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Conference
The Economics of Structural Change: Theory, Institutions and Policies

This conference in honour of Luigi Luigi Pasinetti is sponsored by the Cambridge Journal of Economics and will take place on 12th -13th September 2012 in Cambridge, U.K. (Gonville and Caius College). The submission deadline is 30 April 2012.

Call for papers

In modern economic systems permanent and irreversible changes coexist with changes that are transitory and reversible. The economics of structural change focuses on permanent changes in the fundamental relationships among components of any given economic system, independently of whether they are brought about by cumulative changes negligible in the short run or by structural breaks leading to changes in the long-run properties of the system. There has recently been a revival of interest in the long-run transformations of socio-economic systems in many different fields of research, such as when considering the long-term dynamic prospects of advanced economies or the catching- up processes of less developed economies. Interest in the distinction between short-run alterations and long-run irreversible changes has an established tradition in economic theory and applied economics. The lifetime work of Luigi Pasinetti, who has co-founded the Cambridge analytical tradition through a unique combination of the Classical and Keynesian lines, has highlighted structural change as the most important feature of modern economies since the first industrial revolution and has addressed the relationship between macroeconomic aggregates and changes in sectoral proportions as the most distinctive feature of long-term dynamics. His Structural Change and Economic Growth (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1981) and Structural Economic Dynamics (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1993) are path breaking constructive contributions to the theory of a multisectoral economy evolving through time under the influence of technical progress and changes in final demand composition. In Pasinetti’s scheme the structural change of a multisectoral economy is conceived in terms of changing relationships between vertically integrated sectors leading to the production of different final consumption goods. In a dynamic representation of the economy, full employment and full capacity utilization presuppose structural change as change in sectoral proportions. This is expressed in terms of a fundamental macroeconomic condition that is compatible with manifold sectoral compositions of aggregates and thus highlights the importance of structural change as a means to achieve macroeconomic objectives. The aim of this workshop is to provide a critical assessment of current research in the economics of structural change from a theoretical, institutional and policy perspective and in the light of Pasinetti’s contribution to the theory of structural economic
dynamics. Paper proposals are invited in the three following areas though proposals in the same general area will also be considered.

1. Economic Theory of Structural Dynamics: ways ahead

2. Structures, Institutions and Development

3. The Political Economy of Structural Change

Submission

Submission deadline: 30 April 2012
How to submit a paper proposal: Extended abstracts of about 1,000 words (excluding references) should be sent to both conference convenors:
Dr. Michelle Baddeley, Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge
Email: [email protected]
and Professor Roberto Scazzieri, Gonville and Caius College, and Clare Hall, Cambridge, and University of Bologna
Email: [email protected]

Proposals from young scholars are strongly encouraged.
Acceptance deadline: 31 May 2012.
Full paper’s submission deadline: 31 August 2012

Organization

University of Cambridge, Department of Economics

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