I’m co-organising an ANU conference on Economics and Democracy on 8-10 December. Our call for papers is over the fold.
               CALL FOR PANELS, WORKSHOPS AND PAPERS
                      ECONOMICS AND DEMOCRACY
    SECOND ANNUAL INTERDISCIPLINARY SOCIAL SCIENCES CONFERENCE
                Research School of Social Sciences,
              Australian National University, Canberra                        December 8-10, 2008
    The interpenetration of democracy and the economy has been
    subject to longstanding suspicions, on both sides.
    Economists frequently decry what they regard as ill-
    conceived interventions into the market from populist
    politicians. For their part, political scientists are often
    concerned about the influence that ‘political money’ has on
    the makeup of parliaments or decisions of government, and
    on keeping the forum separate from the market.    What the appropriate relation between democracy and the
    economy should be remains a fraught question. Most rejoice
    in the extensions of the franchise and extending democracy,
    but many would baulk at extending it to workplaces or
    boardrooms. There are also important questions over
    whether contracting out more public functions to the
    private sector seriously constricts the range of democratic
    control. Some see democracy as just another kind of
    market: a market in votes, governed by the same logic as
    the economic market, while others regard the analogy as
    fundamentally misplaced.    Keynote addresses will be delivered by Tim Besley (LSE) and
    Donald Wittman (UCSC).    We invite proposals for workshops (full-day, invitation
    only intensive sessions aimed at fostering collaborative
    research), paper sessions (public presentations and
    discussions of thematically linked papers), panel
    discussions (on current issues and controversies related to
    the conference theme), and individual paper proposals.
    FURTHER INFORMATION:    Deadline for proposals: 31 March 2008
    Please address (or at least cc) all conference program
    correspondence and all administrative queries to the
    Conference Secretariat:    CONTACT:      Mary Hapel
    Email:        arcadia AT coombs.anu.edu.au    Address substantive queries to one of the members of the
    Organizing Committee:    CONTACT:      Bob Goodin
                   Philosophy Program
                   RSSS, CASS, ANU
    Email:        bob.goodin AT anu.edu.au    CONTACT:      Andrew Leigh
                   Economics Program
                   RSSS, CASS, ANU
    Email:        andrew.leigh AT anu.edu.au    CONTACT:      Keith Dowding
                   Political Science Program
                   RSSS, CASS, ANU
    Email:        keith.dowding AT anu.edu.au
