This conference has now closed VISIT THE DISCUSSION FORUM
Conference leaders
Arturo Hermann and Maria Alejandra Madi
Webinar
A recording of the webinar is available here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eW7b9EFQG8wQrFGPVyHoH2IwoskkMT3M/view?usp=sharing
Download and read the webinar program
Objectives
The main aim of this conference was to promote a pluralist and interdisciplinary range of methodological frameworks and theoretical perspectives.
Through the Discussion Forum, we sought to facilitate a debate on current capitalism and its possible future course. The objective was to stimulate a deep examination of the complex and uncertain political, economic, and social paths after the 2008 financial crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the ongoing armed conflicts.
The current state of capitalism, socialism, and democracy presents an opportunity to reexamine the insightful ideas put forth by Schumpeter. Starting from Schumpeter’s book, the conference promoted an open debate on how the concepts of Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy characterise our economies and their possible evolution. Drawing on the controversies around Schumpeter’s great vision, our aim was to call for a reflection in connection with the economic, political and social complex and uncertain futures after the 2008 financial crisis, COVID-19 pandemic and Ukraine war.
In 1942, Joseph Schumpeter published Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy, a book that may still be read now. It was composed during the Great Depression, fascism and nazism’s early achievements in 1940 and 1941, and in a context of an uncertain future. Schumpeter’s book was easily forgotten or, at the best, considered as an interesting but unrealistic hypothesis. To this situation, some unclear aspects of his analysis may also have played a role. In particular, it is rather unclear why the rise of the modern corporation should lead automatically to socialism and not, as actually took place, to some form of mixed economy. Relatedly, in his analysis of socialism and democracy the adoption of a top-down approach ― in the sense that he considered socialism mainly in its centralised version and democracy mainly as a competition for leadership ― does not allow a fuller appraisal of the role that other forms of
socialism and democracy can play in realising the objective of human development and social justice.
However, despite these limitations, we think that the enduring relevance of Schumpeter’s analysis lies in grasping the evolution of modern economic systems, from the individual capitalism to the managed/concerted economies of our time. These economies are characterised by the rise not only of big corporations but also by a growing importance of public action in trying to manage the contradictions of the system.
In this respect, fifty years after Schumpeter’s study, in shedding light on major elements of our economies and societies, it shows fascinating similarities with numerous contributions that, from diverse but complementary viewpoints, assess the mixed economies of our day.
In order to shed more light on our uncertain times and to keep the practise of undertaking pluralist and multidisciplinary research, we encouraged contributions from a wide variety of various theories and schools of thought.
Topics
The aspects that might have been covered included, but were not limited to, the following
interrelated fields:
(I) Analysis of how capitalism, socialism and democracy have evolved in particular situations.
(II) Characteristics and evolution of modern corporations, public action and the related legal, institutional and policy framework.
(III) The legal and institutional analysis of the market at theoretical level and in specific situations.
(IV) The role and evolution of public sector and public spending from various theoretical perspectives (for instance, institutional, Marxist and Keynesian) and/or in specific situations.
(V) The various conceptions of socialism, social justice and democracy ― also considered in the central dimension of ecological sustainability ― and the most suited policies and institutions for their attainment.
(VI) Parallels, with the intention of shedding light on central components of our economies, considering the contributions of Marx, Hilferding, Polanyi, Keynes, Commons and the Veblen-Dewey-Ayres’ pragmatism and institutional tradition.
( VII) Democracy and pluralism in Economics.
Guidelines and Deadlines
- Extended abstracts consisting of up to 1,500 words and including references were invited between 15th October and 15th December 2023 to weaconferenceonline@gmail.com
- Communication concerning approved abstracts was permitted until 15th January 2024
- The WEA Online Forum took place between 4th March and 27th March 2024.
- A Google Meet symposium with the authors took place at the end of the conference.
For complete, general guidelines about WEA Online Conferences, please see
https://www.worldeconomicsassociation.org/conferences/guidelines/
Guide for first time visitors
Openness and flexibility are major trends in contemporary education, research, and business, influencing the whole spectrum of institutions and corporations across the globe. Indeed, technological innovations are bringing about a paradigm shift in contemporary livelihoods. Modes of interaction are becoming more open and flexible in terms of time, space, organization, infrastructure and requirements. With this background, the World Economics Association organises conferences which are held on-line.
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