Call for Applications

Phil-Econ-Model Lab
University of Hanover, 25-27 February 2026

Hosted by Anna-Katharina Kothe (Europa-Universität Flensburg) and Jakob Ortmann (University of Hanover)

Application Deadline: 1 June 2025

Context and Research Questions

Economics, as a scientific discipline, is highly influential – be it through channels of social and economic policy, or through shaping the very institutional structures of our economies.

Within this corpus of economic knowledge, economic models play a significant role. The philosophy of economics literature has long recognized their importance, and scholars investigated, for example, questions around the role of abstraction, idealization, and simplification in model-building and their implications for model credibility (e.g. Hausman 1992; Kuorikoski and Lehtinen 2009; Mäki 2009; Rodrik 2015; Sudgen 2000), the role of models as mediators or autonomous agents (e.g. Mäki 2005; Morgan 2012; Morgan and Knuuttila 2012; Morgan and Morrison 1999), and perspectives on the performative aspects of economic models and their influence on economic processes (e.g. Callon 1998; Mackenzie 2006). The sheer amount of philosophical literature on economic models reflects the fact that central questions around models in economics have already been answered and much insight has been gained about their functioning in economics.

However, there is one dimension in regard to economic models, that has been largely neglected by the literature in philosophy of economics: values and the role they play, both in the modelling process and the evaluation of model success. It is puzzling that questions concerning values have not yet been fully fleshed out for the case of economics, as there is a broad literature on values in science generally (Anderson 1995; Douglas 2009; Elliott 2022; Longino 1990). Although this does not mean that values have never been discussed in an economic context (Anderson 1993; Hausman and McPherson 1993; Nelson and Ferber 1993; Putnam and Walsh 2012; Sen 1999), only recently, the longstanding (feminist) literature on values in science has been systematically applied to economics from a genuine `philosophy-of-economics’ perspective (for an overview see Małecka 2021; also see Alexandrova 2017; Heilmann 2017; Reiss 2017; Svetlova 2014). A key insight of this literature is that non-epistemic value judgements enter the scientific process of knowledge production. This severely undermines the so-called ‘value-free ideal’ of science, an ideal upheld to this day by many professional economists when they teach and advocate for a ‘positive’ economics that is assumed to be apolitical and, at its core, uninfluenced by those values.

Given this new avenue of research, one main research question emerges: what are the ways in which values enter the modelling process; that is: what is the locus of values in economic models and, consequently, how do they interfere with the insights gained from that model? There are of course a number of related questions lurking in the background, namely what a clear-cut definition of (epistemic, moral, political) values would be, what the method of pinning down and detecting these value judgements is, and finally what the implication for economic policy and advisory are. Against the background that economics is frequently charged with the accusation of being ideologically embellished, we pursue an analysis of economic models that uncovers and takes seriously the myriad of value decisions taken by practitioners of the field along the complete life cycle of a model. This may or may not sharpen arguments regarding alleged ideological underpinnings of economics, but ultimately help to pave the way towards an economic science that is useful to the community it serves.

Workshop Structure

The ‘Economic Model Lab’ project aims at tackling the central research questions posed above through a unconventional workshop targeted at young scholars in the field of philosophy of economics as well as young economists.

We aim at creating a unique collaborative experience aside the beaten path of conference sessions in the two phases of the workshop: rather than presenting worked-out proposals and finished papers, we want to creatively think together about new ideas and shape joint projects in real time.

Phase one of the PEM-Lab consists of a decentralized, hybrid reading group, which aims at creating a level playing field and a solid base of knowledge about the nexus of values in science and economic models. We will ask participants to present one seminal paper from the literature in connection to one of their own research ideas. In this way, we will update each other on the most important contributions made already in the field, and create a common reference space for collaborating on our own ideas. The dates for the reading sessions are the following: 07 January 2026, 21 January 2026, 04 February 2026 and 18 February 2026.

Phase two of the PEM-Lab is the in-person workshop at the University of Hanover from 25-27 February 2026. This part of the PEM-Lab aims at closely examining a set of economic models and the concrete values that infiltrate. [...]

Please note that we estimate a time commitment of 3 to 5 hours per week during the workshop time (January and February 2026), and additional preparation time in advance. We ask for this time commitment in order to ensure a productive and sharp exchange during the workshop. As we can only accept a limited number of participants, please only apply if you are willing to commit fully to all phases of the workshop.

Submissions

Please prepare the following documents and submit your application through the application form below. This includes a brief summary of your previous academic work and a concise statement of what you want to learn and work on during the workshop. Note: this should not be a fleshed-out research proposal, novel and conceptual ideas are welcome!

See our About page for more details about the selection process.

Submission Deadline: 1 June 2025

Decisions communicated by: 1 July 2025

Questions?

Feel free to reach out in case of any questions!

Key dates at a glance:

Call for applications start: 28.02.2025

Submission Deadline: 01.06.2025

Decisions communicated by: 01.07.2025

Phase 1 (online meetups): 07.01.2026., 21.01.2026, 04.02.2026, 18.02.2026 (informal get-to-know each other in decembre 2025)

Phase 2 (in-person workshop): 25. - 27.02.2026

Deadlines are placed deliberately early to allow for sufficient time to handle visa applications.

References

Alexandrova, Anna. 2017. A Philosophy for the Science of Well-Being. Oxford: Oxford university press.

Anderson, Elizabeth. 1993. Value in Ethics and Economics.

Anderson, Elizabeth. 1995. “Knowledge, Human Interests, and Objectivity in Feminist Epistemologyl.”

Callon, Michel. 1998. “Introduction: The Embeddedness of Economic Markets in Economics.” The Sociological Review 46(1_suppl):1–57. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-954X.1998.tb03468.x.

Douglas, Heather E. 2009. Science, Policy, and the Value-Free Ideal. Pittsburgh (Pa.): University of Pittsburgh press.

Elliott, Kevin C. 2022. Values in Science. 1st ed. Cambridge University Press.

Hausman, Daniel M. 1992. Essays on Philosophy and Economic Methodology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Hausman, Daniel M., and Michael McPherson. 1993. “Taking Ethics Seriously: Economics and Contemporary Moral Philosophy.” Journal of Economic Literature 31(2):671–731.

Heilmann, Conrad. 2017. “Values in Time Discounting.” Science and Engineering Ethics 23(5):1333–49. doi: 10.1007/s11948-017-9950-y.

Kuorikoski, J., and A. Lehtinen. 2009. “Incredible Worlds, Credible Results.” Erkenntnis (70):119–31.

Longino, Helen E. 1990. Science as Social Knowledge. Princeton University Press.

Mackenzie, Donald. 2006. “Is Economics Performative? Option Theory and the Construction of Derivatives Markets.” Journal of the History of Economic Thought 28(1):29–55. doi: 10.1080/10427710500509722.

Mäki, Uskali. 2005. “Models Are Experiments. Experiments Are Models.” Journal of Economic Methodology (12):303–15.

Mäki, Uskali. 2009. “Missing the World: Models as Isolations and Credible Surrgate Systems.” Erkenntnis (70):29–43.

Małecka, Magdalena. 2021. “Values in Economics: A Recent Revival with a Twist.” Journal of Economic Methodology 28(1):88–97. doi: 10.1080/1350178X.2020.1868776.

Morgan, M., and M. Morrison, eds. 1999. Models as Mediators: Perspectives on Natural and Social Science. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Morgan, Mary S. 2012. The World in the Model: How Economists Work and Think. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Morgan, Mary S., and Tarja Knuuttila. 2012. “Models and Modelling in Economics.” Pp. 49–87 in Philosophy of Economics. Elsevier.

Nelson, Julie A., and Marianne A. Ferber, eds. 1993. Beyond Economic Man: Feminist Theory and Economics. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Putnam, Hilary, and Vivian Charles Walsh. 2012. The End of Value-Free Economics. London New York: Routledge.

Reiss, Julian. 2017. “Fact-Value Entanglement in Positive Economics.” Journal of Economic Methodology 24(2):134–49. doi: 10.1080/1350178X.2017.1309749.

Rodrik, Dani. 2015. Economcis Rules: The Rights and Wrongs of the Dismal Science. New York: W. W. Norton.

Sen, Amartya. 1999. On Ethics and Economics. Second impression. New Delhi: Oxford Univ. Press.

Sudgen, R. 2000. “Credible Worlds: The Status of Theoretical Models in Economics.” Journal of Economic Methodology (7):1–31.

Svetlova, Ekaterina. 2014. “Modelling Beyond Application: Epistemic and Non-Epistemic Values in Modern Science.” International Studies in the Philosophy of Science 28(1):79–98. doi: 10.1080/02698595.2014.915656.