Paris, June 25-27, 2009
Call for papers
Deadline for full paper submission: March 25, 2009

Many scholars have acknowledged that social connections affect individual (and thus collective) performances in numerous contexts (e.g. personal networks in labour markets, knowledge and innovation networks, buyers-sellers market networks, informal networks within organizations and regional networks). Beyond the great variety of such social and economic networks, common tools have been developed for measuring and analysing them. During the last decade especially, an enormous amount of attention has indeed been dedicated to the systematic analysis of social networks and much still need to be done on the measures and on the structural properties of social and economic networks.

The attention also focuses now much on the principles that govern the evolution of these networks as a mean to explain how these networks came to be formed. The various theoretical models that have been (and still are) developed in different disciplines should now be fruitfully compared especially in their capacity to explain social networks formation and evolution. The joint improvement of existing theoretical models and of empirical methods for testing network dynamics is particularly needed.

For these aims, we organize an international conference which brings together a variety of approaches and theoretical tools. This conference will thus have an interdisciplinary character that is consistent with the nature of the topic and its recent developments. In particular, the conference is opened to scholars concerned with this issue in the fields of Economics of Innovation and Technology, Sociology, Management Strategy, Theoretical Economics, and Theoretical Physics.

Invited speakers

The program will include, among many others, invited contributions from Alain Barat (CNRS), Francis Bloch (Ecole Polytechnique), Sanjeev Goyal (Cambridge University), Matthew Jackson (Stanford University), Alan Kirman (Université de Marseille), Bruce Kogut (Columbia University), Francesco Lissoni (Università Bocconi), Tom Snijders (Oxford University), Fernando Vega-Redondo (European University Institute), Yves Zenou (Stockholm University).

Paper Submission

Scholars who wish to present their research at the conference are invited to send a full (though potentially incomplete or preliminary) paper (in PDF) to the following email address: networks-conference2009@u-bordeaux4.fr, no later than March 25, 2009. An email confirming the reception will be sent. Only novel and previously unpublished research is eligible for presentation. All submissions will be reviewed. The decision of paper acceptance will be given before April 25, 2009.
Any questions on the conference can be addressed to Nicolas Carayol (nicolas.carayol@bordeaux4.fr).

Conference registration and fees

Registration should be made by downloading the dedicated form on the website of the conference (http://www.icfsn.net/) which shall in turn be fulfilled and be sent to networks-conference2009@u-bordeaux4.fr.
Conference fees are 100 euros for non DIME members and cover lunches and coffee breaks. Participation is free for DIME members. The conference gala dinner will take place the 26th (70 euros).

Timetable

• Deadline for full paper submission: March 25, 2009
• Decision of paper acceptance: April 25, 2009
• Deadline for conference registration: May 25, 2009

Website

The website of the conference is http://www.icfsn.net/.

Organising committee

Nicolas Carayol (chair, Université de Bordeaux IV), Lorenzo Cassi (Université Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne), Robin Cowan (Maastricht University), Patrick Llerena (Université de Strasbourg), Pascale Roux (Université de Bordeaux IV).

Funding

This conference received the financial support of the EU Network of Excellence DIME (Dynamics of Institutions and Markets) and the ANR (Agence Nationale de la Recherche).