The International Confederation of Associations for Pluralism in Economics
Call for Papers, ICAPE 2026 Annual Conference
In person sessions: Monday, January 5, 4:00-8:00 PM, Tuesday, January 6, 8:30 AM – 6:00 PM
Location: La Salle University, Founders Hall, Philadelphia, PA
Virtual sessions: Friday, January 9, 2026 over Zoom, times to be determined
Conference theme: Pluralism, Precarity and Populism
In The Great Transformation (and other publications), Karl Polanyi argued that the harsh outcomes of unfettered markets would provoke precarity and resistance, and the resistance could take the form of fascism or socialism. The rise of right-wing populism in the U.S. under Trump and in much of the developed world has exposed the inadequacies of the neoliberal economic order and its inability to deal with any of the contemporary crises that are developing, just as Polanyi predicted. The emerging polycrisis includes the decline of living standards and increased precarity of blue-collar workers, spiraling inequality, environmental disasters, mass immigration from impoverished regions, mental health crises, and ongoing wars and conflicts. Meanwhile, the rapid rise of AI technology is expected to displace millions of workers, adding fuel to existing crises. This leads to the following key questions:
- What can pluralist economists offer as an alternative to authoritarian populism? What has been the impact of the first year of the Trump presidency, and how should economists respond?
- How can inequality, poverty, precarity and intolerance best be addressed? With the recent attacks on diversity efforts and affirmative action, what can be done to ensure access to education and employment for all?
- Is the era of neoliberal globalization dead, and are we entering a new era of protectionism? If so, how will this impact various peoples and countries? What economic policies are most likely to be successful in this environment?
- How are developing countries being impacted by U.S. protectionism and the increasing sphere of Chinese influence? Do the BRICS offer an opportunity for South-South cooperation?
- Which ideas of pluralist economists are most useful in understanding current economic trends? What ideas from the history of economic thought offer key insights?
- Given the inability of global governance to slow the impact of climate change, what economic changes and policies are necessary? Is degrowth a viable option?
- With the dramatic increase in government deficits along with the lack of negative macroeconomic consequences, have we reached an “MMT moment,” or is there a looming macroeconomic crisis?
- What is the impact of AI, robotics, and other new technologies on the economy and the nature of work? What can be done to assist workers displaced by these technologies?
- How does the economy, and our teaching, need to change in the era of widespread access to AI?
- Is social media responsible for increasing levels of anxiety, depression and mental illness, or does the cause lie elsewhere? What perils and opportunities for progressive change are created by social media?
Since its founding, ICAPE has supported economists and other social scientists who have been marginalized by the American Economics Association. ICAPE is motivated by the philosophy that methodological pluralism and intellectual progress are complements: intellectual diversity allows for the development and dissemination of insights that would otherwise be overlooked.
For the January 2026 conference, ICAPE encourages submissions that explore the unique contributions of all major perspectives of heterodox/marginalized economists, while also discussing areas in which these approaches share similar insights. Are heterodox/marginalized economists moving toward a unified approach? Or, would a unified approach have disadvantages by reducing the rich variations and unique contributions of each school of thought? How does the work of economists from the National Economic Association and American Society of Hispanic Economists intersect with the work of feminist, institutionalist, social, Marxist and post-Keynesian economists? ICAPE welcomes submissions from any pluralist perspective on the conference themes or on any topic of relevance to pluralist economists.
Founding ICAPE associations are the International Association For Feminist Economics (IAFFE), the Union for Radical Political Economics (URPE), the Association For Evolutionary Economics (AFEE), the Association For Institutional Thought (AFIT), and the Association for Social Economics (ASE). Submissions from members of these organizations are particularly welcome. We also welcome work from all strands of heterodox economic theory, including evolutionary, ecological, complexity, institutional, feminist, Austrian, Marxian, Sraffian, Post-Keynesian, Modern Monetary Theory, behavioral/psychological, social, radical political, critical realism, agent-based modeling, stratification, and general heterodox economics. We are interested in research from any of the perspectives listed above, research by economists marginalized by the AEA, and research by mainstream economists open to incorporating a pluralistic approach. We are also looking for in material from graduate students, sessions on pluralistic teaching, and material on the state of pluralism in economics.
All papers presented at ICAPE are eligible for inclusion in the ICAPE proceedings issue of the American Review of Political Economy.
Submissions are due by Monday, September 8, 2025.
Conference Schedule:
The in-person portion of ICAPE’s conference will occur immediately following the ASSA meetings in Philadelphia, beginning at 4:00 PM on Monday, January 5 and concluding at 6:00 PM on Tuesday, January 6. These sessions will be held at La Salle University, a short cab ride from the conference hotels. The ASSA/AEA conference is scheduled for January 3-5, 2026 in Philadelphia, ending at 3:00 PM on January 5th.
The on-line, virtual portion of the ICAPE conference will take place on Friday, January 9, 2026, with the times to be determined based on the schedules and time zones of participants.
All in-person presentations will take place on January 5-6, 2026, and all virtual presentations will take place on January 9, 2026.
All papers and panels must be submitted via the Google Forms below. You may need to cut and paste these links into your browser to get to the form.
Individual paper submissions: https://forms.gle/xGaTmYzi9sg27wu4A
(or https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeQvvGFDy_hUTd4b-Fz4xEdkwaw3vQolRq98hdqGMM6nTuhVg/viewform)
Panel, workshop and roundtable submissions: https://forms.gle/oEm6RXgr8DJsdT6K6
In-Person Conference registration fee: $240 regular registration, or $120 low income. The registration fee includes dinner on January 5, coffee, lunch and a reception on January 6, as well as full access to the online conference. Conference costs have increased significantly in recent years, hence the higher registration fee.
Online-only Conference registration fee: $100 regular/$50 low income.
Scholarships to cover conference registration fees are available to those with limited institutional support including graduate students as well as academics residing in the Global South. All scholarship recipients must be a member of one of the founding ICAPE associations (AFEE, AFIT, ASE, IAFFE, URPE). Contact the conference organizer if you are interested in a scholarship, and indicate this on your conference submission.
Note that ICAPE does not arrange housing for the in-person portion of the conference. We recommend that you take advantage of the low rates obtained by the AEA for its conference, and that you attend the sessions of ICAPE founding organizations and partner organizations at the AEA conference.
Tentative schedule for the in-person portion of ICAPE on Monday, January 5, 2026:
4:00-4:40 Registration/Check in
4:45-6:15 PM, breakout sessions
6:20-8:00 PM, plenary dinner for all participants (included)
Tuesday, January 6, 2026:
8:30-10:15, breakout sessions
10:30-12:15, breakout sessions
12:20-2:15, plenary lunch for all participants (included)
2:30-4:30, breakout sessions
Reception and networking event, 4:30-6:00 (included)
For additional information, contact Geoff.Schneider@Bucknell.edu.