“The evolving future of economics. How data and techniques, specialization, and other disciplines are reshaping the dismal science and economists’ work” 

Università di Torino, Campus Luigi Einaudi 

August 28 - September 1, 2023 

The 2023 ESHET Summer School in History of Economic Thought, Economic Philosophy, and Economic History will take place in Torino. It is organised by the Department of Economics and Statistics “Cognetti de Martiis” (Università di Torino) and PHARE (University of Paris 1 - Panthéon-Sorbonne), with the support of Università di Torino, European Society for the History of Economic Thought (ESHET), Associazione italiana per la storia dell’economia politica (STOREP), Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne and Fondazione Luigi Einaudi, Torino. 

The Summer School is open to Ph.D. students and young scholars (Ph.D. degree obtained after January 2021) in History of Economic Thought, Economic Philosophy, or Economic History. Approximately 18 proposals will be selected for presentation. The list of past Summer Schools is available on the ESHET website. 

The Summer School official website can be reached at: https://sites.google.com/unito.it/25theshetsummerschool. 

The general topic for invited lectures is “The evolving future of economics. How data and techniques, specialization, and other disciplines are reshaping the dismal science and economists’ work”. 

The future of economics has never been so debated. The economics discipline is undergoing major changes, all driving the “dismal science” away from theory. Today’s mainstream economics seems characterized by unprecedented variety, being populated by a series of mainstream research programs that deviate from the neoclassical core and have their origins in other disciplines. It is truly as if economics imperialism had come to an end, under the influence of both specialization, which makes other disciplines have a transformative impact on economics, and of the availability of (big) data and powerful techniques for analyzing them: economics is becoming applied, while during the decades of its imperialism economists’ work was fundamentally of a theoretical nature. While pure theory loses ground, however, the discipline seems reluctant to embrace the potential drive toward pluralism which might result from the unparalleled plurality of its mainstream. 

The summer school centers upon the changing status of economics from a historical perspective. The abovementioned triggering mechanisms for change, namely data and new analytical techniques, specialization, and the impact of other disciplines are at once inducing economists to modify their approach to conventional issues in economics and shifting their attention toward those frontier issues (like, for instance, innovation, sustainability, gender) that most profit from the discipline’s applied turn and its new openness to neighboring social sciences. Lectures will provide participants with elements to explore the new meaning and relevance of theory in economics, the new ways traditional issues are dealt with, and economists’ new concerns. But they will also include reflections upon whether and how the recalled factors of change might lessen the rigidity of the discipline’s structure – the core-periphery organization which traditionally separates the orthodoxy of neoclassical economics from heterodox approaches –, and the new role of “last generalists” that historians of economic thought might play in the near future. 

WARNING: Whereas lectures given by senior scholars will deal with these issues, there is no specific theme for students’ presentations. Ph.D. students and young scholars are thus invited to send proposals on any topic in the History of Economic Thought, Economic Philosophy, and Economic History. 

The local Organizing committee and the Summer School Scientific committee select invited speakers based on their areas of expertise and competencies. Each speaker gives a lecture of an hour’s duration, and takes part in tutorials offered to students. Among speakers confirmed to give lectures at the Summer school are renowned experts including (titles are only indicative and may change): 

• • John B. Davis (Emeritus Professor, Marquette University and University of Amsterdam): Change in and Changing Economics 
• • Francesco Saraceno (Professor, Deputy Department Director at OFCE-Sciences Po, Paris and Università LUISS, Roma): Macroeconomics, Eurozone Macroeconomics, and Eurozone Macroeconomic Governance 
• • Alberto Baccini (Professor, Università di Siena): Who are the Gatekeepers in Economics? 
• • Marina Della Giusta (Professor, Università di Torino): Gender Bias and (in) Economics 
• • Angela Ambrosino (Assistant Professor, Università di Torino): Is Institutional Economics Becoming Fashionable Again? 
• • Alain Marciano (Professor, Université de Montpellier): Institutions, Economics, and Law 
• • Paolo Paesani (Associate Professor, Università Roma Tor Vergata), Innovation and Discontinuity in the History of Economic Thought: The Case of Cambridge Economics 

 

The program includes: 

1. lectures on topics related to the main topic of the summer school; 

 

 

2. students’ presentations; 

3. tutorials. 

 

Students’ presentations will be organized in groups of three papers gathered according to the specific fields of research explored, related to the history of economic thought, economic methodology, and economic philosophy. 

These presentations will take place in the presence of the members of the scientific committee and of invited speakers, and profit from their various expertise. Each presentation is commented on by a discussant, chosen among young scholars, followed by a discussion with the floor. 

Tutorials with senior researchers help Ph.D. students to prepare their research works for further diffusion and publication. 

Applications 

Contributions will be selected from extended abstracts in English of 500 to 1000 words, or full-paper proposals of up to 7500 words. Abstracts must be sent, together with the application form, a CV, and a letter of recommendation from a supervisor, to Mario Cedrini: mario.cedrini@unito.it. 

Applications not including the required documents will not be taken into consideration. 

Registration fees: 120 euros. Participants are expected to make their own travel arrangements and pay for their travel costs. High-quality UniTO housing (5 nights, check-in August 28th, check-out September 2nd) and daily lunch (at Bowie Torino café bistrot, Lungo Dora Firenze 131), both near the Campus Luigi Einaudi (housing and lunches are included in the Registration fees). 

By July 23th, the Scientific Committee will inform all the applicants about the outcome of the selection process. 

The deadline for abstract submissions is July 7th, 2023. 

Venue and stay 

The Summer school will be held at Campus Luigi Einaudi, Lungo Dora Siena 100A, Torino, next to downtown (info on how to get there are available here). 

Students are expected to register on the first day, at 12. They will be allocated rooms in a UniTo housing nearby (Residence Olimpia, Lungo Dora Siena 104, at walking distance from the Campus). 

On August 31, the afternoon’s lecture and tutorial are held at Fondazione Luigi Einaudi, Via Principe Amedeo 34, at a 10-minute walk from the Campus. Students will 

visit the Fondazione and its library specialized in the field of economics, history and social sciences, aimed at post-graduate research. 

Local Organizing Committee 

Angela Ambrosino (Assistant Professor, Università di Torino, Italy) 

Mario Cedrini (Professor, Università di Torino, Italy) 

Valentina Erasmo (Post-Doctoral Fellow, Università di Torino, Italy) 

Thiago Dumont Oliveira (Post-Doctoral Fellow, Università di Torino, Italy) 

Nathalie Sigot (Professor, Université Paris 1, France) 

Scientific Committee 

Çinla Akdere (Assistant Professor, Middle East Technical University, Turkey) 

Richard Arena (Professor, Université de Nice-Sophia-Antipolis, France) 

José Luís Cardoso (Professor, Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal) 

Harald Hagemann (Professor, Universität Hohenheim, Germany) 

Herrade Igersheim (CNRS Research Professor, Université de Strasbourg, France) 

André Lapidus (Professor, Université Paris 1, France) 

Jean-Sébastien Lenfant (Professor, Université Paris 1, France) 

Jean-Pierre Potier (Professor, Université Lumière Lyon 2, France) 

Annalisa Rosselli (Professor, Università degli Studi di Roma Tor Vergata, Italy) 

Alfonso Sanchez Hormigo (Professor, Universidad de Zaragoza, Spain) 

Nathalie Sigot (Professor, Université Paris 1, France) 

Michel Zouboulakis (Professor, University of Thessaly, Greece)