Call for Papers

C a l l   f o r   P a p e r s

2nd European MMT conference 2021:
Economic policy in a post-pandemic world

September 13-15, 2021

Free University Berlin (GER)

https://www.mmtconference.eu


The Covid-19 pandemic has led to a collapse of the global economy. As a result, unemployment soared and output plummeted, with inflation rates going negative in major economies. The traditional instrument of macroeconomic policy is the interest rate set by the central bank. However, the monetary policy strategy of inflation-targeting is discredited. Even after a decade of zero (or near-zero) interest rates, private investment has not boomed and inflation as well as unemployment rates have been disappointing, in the Eurozone more than elsewhere. We need to rethink economic policy.

And in the midst of this crisis of macroeconomic policy, we are running out of time to solve an even bigger crisis: the climate crisis. Full employment, price stability and ecological sustainability - how we can we reach these goals? What are the other goals progressives should aim for? What are the policy instruments available to make societies prosper?

The Biden administration in the US has shown a possible path forward, executing a $1.9 trillion spending program to tackle the covid crisis and planning for another a multi-trillion package to rebuild US infrastructure. The Federal Reserve Bank has announced that it will not raise rates until inflation increase above its acceptable level. Economic growth in 2021 is predicted to reach 8% with inflation staying stable. Meanwhile, the Eurozone has seen a very unequal fiscal response to the crisis. Eurozone growth for 2021 is forecasted to reach only 4%.

Mario Draghi has said in late 2019 that the ECB should examine new ideas like MMT. Christine Lagarde told us in April 2019 that MMT could help fight deflation. The editorial board of the WSJ wrote in April 2020 that "[i]t appears that we are all modern monetary theorists now."

In this conference, we are interested in contributions to the following topics and beyond from scholars of all disciplines:

  • Economic governance in the Eurozone and other currency areas
  • Explanations of inflation and new policy proposals to manage the price level
  • The political economy of the Eurozone and its member states
  • Reform proposals for fiscal policy rules
  • Historical accounts of economic policy reactions to pandemics and crisis
  • Green New Deal and other policies to bring forth the socio-ecological transformation
  • Public Purpose and the role of government in delivering change
  • Job Guarantee
  • Alternatives to GDP as indicators of a society's well-being
  • Empirical work on the effects of government spending
  • History of Economic Thought related to any of the issues above
  • Debates between MMT scholars and mainstream scholars
  • Examinations of the fiscal-monetary nexus
  • The role of inequality
  • The Latin-American lost decade of the 1980s
  • Law and Public Economics
  • Industrialization and Development economics
  • Economic Geography and Money

We welcome extended abstracts in English or in German of 300 to 600 words which outline your research question, methodological and theoretical approach, interim results and their relevance in light of the above topics. Presentations will take place online on September 15, 2021. You will have 30 minutes to present and 15 minutes for discussion. Presenters will have to provide a Zoom link for their presentation or a link to a different videoconferencing software that listeners can access freely. This allows scholars from all over the world to participate in our conference. We will match papers with similar topics to create parallel sessions.

Please send your abstract with your name and your institution to conference@pufendorf-gesellschaft.org. The deadline is June 30, 2021. We will send out letters of acceptance in early July 2021. Registration will open in mid-July 2021. Guests – participants that do not present papers – can also register. Due to the limit number of places we will not be able to accommodate everybody.

Disclaimer: Because of the uncertainty caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, we ask you to regularly check back with our webpage https://www.mmtconference.eu. Schedules and lectures are subject to change and we cannot guarantee that the conference will take place as announced. Currently, we plan to use the venue JFK Institute at Free University Berlin for September 13, the first day of the conference (Monday). The panels as well as the presentations will be held ONLINE on the third day. In case the situation does not improve, we might move the whole conference online and shorten it. We are planning to decide on the final format as soon as the situation allows it, so those that are planning to come to Berlin can make travel arrangements. You can find the latest Covid-19-related news from Berlin here. You can always contact us at info@pufendorf-gesellschaft.org if you have questions or comments.