YSI HET International Circulation of Economic Ideas throughout History

++ CONFERENCE POSTPONED ONCE AGAIN DUE TO COVID-19. SUGGESTED NEW DATES: JUNE, 2022

YSI HET International Circulation of Economic Ideas throughout History

Where: Katholische Universität Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, Eichstätt, Germany.

When: 2022

Motivation

Ideas do move. People travel, books travel, networks are built, international meetings are held. And they always have. Historians of economic thought have always, sometimes unconsciously, analyzed these movements. Who reads whom? Who learns from whom? Where do the attendees of a meeting come from? What do they do when they return home? But, more importantly, how does the reception of a foreign text take place? How capable are the ideas of moving, adapting, departing and arriving?
We usually think that, under a center-periphery way of seeing the world, the ideas depart from the center and arrive untouched in the periphery. Is it always so? Or can it be the other way around?

The history of knowledge and the history of circulation of knowledge have made lots of contributions regarding how general ideas are actually born, move and eventually die. Burke (2016) and Östling & Heidenblad (2017) have contributed to a history of knowledge that is much wider than the traditional history of formal science. Cohn (1996) has explained the role of colonialism in the dissemination of ideas. Sarassin (2011) has brought up the German concept of “Wissensgeschichte”, in order to question the political role of ideas throughout time and space. Regarding circulation, Bourdieu (2002) contributed to the analysis of international circulation of ideas from his sociological perspective. Raj (2013) and Östing & Heidenblad (2015) have incorporated notions of circulation within the new trends of a history of knowledge.

What about the circulation of economic knowledge? Although the issues of circulation, departure and reception have always been dealt with by historians of economic thought and economists, the methodological and theoretical discussions regarding the way to analyze these movements have not been dealt with enough. San Julián (2013), Cardoso (2016) and Guidi (2018) have dealt with this issue focusing on the problems of translation. Rancan (2003) and Porta (2005) have focused on the international connections regarding professionalization of economics and economists.

But, has there been an analysis of the circulation of economic ideas from non-institutional frameworks? It seems that economists and historians of economic thought have a lot to learn from historians of knowledge who specialize in other disciplines. But the question remains: What is specific in the history of economic knowledge?

This workshop takes a functional instead of an institutional approach to the history of economic thought, as recently put forward by Ugolini (2017). An institutional approach to economic phenomena focuses mainly on the outcomes of processes, and is prone to the mistake of “post hoc, propter hoc”. A functional approach, on the other hand, focuses on the evolution of a process and how certain solutions are offered to certain problems. Applied to the history of economic thought, the workshop aims to focus on the processes of interaction across scholars, intellectuals, institutions and policy-markers over irreversible, historical time – hence, emphasizing largely ignored lock-in effects of knowledge transfer in the methodological, theoretical and conceptual spheres of economics.

This project intends to gather young scholars who have been dealing with issues of circulation, reception, translation, influences, networking and decolonization of economic thinking, ideas and knowledge, even when the core of their researches may not be precisely circulation, but a wider concern on history of economic thought issues. We will gather some historians of knowledge, who will provide a theoretical and methodological background on how to do research on circulation issues with young scholars working on topics related to the history of economic thought or economic history that somehow include the analysis of international circulation of economic ideas.

Application

In order to apply for the workshop, young scholars are expected to submit an abstract of their current research. Circulation of economic ideas does not have to be the main topic of the project, but there have to be concerns regarding this issue. They should also submit a short motivation paragraph, explaining why they think the workshop will be useful in their ongoing research projects.

The deadline for abstract submissions is TBA.

Apply here: https://tinyurl.com/circulationofeconomicideas

Selected young scholars are expected to submit before TBA.

• a paper, working paper or draft of their current research project (it may be published or unpublished).

• a separate document (max. 1 A4 page) in which they point out which issues of circulation of economic ideas they have approached, in which they find questions or problems or which conclusions regarding this issue they have arrived to.

During the conference, selected young scholars are expected to comment on other young scholars’ papers.

Extended abstracts, motivation paragraphs and separate documents must be written in English. Presentations must be in English as well. Full papers can be written in English, German or Spanish.

YSI will grant 10 travel and accommodation stipends, mainly for young scholars residing in Germany and other European countries. Other stipends might be awarded from other fundings, such as a KU proFOR+ Subsidy. Participation in the workshop is not limited to those young scholars receiving stipends.

Any questions: Contact the organizing team: circulation.economic.ideas@gmail.com

Organizing Team

YSI Organizers: Nicolás Dvoskin, Burak Erkut, Petronella Munhenzva, Emilia Ormaechea, Up Sira Nukulkit

KU Organizers: Mayra Bevegni, Mariah Freitas Monteiro, Natalia Velásquez

International collaborators: Francisco Cantamutto, Barkin Cihanli

International Scientific Committee

Dr. François Allison – Institut d'Études Politiques, Centre Walras-Pareto, Faculté des Sciences Sociales et Politiques, Université de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.

Dr. Catherine Aristizábal – Arbeitsbereich Globalgeschichte, Universität Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany.

Dr. Facundo Barrera – LESET-FAHCE-UNLP-CONICET, La Plata, Argentina.

Dr. Francisco Cantamutto – Instituto de Investigaciones Económicas y Sociales del Sur (UNS-CONICET), Bahía Blanca, Argentina.

Dr. Nicolás Dvoskin – ZILAS, Katholische Universität Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, Eichstätt, Germany.

Asst. Prof. Dr. Burak Erkut – Bahçeşehir Cyprus University, Nicosia, Cyprus and Institute for Research in Economic and Fiscal Issues, Paris, France.

Dr. Víctor Ramiro Fernández – Instituto de Humanidades y Ciencias Sociales del Litoral (UNL/CONICET), Santa Fe, Argentina.

Dr. Mariana Fernández Massi – LESET-FAHCE-UNLP-CONICET, La Plata, Argentina.

Prof. Dr. Thomas Fischer – ZILAS, Katholische Universität Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, Eichstätt, Germany.

Dr. John B. Hall – College of Urban & Public Affairs: Economics, Portland State University, Portland, USA.

Dr. Claudio Llanos Reyes – Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Viña del Mar, Chile.

Prof. Dr. Andrés Musacchio – IDEHESI-UBA-CONICET, Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Prof. Dr. Christof Parnreiter – Institut für Geographie, Universität Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany.