When the 2008 subprime crisis hit the world, only a few economists had seen the crisis coming and rung the bells before the tsunami swallowed the world economy. In this context, the need for alternative economic theories and policy responses became evident, creating more space for new economic thinking in both academia and political debates. Yet, many economies from the center and periphery are still facing difficulties imposed by either very severe austerity measures or by the negative effects of more recent economic events. Therefore, alternative theories must be further fostered in order to offer a robust theoretical and empirical basis to the prevention of crises and effective policy responses that reduce the burden on society.

In the 45th Eastern Economics Association Conference to be held in NYC between Feb. 28–Mar. 3, 2019, we will have the opportunity to question what are the alternatives provided by new economic thinking and where we can go from there.

We are happy to announce two special sessions jointly organized by the Keynesian Economics and Complexity Economics Working Groups of the YSI/INET. For these sessions, we welcome contributions related (but not limited) to the following topics:

• The causes and consequences of economic crises;

• Policy responses to economic downturns;

• Economic policies and their effects on economic growth and income distribution;

• Financialization and its effects on the economic activity;

• Alternative macroeconomic models (e.g. Stock Flow Consistent, Agent Based, Kaleckian, Minskian) related to issues such as macroeconomic instability, economic growth and inequality;

• Complex theories that deal with instability;

• Empirical work in finance using complexity methods (i.e. Network Analysis).

All applicants must submit an abstract in English (maximum of 2000 characters) before November, 20th. Decisions will be made in mid December and will be based on clarity, relevance and originality of abstracts outlining the research question, method and (preliminary) results. In case of acceptance, full papers are due by January, 31st. Accommodation and limited travel support will be offered for selected participants.

Submit your applications through this form.

Questions concerning this call may be sent to the organizers through the following emails: [email protected] and [email protected].