Society of Socio-Economists
(SOS)
Annual Meeting Program
Co-Sponsored by the
School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA)
Virginia Tech
Tuesday, January 6, 2015
Washington Marriot Wardman Park Hotel
Washington DC
"Socio-Economics: Changing the Debate:
The Ethical Foundation for Economic Analysis"
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The meeting will people with an opportunity to explore how their research may connect with the ‘socio-economic’ approach to economic analysis, and to build bridges between disciplines and perhaps chart new research collaborations/projects. (See the “Statement of Socio-Economic Principles” below.) The principles provide both a sound epistemological foundation and set of ethical rules of fair play regarding economic analysis that aids the formulation of public policy.
The meeting will consist of a morning plenary followed by a series of concurrent sessions in the afternoon. The plenary is intended to provide a forum that affords everyone a chance to speak and exchange views. Whereas the concurrent sessions allow for more narrowly focused, but still broad, discussions.
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When
Society of Socio-Economists
Annual Conference
Tuesday, January 6, 2015
9:00 a..m. - 6:00 p.m.
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Where
Marriott Washington Wardman Park Hotel
2660 Woodley Road, N.W.
Washington, DC 20008
Contact:
Robert Ashford
Professor of Law
Syracuse University College of Law
Syracuse, New York 13244
Tel. (w) (315) 443-1111
Tel. (c) (315) 677-4680
socioeconomics@aol.com
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What is the
Society of Socio-Economists?
The Society of Socio-Economists (SOS) is a society of law teachers, teachers of economics and other disciplines, and other professionals and interested people who approach economic issues in harmony with the "Statement of Socio-Economic Principles." (Please see below, right column,)
SOS holds an annual meeting in conjunction with the Annual Meeting of the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) in coordination with the AALS Section on Socio-Economics. For the AALS Section on Socio-Economics Newsletter, showing the Section's 2015 Annual Meeting Program, click here.
There is no fee to become a member of SOS. However, there is a registration fee (usually $75, which can be reduced or waived) to attend its Annual Meeting. There is also a luncheon fee dependent on the price of the hotel or restaurant at which the luncheon is held. It is not necessary to buy lunch to attend the luncheon address.
Planning for the January 6, 2015, SOS Annual meeting is still in progress. Persons interested in participating and/or attending should contact Robert Ashford (See above.)
Society of Socio-Economists
Annual Meeting Program
Tuesday, January 6, 2015
9:00 a.m. - 11:45 a.m. Plenary Session
Topics to be discussed include...
1. Socio-Economic Theory
2. Sustainable Economic Growth
3. Wealth and Income Distribution
4. Poverty, Race, Gender, and Class
5. Corporate Fiduciary Duties, Governance, and Social Responsibility
6. Social Entrepreneurship
7. Economic, Financial and Environmental Regulation
8. Economics of War and Peace
9. Tax Policy
10. Ethical Dimensions of Economic Analysis
12:15 - 1:15 p.m. Luncheon Panel (TBA)
1:30 - 3:00 p.m. Concurrent Sessions
(To See Participants in Conncurent Sessions Click Here.)
1-A Connecting and Integrating Strategies for an Economic Transformation
1-B Reinventing the State in an Era of Inequality
1-C Socio-Economic Theory
3:15 - 4:45 p.m. Concurrent Sessions (To See Participants in Concurrent Sessions Click Here.)
2-A Governing Environmental Justice in the Context of Climate Change
2-B Financial Services Regulation in Times of Financial Crisis
2-C Socio-economics Perspectives on Economic Theory
5:00 - 6:00 p.m. Concluding Plenary (TBA)
P a r t i c i p a n t s
include:
William Anderson (Virginia Tech)
Nicholas Ashford (M.I.T.)
Robert Ashford (Syracuse)
Colleen Baker (Illinois)
David Bieri (Virginia Tech)
Bill Black (Missouri - Kansas City)
Scott Barclaym (Drexel)
Emily Brock (Virginia Tech)
June Carbone (Minnesota)
Harold Channer (Manhattan Neighborhood Network)
Dusko Doder (Author)
Ross Eisenbrey (Vice President, Economic Policy Institute)
Eddie Eitches, (President,
American Federation of Government Employees 476 - Housing and Urban Development)
Sidney Greenfield (Anthropology, Wisconsin - Emeritus)
Ralph Hall (Virginia Tech)
Richard Hattwick (Founding Editor Journal of Socio-Economics)
David Cay Johnston
(Pulitzer Prize Winning Author, Syracuse)
Sara Jordan (Virginia Tech)
Sabith Khan (Virginia Tech)
Robert Kirsch (Salisbury University)
Nina Kohn (Syracuse)
Sarah Lyon-Himm (Virginia Tech)
Michael Malloy (McGeorge)
Demetrios Matsakis (Astronomer)
Catherine McFate (President and CEO - Center for Effective Government)
Stefan Padfield (Akron)
David Orden (Director of the Global Issues Initiative, Virginia Tech)
Ezra Rosser (American)
Susan Sterett (Director, Metropolitan Institute, Virginal Tech)
Jennifer Taub (Vermont)
Katie Wells (Virginia Tech)
Jalonne White-Newsome (WE ACT)
Johnanne Winchester (United Nations Liaison)
Stuart Yasgur (Economist, Ashoka Foundation)
Xiaochen Zhang (Virginias Tech)
Statement of Socio-Economic Principles
Socio-economics begins with the assumption that economic behavior and phenomena are not wholly governed or described by any one analytical discipline, but are embedded in society, polity, culture, and nature. Drawing upon economics, sociology, political science, psychology, anthropology, biology and other social and natural sciences, philosophy, history, law, management, and other disciplines, socio-economics regards competitive behavior as a subset of human behavior within a societal and natural context that both enables and constrains competition and cooperation. Rather than assume that the individual pursuit of self-interest automatically or generally tends toward an optimal allocation of resources, socio-economics assumes that societal sources of order are necessary for people and markets to function efficiently. Rather than assume that people act only rationally, or that they pursue only self-interest, socio-economics seeks to advance a more encompassing interdisciplinary understanding of economic behavior open to the assumption that individual choices are shaped not only by notions of rationality but also by emotions, social bonds, beliefs, expectations, and a sense of morality.
Socio-economics is both a positive and a normative science. It is dedicated to the empirical, reality testing approach to knowledge. It respects both inductive and deductive reasoning. But it also openly recognizes the policy relevance of teaching and research and seeks to be self-aware of its normative implications rather than maintaining the mantle of an exclusively positive science. Although it sees questions of value inextricably connected with individual and group economic choices, socio-economics does not entail a commitment to any one paradigm or ideological position, but is open to a range of thinking that treats economic behavior as involving the whole person and all facets of society within a continually evolving natural context.
Unique among interdisciplinary approaches, however, socio-economics recognizes the pervasive and powerful influence of the neoclassical paradigm on contemporary thought. Recognizing that people first adopt paradigms of thought and then perform their inductive, deductive, and empirical analyses, socio-economists seek to examine the assumptions of the neoclassical paradigm, develop a rigorous understanding of its limitations, improve upon its application, and develop alternative, perhaps complementary, approaches that are predictive, exemplary, and morally sound.
(For a fuller description of socio-economics, click here)