Lisbon, 30th and 31st May 2013

The second edition of the Lisbon Meeting on Institutions and Political Economy will take place in Lisbon, the 30th and 31st of May 2013. The Lisbon Meeting is a joint organization of the Institute of Social Sciences of the University of Lisbon and of the Nova School of Business and Economics, with the support of the Banco de Portugal, the Foundation for Science and Technology, and the Fundação Oriente. The Lisbon Meeting on Institutions and Political Economy aims at bringing together scholars who share methodologies and research topics in these two fields. This biennial meeting consists of sessions where contributed papers are presented, and a final keynote public address with an invited speaker. This year, the meeting takes place at the Institute of Social Sciences. The organizers and the chairs will select the best paper presented at the meeting to be the recipient of the Banco de Portugal – Lisbon Meeting Academic Paper Prize 2013, in the amount of 2,000 Euro.

Each contributed session consists on the presentation of the four papers by the participants, followed by discussion. All papers will be distributed in advance. Each paper’s presentation is expected to last around 10 minutes, followed by a 40-minute period of extensive comments by the remaining panel members and the audience. The keynote speech will be given at the Museu do Oriente, May 31st, at 6pm. This year, the keynote speaker will be Hans-Joachim Voth, with a talk entitled: “Finance Fettered: Historical Lessons From An Experiment in Financial Repression.”

This year’s session themes and chairs are the following:
1. Persistent Attitudes and Cultural Change

A rich literature has established the persistence of cultural traits, often over the very long run. At the same time, many areas of economic and social life show rapid changes in attitudes. In this session, we invite papers that explore – from a theoretical, empirical, or historical perspective – cultural change. What drives it? What are its consequences? Submissions touching on (but not limited to) applications and examples of the economics of cultural change to labor economics, the economy of the household, political economy, and growth are welcome.
Chair: Hans-Joachim Voth (Pompeu Fabra University)

2. Institutional Design and Political Accountability

Although it has long been acknowledged that the design of a jurisdiction’s institutional structures is linked to political accountability, the exact nature, strength and extent of this relation remains a topic of considerable debate. Similarly, little is known about the precise causal mechanisms underlying such relation between the institutional design of a jurisdiction and political accountability, nor the links in the causal chain between them. In this session, we invite papers that explore – from a theoretical and/or empirical perspective – the connection between jurisdictions’ institutional structures and political accountability, as well as paper that deal with potential links in the causal chain between both elements. Institutions can thereby be broadly understood (e.g., including, but not limited to, multi-level governance, (partial) fiscal decentralization, electoral rules, and so on), and the analysis can be situated at any particular level of government (e.g. country, state, region, municipality,…). Submissions by political scientists as well as economists are welcomed.
Chair: Benny Geys (Vrije Universiteit Brussel)

3. Economic Consequences of Policy Uncertainty

The most recent economic crisis has generated tremendous uncertainty about future conditions. Some of the uncertainty surrounds government policy decisions regarding whether (i) to remain in a currency area (Greece) or a free trade area (UK), (ii) to go over a fiscal cliff or raise debt limits (US); (iii) to reform social security (Portugal). This and other forms of policy uncertainty (e.g. whether to regulate carbon emissions or enforce certain property rights) may have important economic consequences for investment and savings decisions. This session welcomes theoretical and empirical papers that focus on measuring policy uncertainty and identifying their impacts on decisions of firms or individuals and their aggregate implications.
Chair: Nuno Limão

4. Diversity in Economics: Documentation, Measurement and Impact on Development and Institutions

Strong evidence links the diversity of human capital to the development of creative and innovative technology-based industries, while diversity rooted in cultural, religious, linguistic, genetic, economic, ideological, historical and regional differences can accelerate or slow down economic development and creation of political institutions. A growing literature on this subject addresses issues of documentation, measurement and impact of societal diversity and we invite papers that examine those issues from different angles, including identification, measurement and impact of various types of population diversity from a theoretical, empirical, or historical perspective.
Chair: Shlomo Weber (Southern Methodist University)

5. Labor Market Institutions: Dual Labor Markets, Minimum Wage and Unions

The session aims at discussing the design of institutions to achieve a more inclusive growth, with more and better jobs. Institutions interfere in labor market outcomes, limiting the attained equilibria. An inappropriate design of these institutions may deliver a segmented labor market, with low wages and high rotation of workers. In this session, we invite papers that explore – from a theoretical and/or empirical perspective — the impact of labor market reforms on employment, wages and inequality.
Chair: Mário Centeno (ISEG-UTL)

 
Submissions should take the form of a complete paper, and be sent to: pedro.magalhaes@ics.ul.pt

Submissions should be sent no later than April 19th 2013.

The scientific committee’s decisions will be announced by May 1st.

MORE INFORMATION HERE