CALL FOR PAPERS:

Virtues and Entrepreneurship

A Ratio Colloquium Stockholm, May 23-25, 2013
The Ratio Institute hereby invites scholars to submit paper proposals for a colloquium on virtues and entrepreneurship. Applicants from economics, political science, philosophy, business ethics and economic history and related fields are encouraged to apply. Is the development of virtues essential for successful entrepreneurship and the market economy, as, among others McCloskey (2010) argues? And if so, which virtues, or practical ethical behavioural patterns, are most important empirically? Virtue theory is one of the oldest philosophical areas, with research in philosophy, theology, and literature. Lately, virtue theory has received some attention in the field of Business Ethics, but its connection to entrepreneurship has been less explored. Although research exists on specific values and decision strategies of entrepreneurship there is a dearth of theoretical or empirical papers connecting such theories to the framework of virtues. We thus see the area of Virtues and Entrepreneurship as a promising area for future scholarship, and seek to gather scholars worldwide working in this area. The Colloquium will include both empirical and theoretical papers. We especially welcome papers dealing with the following areas: Theories of virtue in entrepreneurial economies; The philosophy of virtues and ethics in markets; Markets, human flourishing and the good life; Habits of successful business practices; Virtues as an entrepreneurial learning process; The transfer of virtues in family businesses;

The colloquium is a two-day workshop that includes both paper sessions and two plenary lectures given by Prof. Deirdre McCloskey and Prof. Saras Sarasvathy. For papers accepted to the Colloquium, economy class travel costs, accommodation and meals are fully funded for one presenting author through generous support from the Axel and Margret Ax:son Johnson Foundation.

Professor Deirdre McCloskey is Distinguished Professor of Economics, History, English, and Communication, University of Illinois at Chicago and Professor of Economic History, Gothenburg University, Sweden. She has written sixteen books and around 400 scholarly articles on several topics ranging from technical economics to her current focus on the ethics of the bourgeois virtues. Her latest book, Bourgeois Dignity: Why Economics Can't Explain the Modern World (University of Chicago Press, 2010), is the second in a series of four on The Bourgeois Era. Professor Saras D. Sarasvathy is Research Associate Professor of Business Administration, Darden School of Business, University of Virginia and Chair Professor in Entrepreneurship, Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore. She is one of the leading scholars on entrepreneurship and serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Business Venturing and Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal. Sarasvathy introduced the theory of effectuation as a framework for understanding the creation and growth of new organizations and markets. Deadline: Submit your extended abstracts (5 pages) no later than February 1, 2013 to mikolaj.norek@ratio.se. Applicants will be notified of whether they are accepted or not by March 1, 2013. Venues: The workshop will be held at the Ratio Institute on Sveavgen 59 in central Stockholm. Lodging will be at Hotel Birger Jarl nearby. Accommodation and economy class travel costs will be covered for participants (one participant per accepted paper). Submission and enquiries: Please contact Mikolaj Norek. Email: mikolaj.norek@ratio.se, phone +46-73-77 69 759 We are looking forward to welcoming you in Stockholm! Kind regards, Mikolaj Norek, Nils Karlson and Karl Wennberg The Ratio Institute