2020 Conference

2020 Public Choice Society

Click here to view the Conference Program

The 2020 PCS annual meetings have been cancelled. We are moving some of the conference content to virtual space. We will send announcements via email.

Save the Date: Our 58th Annual Meetings are March 11-13, 2021, at the Marriott Riverfront in Savannah, Georgia.



Important Dates

09/18/2019 UPDATE: Website open for paper proposals and early registration
09/01/2019 Website open for paper proposals and early registration
11/01/2019 Submission Deadline
11/15/2019 Extended Submission Deadline
12/01/2019 Authors informed of status of their proposals
01/06/2020 Preliminary conference program is published online
01/13/2010 Revised target date for publishing preliminary conference program
01/20/2020 Graduate student deadline to upload paper for Ostrom Prize
02/06/2020 Regular registration deadline
02/26/2020 Deadline for authors to upload complete papers (two weeks before conference)
2/18/2020 Deadline for hotel reservations
03/12/2020 Conference Begins

Conference Agenda

Thursday
March 12

1:00 p.m. On Site Conference Registration Opens

2:00 pm – Executive Committee Meeting

4:00 pm – Plenary Session 1: Ami Glazer, University of California – Irvine, “How commitment problems affect policy”

6:00 pm – Opening Reception (all registered attendees are invited)

7:30 pm – Dinner on Own

Friday
March 13

7:00 – 8:00 am – Continental Breakfast

8:00 am – 6:00 pm Academic Sessions

10:00 am – Plenary Session 2: Andrew T. Young, Texas Tech, “The Political Economy of Feudalism in Medieval Europe”

Claudia Williamson, Mississippi State University, “Culture, Regulation and Development”

6:00 pm – Dinner on Own

6:00 – 9:00 pm – Graduate Student Workshop and Dinner (By Invitation) Sponsored by Institute for Humane Studies and Public Choice Society

Saturday
March 14

7:00 – 8:00 am – Continental Breakfast

8:00 am – 6:00 pm Academic Sessions

10:00 am – Plenary Session 3: Susan Rose-Ackerman, Yale University, “Corruption as a Topic in Public Choice”

1:00 pm – Awards Luncheon (Vincent and Elinor Ostrom Prize, Gordon Tullock Prize, Duncan Black Prize, Presidential Address)

6:00 pm Closing Reception (all registered attendees are invited)

7:30 pm – Dinner on Own

Archived Information for the 2020 Conference

Conference Procedures

Public Choice Society combines academic rigor with constructive collegiality. We invite all participants to contribute to a productive climate of scholarly exchange.

PAPER PRESENTERS: If you are presenting a paper (as opposed to presenting on a panel discussion), please upload a PDF file of your paper no later than two weeks prior to the start of the conference. Papers will not be searchable and are viewable only by PCS members while logged into the website. You will have the option of leaving your paper for the conference archives or taking it down at the end of the conference. The Society retains no rights or privileges to work presented or posted here. To upload your paper, simply log in to the site and browse to the My Account section where you will find the paper upload tool.

CHAIR DUTIES: If you are chairing a paper session, please check to see that presenters on your session have uploaded their papers no later than two weeks prior to the conference. Session Chairs are also responsible for establishing and enforcing time allocations. With four (five) papers per 90 (110) minute session, chairs should use good judgment to allocate the available time to presenter and discussants while leaving some time for floor discussion. A baseline is 15 minutes per presenter, 5 minutes per discussant, and 10 minutes for floor discussion.

DISCUSSANT DUTIES: In most cases, each presenter is also a discussant on the same session. Please locate the paper you are discussing on the PCS website starting two weeks prior to the conference start date. Prepare critical and constructive comments in advance, and aim your remarks so as to promote rigorous yet collegial discussion during the session.

MEETING ROOM SETUP: The hotel meeting rooms come equipped with a podium, screen, and projector with HDMI cable. Please bring your adapters, clicker/pointers, and at least one laptop per session. There will be a WiFi signal in the meeting room space.

CONFERENCE REGISTRATION: Conference registration is $240 for students and $295 for non-students if received by the regular registration deadline (February 6), after which the rates increase by $75. Individuals who present multiple papers are asked to submit $25 per additional paper. To submit your registration payment, or to confirm that you have paid, simply log in to your account and view the information presented in the My Account area.

STUDENT FELLOWS PROGRAM: Subject to funding, we are able to offer a limited number of graduate students with financial assistance to present a paper at the Annual Meetings. Eligibility requires current standing in a recognized graduate degree program and either: 1) submit a paper proposal through the Society website, in accordance with the procedures and deadlines in the online Call for Papers; or 2) be invited to present a paper on an organized session. After the paper submission deadline, the PCS office will contact eligible recipients to request a short letter from their adviser or chair.

CANCELLATION POLICY: If for some regrettable reason you must cancel then your registration payment will be refunded according to the following schedule: full refund if cancellation notice is received by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on January 20; 50% refund if received by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on February 20; no refund if received by 12:00 a.m. on February 21 or later. Use the Contact Form at the top right of the website to email the PCS office with “Registration Cancellation” in the subject line and a brief explanation in the email body.

EXHIBITORS: Publishers and other organizations are invited to exhibit! Please reach us at the Contact link above. We will reply with information about the exhibit space, shipping, and all other details you will need.

SUBMIT PROPOSALS: To propose your paper for the conference, please visit the Submit Paper tab here on the PCS website starting September 1. Presenting authors will initially submit just the title and abstract of their papers. The regular (non-extended) submission deadline is November 1. The conference selection committee will review proposals and notify authors by December 1. If your paper is selected for the program, you are asked to upload the complete draft of your paper no later than February 28. Following Public Choice Society tradition, all presenting authors also serve as Discussant on another paper presented during the same session.

ORGANIZED SESSIONS: If you would like to propose an entire organized session, please contact the Society President who will reply with criteria and instructions. Program space for organized sessions may be limited.

Hotel Information

Marriott Newport Beach Resort & Spa
900 Newport Center Dr
Newport Beach, CA 92660

You can reserve your room online with PCS’s dedicated reservations page , or you can call (877)622-3056 to speak directly to Marriott reservations.

The PCS Conference rate is $199 plus tax for single/double occupancy. The deadline is February 18, 2020, at 5:00 PM Eastern. While reserving your room, please note the hotel’s cancellation and check-in policies.

Space is limited, so please reserve early !


Visitor and Transportation Info

The conference hotel is a 10-minute ride from John Wayne Santa Ana International Airport (SNA). Additional airport options include LAX (45 miles) and ONT (50 miles).

The hotel is adjacent to Fashion Island, an outdoor shopping mall with many dining and entertainment options.

Nearby is the unique Balboa Island, Catalina Island, and many more exciting sightseeing options. For more, point your browser to https://www.visitnewportbeach…. . As usual, we will post a dining guide here to the website soon.


The Public Choice Society is thankful for the organizational, intellectual, and pecuniary partnership of several sponsoring organizations at the Annual Meetings. Sponsors for the upcoming year’s conference will be listed here soon. For previous years’ sponsors, click on past conferences above.

Springer
Sponsor of the Gordon Tullock Prize

F.A. Hayek Program at Mercatus Center at GMU
Sponsor of a Coffee Break & Printed Program

Duke PPE Program
Sponsor of a Coffee Break & Printed Program

Liberty Fund
Sponsor of Pre-Conference Program

Duke Political Science

The BB&T Distinguished Professorship of Capitalism at WCU
Sponsor of AV Equipment at General Sessions

Duke Political Science Department
2018 Plenary Session Sponsor

The William E. Simon Professorship of Political Economy at Lafayette College
W. Mark Crain, Chair

Annual Sponsor

Center for Study of Public Choice at GMU
Sponsor of a Graduate Student

Public Choice Journal

The BB&T Professorship at West Virginia University
Roger Congleton, Chair

Annual Sponsor

The Editors of Public Choice
Sponsor of the Duncan Black Prize through 2017

The Editors of Constitutional Political Economy