Waseda University has been awarded by Japan 's Ministry of Education, Science and Technology as a 21 st -Century Center of Excellence (COE) for its research program for Global Political Economy (GLOPE) that seeks to contribute to the enhancement of global welfare by identifying principles and means for conflict resolutions, institutional buildings and policy coordination.

Waseda University 21st-Century COE-GLOPE will hold its 3 rd international conference in Amsterdam , Netherlands . The conference will, by bringing together scholars from the world working in experiments and behavioral studies, probe the merits and shortcomings of various existing approaches and explore new research frontiers in these fields. We invite the submission of original and innovative papers to be presented at this conference (for deadline and submission procedures, see below). All papers will be published as GLOPE's working papers (in English) and a selection of them will be published in a conference volume (translated into Japanese) by Toyo Keizai Shimpo-sha.

For the last decade or so, scholars in various areas of social science have observed human behavior and political-economic outcomes that deviate significantly from expectations of rational choice theories. Both experimental studies and survey research have repeatedly identified the patterns/sources of “anomaly” behavior, such as reciprocity, inertia, spite, altruism, cognitive limitations, and bounded rationality. Many formal and game theorists now take institutions more seriously and try to incorporate the social basis of human behavior in analyzing political-economic outcomes. Meanwhile, philosophers, legal scholars, and political theorists continue to question the moral and ethical foundations of human interactions and their implications. During the two-day conference, panel meetings and discussions will be organized to bring together international specialists who will shed a new light on a wide range of related issues and questions. Some of the themes which will be highlighted at the conference are:

• -role of experiments in political economy
• -psychology and political economic experiments
• -incentive mechanisms and institutional designs
• -social preferences and seemingly-irrational behavior
• -methodological innovations in survey research
• -knowledge, information and political decisions
• -economic voting and social networks
• -behavioral foundations of moral philosophy

We encourage the submission of papers which contribute to the advancement of theoretical and empirical insights in political economy and/or to methodological innovations in experiments and behavioral research .

The keynote speech will be given by Tatsuyoshi Saijo ( Osaka University , Japan ). Other invited participants will include Toshio Yamagishi ( Hokkaido University , Japan ) and Charles Noussair ( Emory University , USA ).

-Submit a completed application form and summary of your proposed presentation to the following address to arrive no later than July 24, 2006 .

  GLOPE International Conference Program Committee
  21 COE-GLOPE
  School of Political Science and Economics
  Waseda University
  1-6-1 Nishi-Waseda, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 169-8050 Japan

-Submission by email is also accepted. Send an email with the attachment of a completed application form and summary of your proposed presentation to both Professor Masaru Kohno and Professor Kazumi Shimizu at the following email addresses to arrive no later than July 24, 2006 .

   kohno@waseda.jp (Professor Masaru Kohno)
   skazumi@waseda.jp (Professor Kazumi Shimizu)

-Please note that all application materials must be submitted in English or in Japanese.

-Faxed applications will not be considered.

-Application materials will be reviewed by the GLOPE International Conference Program Committee.

-All applicants will receive an official letter of notification.

-Successful applicants must return signed letters of acceptance within two weeks of notification in order to secure an invitation.

Information regarding accommodation will be provided upon request.