Extended Deadline for Submissions: May 29, 2023
Retaining the Lessons of the Pandemic:
Reclaiming the Social in Economic Policy to Address the Challenges of the Future
The covid pandemic exposed the social stratification in economic relations to a broader audience. The importance of unpaid and care work became more visible. Unequal treatment in healthcare became apparent. The vulnerability and conditions of essential workers was exposed. For a short period the news was full of stories that illustrated a view of the world as social economists see it. Over the last year, these insights have been overshadowed by concerns over macroeconomic instability.
Nevertheless, the consequences of social stratification remain the most important challenges for the future. The crisis in care (shortages of both paid and unpaid caring labor) is likely to worsen as demographic changes increase dependency ratios. Unequal treatment is present not just in healthcare, but in other sectors. Working conditions have improved somewhat in the US as workers began to reevaluate their priorities, but as the expansions of social programs are expiring and Federal Reserve Policy aims to slow the economy the bargaining power of workers is likely to decline again. Globally, growth has slowed and a crisis of provisioning that is affecting emerging market and developing economies more severely. A large number of countries are at high risk of debt distress. The general level of inflation and the rising and high price of basics, including food, gas, and housing, have a disproportionate effect on the relatively poor segments of society. Similarly, extreme weather associated with climate change poses additional challenges affecting some countries more than others.
Social economics provides the best foundation for policy to address these challenges. For the ASE sessions of the 2024 ASSA meetings (January 5-7, San Antonio, Texas) we welcome proposals for papers/sessions on all aspects of social economics, but preference will be given to papers that apply social economics to the policy challenges of the day. Possible questions to consider but are not limited to:
- Social economics applications to policy for work life balance, childcare, and elder care.
- Social economics applications to policies on worker safety and policies that affect worker bargaining power.
- Social economic applications to policies that guarantee adequate provisioning in advanced and developing economies.
- Social economics applications to policies on unequal treatment in different economic sectors and across countries.
- Social economics applications to policies to address historical structures of inequality.
- Social economics applications to policies and procedures to promote diversity in universities and professional organizations.
- Social economics applications to policies to address climate change.
- Social economics applications to macroeconomic policy and debt.
Proposals for papers as well as complete sessions are welcome. The submission deadline is May 29, 2023.
Submission guidelines:
Paper proposals should include: 1) author name, affiliation, and contact information, and 2) title and abstract of proposed papers (250-word limit).
Session proposals should include: 1) session title and abstract (250-word limit), 2) name, affiliation, and contact information of session organizers, 3) titles and abstracts of proposed papers (250 word limit each).
Questions, as well as paper and session submissions should be sent to Barbara Hopkins () by May 3, 2023.
Individuals whose papers are accepted for presentation must either be or become members of the Association for Social Economics by June 10, 2023 in order for the paper to be included in the program. Membership information can be found at www.socialeconomics.org.
All papers presented at the ASSA meetings are eligible for the Warren Samuels Prize, awarded to the best paper that advances the goals of social economics and has widespread appeal.
We encourage conference presenters to submit papers to the ASE journals. Papers can also be considered for a special conference issue of the Forum for Social Economics, published spring of 2024. Presenters submit their papers right after the conference. The papers (the text, excluding footnotes and bibliography) must be no more than 3500 words long. Papers will be selected based on quality and adherence to the conference theme. Papers must be submitted to the T&F website by Jan. 15, 2024. Forum for Social Economics | Taylor & Francis Online (tandfonline.com)
Note: Due to limited session slots, we unfortunately cannot accept all submissions. Papers and sessions not accepted for the ASE program will be automatically considered for the ASE portion of the ICAPE conference, which will be held January 4, 2024 at St. Mary’s University, San Antonio, Texas, before the ASSA meetings. See icape.org for details.
