaching of economics became increasingly similar and the development of common tools such as textbooks was a feature of the teaching of new generations (Coats, 1996 and 2000). This rising orthodoxy brought a much greater formalism to economic analysis. This greater emphasis on abstract and theoretical analysis (Blaug, 1999; Fourcade, 2009), which led to the subsequent demise of empirically rooted and historically informed economic discourse, was more congenial to the production of standardized curricula. Students did not need to familiarize themselves with examples closer to their historical, economic, and social contexts, since economic analysis was supposed to provide a general abstract framework that could then be applied to a variety of specific situations (Colander et al, 2006; Colander, 2009). A corollary to this was the development of an articulated set of applied and specialized economic fields, following the consolidation of the neoclassical core of the discipline, exploring multiple applications of basic principles to the analysis of several specialized topics (Backhouse and Biddle, 2000; Backhouse and Cherrier, 2014). Thus, there was the need to organize the teaching of these various topics in a way that would avoid overlap and would strengthen its coherence with learning basic economics principles.

The rise of applied fields in recent decades has created an increasingly complex landscape. Although applied fields could share some characteristics, their consolidation implied significant methodological and epistemological differentiations. To these contributed, for instance, the exchanges at the boundaries with related disciplines, more feasible in some fields than in others. Or also the policy relevance of certain topics, that shaped the research agenda of certain fields more significantly than in others. The degree of methodological sophistication and rigour was also variable among the various fields, reflecting its specificities, research and policy priorities, and empirical possibilities. In their analysis of the evolution of applied work (mainly in the US), Cherrier and Backhouse (2014) highlight the role of computerization; the rise of new economic and social problems, and emergence of new sites for economic research and the changing relationships between existing ones. Following pioneering work mapping the emergence of applied economics in the postwar period (see Backhouse and Biddle 2000), they highlight that the evolution of the discipline has become increasingly influenced by the dynamics and contributions of those applied fields in a situation in which they not merely reflect passively the theoretical developments and the core, but rather contribute as well to certain important developments and debates in economics at large.

This summer school aims to explore the multiple dimensions associated with this theme:

Analysis of the emergence and development of applied fields;
National case studies on the development of applied fields;
Role of public and private organizations in the development of specific fields;
Textbooks and teaching aspects of the development of applied fields;
Bibliometric studies analysing the development of applied fields;
Studies of individual applied economists or groups of applied economics;
A concern for putting the topic within an historical perspective.
A reflection on the concepts used to deal with political aspects: their philosophical foundations and their methodological implications.
Interactions with other disciplines.

Structure of the Program

The program will be composed of a mixture of activities, which will include lectures on relevant topics related to theme of the summer school, student presentations, and tutorials. The students’ presentations will be organized in groups of four papers to be presented each day on open themes, chosen on the basis of the students’ fields of research, related to the history of economic thought, economic methodology, economic philosophy or economic history. The presentations will take place in the presence of the members of the scientific committee and of the invited speakers, thus covering a broad area of expertise. Each presentation will be commented by a discussant, chosen among the young scholars, followed by a question and answer session with the audience. There will be also Tutorials aiming at helping PhD students with preparation of their work with a view to its further diffusion and publication.

Venue and Accommodation

Sessions will take place at the University of Porto’s Faculty Club. Lunch and coffee breaks will be served in the Faculty Club. There will be a welcome reception there on the first day and a farewell dinner in the last day (in a special location to be announced). Students will be allocated individual rooms in a University Residence located nearby (walking distance from the Summer School’s premises).

Local Organizing Committee

Pedro Teixeira, CIPES & FEP-U. Porto
Nathalie Sigot (Phare – Professor, Université Paris 1, France)
André Lapidus (Phare – Professor, Université Paris 1, France)

Scientific Committee

Nathalie Sigot (Phare – Professor, Université Paris 1, France)
André Lapidus (Phare – Professor, Université Paris 1, France)
Harald Hagemann (Professor, Universität Hohenheim, Germany)
Çinla Akdere (Lecturer, Middle East Technical University, Turkey)
Richard Arena (Gredeg – Professor, Université de Nice – Sophia Antipolis, France)
José Luís Cardoso (Professor, Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal)
Herrade Igersheim (Beta – CR-CNRS, Université de Strasbourg, France)
Jean-Sébastien Lenfant (Clersé – Professor, Université de Lille 1, France)
Jean-Pierre Potier (Triangle –Professor, Université Lumière Lyon 2, France)
Annalisa Rosselli (Professor, Università degli Studi di Roma Tor Vergata, Italy)
Alfonso Sanchez Hormigo (Professor, Universidad de Zaragoza, Spain)
Michel Zouboulakis (Professor, University of Thessaly, Greece)