Please, see the following the call for papers for the 2020 IAFEP conference, (June 21‐24, 2020, La Jolla, California, United States).

The International Association for the Economics of Participation (IAFEP) gathers scholars dedicated to exploring the economics of democratic and participatory organizations, such as labor‐managed firms, cooperatives and firms with broad‐based employee share‐ownership, profit sharing and worker participation schemes, as well as democratic nonprofit, community and social enterprises. The IAFEP Conferences, which take place every two years, provide an international forum for presentations and discussions of current research on the economics of participation. The 2020 IAFEP Conference will be held in La Jolla (California, United States), alongside and in collaboration with the Beyster Symposium, sponsored by the Institute for the Study of Employee Ownership and Profit Sharing of Rutgers University.

Submissions for the 2020 conference are invited from all relevant fields of study, including comparative economic systems, industrial and labor economics, organizational studies, social economics, management studies, institutional economics, evolutionary economics, development economics, sociology, psychology, political science, law, and philosophy. Interdisciplinary approaches are welcomed. We also invite proposals for complete sessions.

Key themes:

1/ Development and dynamics of financial and decision‐making participation
The range of organizations implementing financial and decision‐making participation is broad and growing, from profit sharing to employee ownership, flat‐organizations, employees on the board, trade‐unions, etc. The drivers of the different types of participation can be very diverse. We are interested in research about the evolution and implications of participation in these organizations in industrialized, post‐industrial, transition, and developing economies.

2/ Effects of participation on firms’ and workers’ outcomes
We invite communications on the impact of workers’ participation on firms’ economic performance, as well as other outcomes – such as wages, working conditions, human resource practices, corporate social responsibility practices, etc. Communications with empirical approaches are particularly encouraged.

3/ Socio‐economic and political environment
The creation, growth and stability of participatory firms are influenced by the economic and social environment as well as the public policies and laws surrounding firms and participation. We welcome communications about the incidence of this broad environment on participation, including historical and international comparative approaches.

4/ Economic participation and political democracy
Participation in firms also raises the question of the relationship between economic participation and political democracy. On one hand, can economic participation affect political involvement of workers‐citizens? On the other hand, is economic participation more likely to thrive in a democratic and more egalitarian environment?

Extended Abstracts (max. 1000 words) in English should be sent by e‐mail to Trevor Young‐Hyman and Nathalie Magne at iafep2020@gmail.com by February 28, 2020. Abstracts should include full details of institutional affiliations and e‐mail addresses. Proposals for complete sessions should include a brief description of the theme of the session and an abstract for each paper.

Authors will be notified by March 31, 2020 whether their papers are accepted for presentation. Complete drafts should reach us by June 1, 2020 in order to be handed out to Conference participants.

Conference Dates
The conference will consist of three full day sessions on June 22, 23 and 24. A welcoming reception will take place on June 21.

Registration and Accommodations
Detailed information on registration (including fees) and local accommodations will be available on the conference website in early February.

Participants from Developing and Transition Economies and Students
A small amount of funding is available for participants from developing and transition economies and students. In order to be considered for the funding, researchers should clarify it in the abstract submission.

Horvat‐Vanek Prize
The Horvat‐Vanek prize is awarded every two years for a research paper of exceptional quality written by a young scholar in one of the areas of interest to IAFEP. The prize, of a value of US$ 1,000, will be awarded during the conference. In order to be considered for the prize, researchers and doctoral students aged 35 or under should submit one research paper in English (maximum length 10,000 words) by April 20, 2020 to iafep2020@gmail.com. Please, include your institutional affiliation and an abstract, and indicate clearly on the paper that you wish it to be considered for the Horvat‐Vanek prize (the recipient will be requested to provide a passport or other official evidence of their date of birth in order to receive the prize).