PANEL TITLE: THE UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES OF CRISIS RESPONSES: LESSONS AND EXPLANATIONS///

CHAIRS: Menno Fenger (Erasmus University Rotterdam, Netherlands) Perri 6 (Nottingham Trent University, UK)///

PANEL DESCRIPTION: Reasons that the panel should be included The current global economic and financial crisis arose initially, in large part, from unintended and unexpected consequences of government policies, such as the creation of the Euro. It has been deepened by unintended or unexpected consequences of measures taken in response. Neither economic nor public management theories have adequately predicted the consequences of, for example, austerity, bail-outs, banking integration or export promotion policies. Most literature on unintended consequences of policies is still descriptive; many articles focus on a single case study; too many studies still describe outcomes as unintended without examining what policymakers did actually intend. Some writers identify dynamics but argue fatalistically that systemic unpredictability is too deep and unintended consequences are so ubiquitous that we cannot reliably identify patterns in explanation. The relative importance of biased intentions and of system responses to policy actions in explaining unintended outcomes is too little understood. This panel seeks to move beyond these limitations, to assemble a suite of papers which will enable us to develop and compare causal mechanisms, dynamics and models for explaining both welcome and unwelcome unintended consequences of governmental responses to the economic and financial crisis, and their interactions.

E-MAIL CONTACTS: fenger@fsw.eur.nl, perri.6@ntu.ac.uk The deadline for abstract submissions is October, 1st 2012.