The 35th Annual EAEPE Conference 2024

The 2024 Conference Theme

The last decades have seen enormous changes in the way both developed and developing economies operate and in the economic policies they pursue. Economic change has gone hand in hand with geopolitical change. Liberalisation and economic globalisation have brought unprecedented transformations in both world and national economies. These are increasingly interconnected and thus more vulnerable to external shocks. It must also be noted that since the end of the Cold War we observe a weakening of the global multilateral order, a rise of regionalism and persistent tensions and conflicts that abate the capacity for international leadership to effectively address global challenges. The current state of world affairs is characterised by the tensions between US and China, the US, EU with Russia due to the Russia – Ukraine war, recently the Israeli-Palestinian war but also the active presence of key players from Global West, Global East and Global South who shape new coalitions to influence the dynamics of a fragmented world.

Political, social and religious movements now challenge core principles and values that were previously interpreted as universal and indisputable. These include democracy, the rule of law, gender equality, human rights, solidarity, and many other. Thereby they challenge the dominant understanding of how societies and economies should function in a modern, free and advanced society. In many cases, these movements are the result of growing opposition to the neo-liberal capitalist model and its inability to address the problems faced by large sections of society, such as unemployment, inequality, poverty, and environmental problems, etc.

In this new and volatile environment, black swan events are becoming more frequent. In less than two decades, we have witnessed a global financial crisis with its epicentre in developed countries, and a global pandemic with still unforeseeable socio-economic consequences. These events have led many economists to turn their attention to economic problems that were previously given less attention, such as the issue of inequality in the distribution of income and wealth, the growth of poverty, even in the most advanced economies, or the urgent need to narrow the widening gap between developed and most developing economies. Both in developed and developing countries, the intersectional character of many prevailing inequalities leads to compounding disadvantages for individuals with specific social, political or ethnic identities. The vulnerability of these groups to issues, such as unemployment, precarious work, poverty and discrimination, needs to be accounted for.

The planet is facing an increasing number of ecological crises, such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and deforestation as the global economy simultaneously shapes its natural environment and depends on it. Thus, co-evolutionary processes between economic activity and environmental pressures can endanger the resilience of the whole economic system. In the context of climate change, anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions have already led to a rise in global average temperatures, extreme weather events and conflict on a global scale. Almost a decade after the signature of the Paris Agreement, mitigation policies will not reduce emissions to prevent enough to avoid the tipping-point of 1.5-2°C.

The academic and research communities, originating from distinct schools of thought are highlighting the new landscape. Economic analysis and policy are strongly affected by but also willfully influence the way socio-economic and political challenges are addressed. Although many neoclassical assumptions have been overthrown even by mainstream economists, the neoliberal agenda is dominating and undermining a reconciliation of the three dimensions of sustainability, namely environmental, social and economic towards which the world should head for.

The prominent role of feminist economists in addressing the role of gender in poverty, discrimination, unemployment, etc also show how social and political gains made in recent decades are often reversed, especially for women. Despite the contribution that feminist economics has made to development studies, institutional analysis, labour market studies, macroeconomics, innovation studies, etc., only three women have been awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics and academia remains dominated by male full professors.

Against this backdrop, the aim of the Conference is to celebrate new and fresh perspectives, both theoretical and empirical, on the structural transformations that economies are facing and on the consequences of these changes. In this sense, in addition to welcoming papers on the various topics covered by the different research areas of EAEPE, we encourage interested researchers to submit papers on topics such as

• The geopolitical economy of the BRICS, emerging and transition economies.
• The drivers and economic and social impacts of climate change
• The political economy of external shocks (like Black Swans)
• The challenges of demographic change, migration, inequality and poverty
• Re-industrialisation policies
• The implications of the digital transformation on the economy, society and policy
• The processes of de-globalisation.
• Development and application of decolonial and gender analyses

On these and other directly related issues, we particularly encourage submissions that address these issues from a gender perspective.

Important Dates        

• 1 March, 2024: Special session submission deadline
• 5 April, 2024: Abstract submission for individual papers deadline
• 3 May, 2024: Notification of abstract acceptance; registration opens; fee waiver application opens
• 31 May 2024: Early registration closes; Fee waiver application closes
• 28 June, 2024: Late registration closes (for authors to be included in the scientific programme)
• 25 August, 2024: Submission of full papers deadline