The économie des conventions: transdisciplinary discussions and perspectives ; introduction to the HSR focus

Abstract

"The economie des conventions (economics of convention, EC) has developed in the last three decades in France as an approach for economic history, economic sociology and pragmatic institutionalism. For some years now the international reception and recognition has started. The introduction to the HSR Focus frames the collected contributions. Therein the ongoing discussion about the application of EC in transdisciplinary historical analysis is presented. A focal point for the current debate has been a workshop in February 10th 2012 (at Humboldt University Berlin). The workshop is initially presented. Then the contributions of this focus are introduced. The contributions forward the discussion but they also present new work on conceptual and methodological issues of EC. The impact of materialities, the importance of power and critique, the rote of cognition for the pragmatic institutionalism and the analysis of quantification and the difference between the notions of institution and conventions are elaborated. At the end the specificities of the German reception of EC are sketched. All in all, the focus is more than a presentation of ongoing discussion: it offers insights into new transdisciplinary perspectives." (author's abstract)