"Economics and Utopia" Tenth Annual European Conference on the History of Economics

conference participants

The idea of utopia has pervaded social thought from its very beginnings, with social inquiry often being concerned not only with describing or explaining what “is” but also with what “ought to be”. Most utopian ideals have involved a blend of political, economic and social considerations. Some have emphasized a future, as yet unachieved, state; others have sought a return to the past. Utopian elements come to the fore as soon as discussion turns to the notion of progress in economic knowledge, or to the visions of the economic order underlying competing paradigms of economic thought and shaping divergent views on economic policy-making. Reaction, both positive and negative, to such utopian ideas has been very important to stimulating developments in economic thinking and should therefore justify the interest of economists and historians of economic thought alike.
The aim of this conference is to bring together a number of contributors to discuss the idea of utopia in a variety of dimensions. Possible questions to be addressed include, but are not limited to, the following:
• What has been the role of economic ideas in inspiring utopian projects and community experiments and, conversely, how have economists in general responded to such projects?
• Are utopian elements inherent in any “thinking in systems”, e.g. in Smith’s system of natural liberty, the system of general equilibrium, etc.?
• How is the pursuit or rejection of utopian ideas related to the adherence to orthodox and heterodox (or mainstream and dissenting) strands of economic thought?
• Has the prevalence of forward-looking (futuristic) or backward-looking (nostalgic) utopias – or the lack of utopian thinking – been typical of specific types of economic thought or of specific historical periods?
• How is the idea of utopia related to the notion of progress in economic thought?