The European Association for Evolutionary Political Economy (EAEPE) is a pluralist forum of

social scientists Social science is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among individuals within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the field of sociology, the original "science of soc ...

that brings together

institutional Institutions are humanly devised structures of rules and norms that shape and constrain individual behavior. All definitions of institutions generally entail that there is a level of persistence and continuity. Laws, rules, social conventions a ...

and

evolutionary Evolution is change in the heredity, heritable Phenotypic trait, characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the Gene expression, expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to ...

economists broadly defined. EAEPE members are scholars working on realistic approaches to

economic theory Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics analyzes ...

and

economic policy The economy of governments covers the systems for setting levels of taxation, government budgets, the money supply and interest rates as well as the labour market, national ownership, and many other areas of government interventions into the e ...

. With a membership of about 500, EAEPE is now the foremost European association for

heterodox In religion, heterodoxy (from Ancient Greek: , "other, another, different" + , "popular belief") means "any opinions or doctrines at variance with an official or orthodox position". Under this definition, heterodoxy is similar to unorthodoxy, w ...

economists and the second-largest association for economists in Europe.

History

EAEPE was established in London, on 29 June 1988. However, the formal founding meeting was only held in September 1989 at the association's first annual conference in Keswick,

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumb ...

, UK. At this occasion, the EAEPE Constitution was adopted and a steering committee was elected, changed later into the EAEPE Council. In November 1990, the association formed a charity, the

Foundation for European Economic Development Foundation for European Economic Development (FEED) is a charity formed in November 1990 under the auspices of the European Association for Evolutionary Political Economy. The charity is formally registered under the Charities Act 2006. It has prov ...

(FEED) under the Charities Act (England and Wales), with the objective of providing financial assistance for the EAEPE annual conferences and other EAEPE projects. In 1991, the association adopted a Scientific Development Plan in order to designate a number of priority Research Areas and to appoint Research Area Coordinators to act as network-builders. Since 1991, in collaboration with

Edward Elgar Publishing Edward Elgar Publishing is a global publisher of academic books, journals and online resources in the social sciences and law. The company also publishes a social science and law blog with regular contributions from leading scholars. About Edwa ...

, EAEPE has published a series of conference volumes and other focused volumes. In the mid-1990s, EAEPE organized several summer schools, with the financial support of FEED and the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body o ...

. EAEPE has resumed organizing annual summer schools since 2010. EAEPE is a founding shareholder of Millennium Economics Ltd.

Theoretical perspectives

According to the EAEPE website, EAEPE members generally agree on the following. Breaking away from the most standard forms of economic theorising based on a definition of economics in terms of a rigid method which is applied indiscriminately to a wide variety of economic, social or political phenomena, EAEPE embraces an open-ended and

interdisciplinary Interdisciplinarity or interdisciplinary studies involves the combination of multiple academic disciplines into one activity (e.g., a research project). It draws knowledge from several other fields like sociology, anthropology, psychology, ec ...

analysis, that draws on relevant material in not only in economics but also in

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...

sociology Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of Empirical ...

anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of behavi ...

politics Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

and

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

. In contrast to standard economic approaches focusing exclusively on equilibrium, EAEPE conceptualizes the economy as a cumulative process unfolding in historical time in which agents are faced with chronic information problems and radical uncertainty about the future. Contrary to standard models where individuals and their tastes are taken as given, where technology is viewed as exogenous, and where production is separated from exchange, EAEPE's concern is to address and encompass the interactive, social process through which tastes are formed and changed, the forces which promote technological transformation, and the interaction of these elements within the

economic system An economic system, or economic order, is a system of Production (economics), production, resource allocation and Distribution (economics), distribution of goods and services within a society or a given geographic area. It includes the combinati ...

as a whole. In lieu of an orientation that takes the market as an ideal or natural order and as a mere aggregation of individual traders, EAEPE recognises that it is appropriate to regard the

market Market is a term used to describe concepts such as: *Market (economics), system in which parties engage in transactions according to supply and demand *Market economy *Marketplace, a physical marketplace or public market Geography *Märket, an ...

itself as a social

institution Institutions are humanly devised structures of rules and norms that shape and constrain individual behavior. All definitions of institutions generally entail that there is a level of persistence and continuity. Laws, rules, social conventions a ...

, necessarily supported by a network of other social institutions such as the

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

, and having no unqualified nor automatic priority over them. Instead of the widespread tendency to ignore ecological and environmental considerations or consequences in the development of theories and policy recommendation, EAEPE acknowledges that the socio-economic system depends upon, and is embedded in, an often fragile natural environment and a

complex Complex commonly refers to: * Complexity, the behaviour of a system whose components interact in multiple ways so possible interactions are difficult to describe ** Complex system, a system composed of many components which may interact with each ...

ecological system An ecosystem (or ecological system) consists of all the organisms and the physical environment with which they interact. These biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Energy enters the syste ...

. Rejecting the

utilitarian In ethical philosophy, utilitarianism is a family of normative ethical theories that prescribe actions that maximize happiness and well-being for all affected individuals. Although different varieties of utilitarianism admit different charac ...

outlook which separates considerations of means from those of ends, and judgments of fact from those of value, and which ignores social relations, conflicts and inequalities between the agents, EAEPE appreciates the fact that inquiry is value-driven and policy-orientated, and recognises the centrality of participatory democratic processes to the identification and evaluation of real needs. Reflecting EAEPE's open-ended theoretical perspectives, EAEPE's current honorary presidents include major scholars such as

János Kornai János Kornai (21 January 1928 – 18 October 2021) was a Hungarian economist noted for his analysis and criticism of the command economies of Eastern European communist states. He also covered macroeconomic aspects in countries undergoing pos ...

, Richard R. Nelson, Douglass C. North,

Luigi Pasinetti Luigi L. Pasinetti (born 12 September 1930) is an Italian economist of the post-Keynesian school. Pasinetti is considered the heir of the " Cambridge Keynesians" and a student of Piero Sraffa and Richard Kahn. Along with them, as well as Joan Ro ...

, while

Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen (born Nicolae Georgescu, 4 February 1906 – 30 October 1994) was a Romanian mathematician, statistician and economist. He is best known today for his 1971 ''The Entropy Law and the Economic Process'', in which he argu ...

, Edith T. Penrose,

Kurt Rothschild Kurt Wilhelm Rothschild (October 21, 1914-November 15, 2010) was a well known Austrian born economist. He lectured at the University of Glasgow (1938–1947), worked as a researcher at the Austrian Economic Research Institute (1947–1966) and was ...

G. L. S. Shackle George Lennox Sharman Shackle (14 July 1903 – 3 March 1992) was an English economist. He made a practical attempt to challenge classical rational choice theory and has been characterised as a "post-Keynesian", though he is influenced as well by ...

and Herbert A. Simon were EAEPE's honorary presidents in the past. More generally, EAEPE recognises the relevance of writers as diverse as

John Commons John Rogers Commons (October 13, 1862 – May 11, 1945) was an American institutional economist, Georgist, progressive and labor historian at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Early years John R. Commons was born in Hollansburg, Ohio on ...

Nicholas Kaldor Nicholas Kaldor, Baron Kaldor (12 May 1908 – 30 September 1986), born Káldor Miklós, was a Cambridge economist in the post-war period. He developed the "compensation" criteria called Kaldor–Hicks efficiency for welfare comparisons (1939), d ...

Michał Kalecki Michał Kalecki (; 22 June 1899 – 18 April 1970) was a Polish Marxian economist. Over the course of his life, Kalecki worked at the London School of Economics, University of Cambridge, University of Oxford and Warsaw School of Economics ...

William Kapp William Edward Kapp (August 20, 1891 in Toledo – 1969) was an American architect. He earned his architectural degree at the University of Pennsylvania. For the majority of his career, he worked for the firm Smith, Hinchman & Grylls. Projects ...

John Maynard Keynes John Maynard Keynes, 1st Baron Keynes, ( ; 5 June 1883 – 21 April 1946), was an English economist whose ideas fundamentally changed the theory and practice of macroeconomics and the economic policies of governments. Originally trained in ...

Alfred Marshall Alfred Marshall (26 July 1842 – 13 July 1924) was an English economist, and was one of the most influential economists of his time. His book '' Principles of Economics'' (1890) was the dominant economic textbook in England for many years. I ...

Karl Marx Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...

François Perroux François Perroux (December 19, 1903 in Saint-Romain-en-Gal – June 2, 1987 in Stains) was a French economist. He was named Professor at the Collège de France, after having taught at the University of Lyon (1928 – 1937) and the University o ...

Karl Polanyi Karl Paul Polanyi (; hu, Polányi Károly ; 25 October 1886 – 23 April 1964),''Encyclopædia Britannica'' (Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc. 2003) vol 9. p. 554 was an Austro-Hungarian economic anthropologist and politician, best known ...

Joan Robinson Joan Violet Robinson (''née'' Maurice; 31 October 1903 – 5 August 1983) was a British economist well known for her wide-ranging contributions to economic theory. She was a central figure in what became known as post-Keynesian economics. B ...

Joseph Schumpeter Joseph Alois Schumpeter (; February 8, 1883 – January 8, 1950) was an Austrian-born political economist. He served briefly as Finance Minister of German-Austria in 1919. In 1932, he emigrated to the United States to become a professor at Ha ...

Adam Smith Adam Smith (baptized 1723 – 17 July 1790) was a Scottish economist and philosopher who was a pioneer in the thinking of political economy and key figure during the Scottish Enlightenment. Seen by some as "The Father of Economics"——— ...

Thorstein Veblen Thorstein Bunde Veblen (July 30, 1857 – August 3, 1929) was a Norwegian-American economist and sociologist who, during his lifetime, emerged as a well-known critic of capitalism. In his best-known book, ''The Theory of the Leisure Class'' ...

and

Max Weber Maximilian Karl Emil Weber (; ; 21 April 186414 June 1920) was a German sociologist, historian, jurist and political economist, who is regarded as among the most important theorists of the development of modern Western society. His ideas profo ...

to institutionalist and evolutionary thought.

Research areas

EAEPE's research is organised around Research Areas (RAs) that include: Methodology of economics (A), Economic sociology (B), Institutional change (C), Innovation and technological change (D), Industrial Policy and Development (E1), Entrepreneurship and Theory of the Firm (E2), Environment-economy interactions (F), Macroeconomic regulation and Institutions (G), Effective Demand, Income Distribution and Finance (H), Comparative Political Economy (I), Monetary economics, finance and financial institutions (J), Gender economics and social identity (K), Labour economics (L), Social economics (M), Human development and institutions (N), Territory and migration (O), Economic history (P), Evolutionary economic simulations (S), History of political economy (T), Conceptions of Evolutionary Political Economy (V), Global political economy (W), Networks (X), Co-operative economy and collective ownership (Z).

Awards

The association runs three prizes: * The ''EAEPE William Kapp Prize'' awarded annually for the best published journal article on a theme broadly in accord with the EAEPE theoretical perspectives. * The ''EAEPE Joan Robinson Prize'' (formerly known as the Gunnar Myrdal Prize) awarded biennially for the best monograph on a theme broadly in accord with the EAEPE theoretical perspectives. * The ''EAEPE Herbert Simon Young Scholar Prize'' awarded annually for the best conference paper by a young scholar.

Publications

* EAEPE's international journal
Review of Evolutionary Political Economy
' (REPE) has been running since 2020. REPE publishes high-quality conceptual and review articles and cutting-edge methodological and empirical studies from evolutionary and international political economy, institutionalist, heterodox, computational and complexity economics and economic sociology. * EAEPE has regularly published a series of conference volumes, several more focused volumes on specific topics as well as readers on institutional and evolutionary economics (see selected list below). Since 2006, EAEPE has sponsored a new 'Studies in Evolutionary Political Economy' edited volume series. * In collaboration with the

Association for Evolutionary Economics The Association for Evolutionary Economics (AFEE) is an international organization of economists working in the institutionalist and evolutionary traditions of Thorstein Veblen, John R. Commons and Wesley Mitchell. It is part of the Allied Social ...

(AFEE), EAEPE has published a major 2-volume reference work on institutional and evolutionary economics (Hodgson, Samuels and Tool, eds, 1994). * A newsletter was published between 1989 and 2005. A new series was released in July 2012. * EAEPE sponsors a periodical,
Journal of Institutional Economics
' (JOIE), devoted to the study of the nature, role and evolution of institutions in the economy. The first issue was published in 2005. There are currently 4 issues per volume. In 2012, JOIE received a high impact factor for a new journal.

Selected EAEPE Volumes

* Amin, Ash and Michael Dietrich (eds) (1991), ''Towards a New Europe: Structural Change in the European Economy'', Aldershot: Edward Elgar. * Amin, Ash and Jerzy Hausner (eds) (1997), ''Beyond Market and Hierarchy: Interactive Governance and Social Complexity'', Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. * Blaas, Wolfgang and John Foster (eds) (1993), ''Mixed Economies in Europe: An Evolutionary Perspective on their Emergence, Transition and Regulation'',Aldershot: Edward Elgar. * Delorme, Robert and Kurt Dopfer (eds) (1994), ''The Political Economy of Diversity: Evolutionary Perspectives on Economic Order and Disorder'', Aldershot: Edward Elgar. * Dolfsma, Wilfred and Charlie Dannreuther (eds) (2003), ''Globalization, Social Capital and Inequality: Contested Concepts, Contested Experiences'', Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. * Dolfsma, Wilfred and Luc Soete (eds) (2006), ''Understanding the Dynamics of a Knowledge Economy'', Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. * Elsner, Wolfram and Hardy Hanappi (eds) (2008), ''Varieties of Capitalism and New Institutional Deals: Regulation, Welfare and the New Economy'', Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. * Finch, John and Magali Orillard (eds) (2005), ''Complexity and the Economy: Implications for Economic Policy'', Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. * Garrouste, Pierre and Stravos Ioannides (eds) (2001), ''Evolution and Path Dependence in Economic Ideas: Past and Present'', Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. * Groenewegen, John and Jack Vromen (eds) (1999), ''Institutions and the Evolution of Capitalism: Implications of Evolutionary Economics'', Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. * Groenewegen, John, Christos Pitelis and Sven-Erik Sjöstrand (eds) (1995), ''On Economic Institutions: Theory and Applications'', Aldershot: Edward Elgar. * Hanappi, Hardy and Wolfram Elsner (eds) (2008), ''Advances in Evolutionary Institutional Economics: Evolutionary Mechanisms, Non-Knowledge and Strategy''. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. * Hodgson, Geoffrey M. (ed.) (2007), ''The Evolution of Economic Institutions: A Critical Reader'', Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. * Hodgson, Geoffrey M. and Ernesto Screpanti (eds) (1991), ''Rethinking Economics: Markets, Technology and Economic Evolution'', Aldershot: Edward Elgar. * Hodgson, Geoffrey M., Warren J. Samuels and Mark J. Tool (eds) (1994), ''The Elgar Companion to Institutional and Evolutionary Economics'', 2 vols., Aldershot: Edward Elgar. * Kunneke, Rold W., John Groenewegen and Jean-Francois Auger (eds) (2009), ''The Governance of Network Industries: Institutions, Technology and Policy in Reregulated Infrastructures'', Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. * Louçã, Francisco and Mark Perlman (eds) (2000). ''Is Economics an Evolutionary Science? The Legacy of Thorstein Veblen'', Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. * Michie, Jonathan and Angelo Reati (eds) (1998), ''Employment, Technology and Economic Needs: Theory, Evidence and Economic Policy'', Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. * Nielsen, Klaus and Björn Johnson (eds) (1998), ''Institutions and Economic Change: New Perspectives on Markets, Firms and Technology'', Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. * Salanti, Andrea and Ernesto Screpanti (eds) (1997), ''Pluralism in Economics: New Perspectives in History and Methodology'', Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. * Saviotti, Pier Paolo and

Bart Nooteboom Bart is a masculine given name, usually a diminutive of Bartholomew, sometimes of Barton, Bartolomeo, etc. Bart is a Dutch and Ashkenazi Jewish surname, and derives from the name ''Bartholomäus'', a German form of the biblical name ''Bartholo ...

(eds) (2000), ''Technology and Knowledge: From the Firm to Innovation Systems'', Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. * Tylecote, Andrew and Jan van der Straaten (eds) (1998), ''Environment, Technology and Economic Growth: The Challenge of Sustainable Development'', Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.

References

External links

*
FEED
- Foundation for European Economic Development
Journal of Institutional Economics

AFEE
- Association for Evolutionary Economics
ISNIE
- International Society for New Institutional Economics
Edward Elgar Publishing
{{Authority control Economics societies Schools of economic thought Development economics Organizations established in 1988 Economic history societies