The International Confederation of Associations for Pluralism in Economics
Call for Papers, ICAPE 2027 Annual Conference

In person sessions: Tuesday, January 5, 4-8 PM, Wednesday, January 6, 8:30 AM – 6:00 PM
Location: American University, Washington, D.C., USA
Virtual sessions: Friday, January 8, 2027 over Zoom, with presentation times set by time zone

Conference theme: Affordability and Provisioning in Contemporary Capitalism

The emerging polycrisis includes declining living standards, increased worker precarity, spiraling inequality, environmental disasters, mass immigration from impoverished regions, mental health crises, declining birth rates, and ongoing wars and conflicts. Meanwhile, the rapid rise of AI technology may displace millions of workers, adding fuel to existing crises. And yet, despite the affordability crisis, especially the high cost of food and housing, and the potential for an employment crisis, production continues to grow and stock markets have reached record highs.

This leads to the following key questions:

• What can pluralist economists offer as an alternative to authoritarian populism? What has been the impact of recent U.S. political shifts, including 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 over, and are we entering a new era of protectionism? If so, how will this impact different 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? Does the BRICS group 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 dramatic increases in government deficits and limited apparent 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 do 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 2027 conference, ICAPE encourages submissions that explore the unique contributions of all major perspectives of heterodox and marginalized economists, while also discussing areas in which these approaches share similar insights. Are heterodox and 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 the ICAPE conference are eligible for inclusion in the ICAPE proceedings issue of the American Review of Political Economy.

Submissions are due by Friday, September 4, 2026.

Conference Schedule:
The in-person portion of ICAPE’s conference will occur immediately following the ASSA meetings in Washington, D.C., beginning at 4:00 PM on Tuesday, January 5 and concluding at 6:00 PM on Wednesday, January 6. These sessions will be held at American University, a short cab ride from the conference hotels. The ASSA/AEA conference is scheduled for January 3-5, 2027 in Washington, D.C., ending at 3:00 PM on January 5th.

The online portion of the ICAPE conference will take place on Friday, January 8, 2027, with times determined based on participants’ schedules and time zones.

All in-person presentations will take place on January 5-6, 2027 in Washington, and all virtual presentations will take place on January 8, 2027. There are no hybrid sessions.

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/Zp3TWJ5RRrQkHqe18
(or https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScR0SFgkGW7PvwotQ2cEYYeAfJwNb3XLm5_dfmvaghlmYSB7Q/viewform?usp=header)

Panel, workshop and roundtable submissions: https://forms.gle/4dQUvPS3nFwPbenS8
(or https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfeYZhvxSH-eKlCnGsaRnRa5dbc4imFBtpUJD7pJvpyC4x01w/viewform?usp=sharing&ouid=107962958915901212621)

In-Person Conference registration fee: $250 regular registration, or $125 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 high registration fee.

Online-only Conference registration fee: $120 regular/$60 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 form.

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 Tuesday, January 5, 2027:

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)

Wednesday, January 6, 2027:

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)

Online sessions Friday, January 8, 2027, 7:00-17:00 E.S.T.

For additional information, contact [email protected].