CALL FOR PAPERS

Symposium on “The euro: (Greek) tragedy or Europe’s destiny? Economic, historical and legal perspectives on the common currency”

University of Bayreuth (Germany), 11 – 12 January 2012

Funded by the “Volkswagen Foundation”

CALL FOR PAPERS

The European debt crisis has brought the European Monetary Union (EMU) to the brink of collapse. A large variety of proposals are currently being discussed, ranging from different stabilisation mechanisms to outright default and the exit of individual countries from the euro zone; even a complete dissolution of EMU no longer appears unthinkable.

The aim of this symposium is twofold: First, we seek to encourage a genuinely pan-European debate on EMU that will overcome the multitude of (highly diverse) national debates. Currently, economic analyses and policy suggestions follow well-established national fault lines (mirroring earlier divisions between “soft” and “hard” currency countries), which makes agreeing on a common diagnosis of the problem and suggesting a therapy exceedingly difficult. Second, we wish to draw on the rich experience of past monetary unions in helping us master the present and the future of EMU.

Lessons from monetary history
(Call for papers)

Half of the sessions will be devoted to lessons from the past, i.e., explaining the conditions under which monetary unions have worked well in the past as well as appreciating the importance of monetary history in shaping the attitudes of different countries towards EMU. Researchers working in the fields of economics, economic history, European integration, political science, history, history of economic thought and legal studies all have important contributions to make in this regard and are encouraged to submit their papers. We will strive to maintain a balance between the different disciplines and we welcome in particular submissions from PhD students and early career researchers.

Different perspectives on the current crisis
(Invited presentations)

Speakers:

Prof. Albrecht Ritschl (key note speaker) 
(London School of Economics)

Prof. Agnès Bénassy-Quéré
(CEPII and University of Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne)

Prof. Manfred Neumann
(University of Bonn)

Prof. George Pagoulatos
(Athens University of Economics and Business and College of Europe Bruges)

Prof. Andreas Paulus
(German Constitutional Court and University of Göttingen)

Prof. Niels Thygesen
(University of Copenhagen)

A specific focus of the invited presentations will be on why economic analyses of the current crisis and policy suggestions to overcome it differ markedly from one country to the next. Following the key note lecture by Prof. Albrecht Ritschl, Prof. Niels Thygesen will elaborate on the “Different perceptions of EMU among the major initiators”. His analysis will be complemented by three country-specific perspectives, namely by Prof. George Pagoulatos’ view from the euro periphery, Prof. Manfred Neumann’s perspective from a “hard currency country” and the possibly “intermediate” French view by Prof. Agnès Bénassy-Quéré. Prof. Andreas Paulus will elaborate on legal aspects of the bail-out mechanism.

Submission and Selection process

Submission Deadline: Friday 18th November 2011

Applications by e-mail (with pdf-file attachments) should be sent to euro@uni-bayreuth.de by Friday 18th November the latest. Notifications of acceptance will be sent by Friday 25th November 2011.

Please submit a 1-page summary of the paper you wish to present accompanied by a 1-page CV and (in the case of PhD students only) a letter of support from the PhD advisor.

PhD students / early career researchers wishing to participate in the symposium without presenting a paper: Please submit a 1-page explanation as to how the topic of the symposium relates to your research, a 1-page CV and (in the case of PhD students only) a letter of support from the PhD advisor.

Expenses

Accommodation and travel expenses will be covered for all participants. If travel expenses are expected to exceed 150 EUR (for Germany based participants) and 350 EUR (for all other participants), please do indicate in your application the level of travel expenses you would require.

Organizers

Prof. Dr. Bernhard Herz (University of Bayreuth, Germany)

Dr. Matthias Morys (University of York, UK)

Website

www.euro.uni-bayreuth.de