AFIT-AFEE Annual Student Scholars Award Competition

This competition seeks to encourage undergraduate and graduate students to pursue research topics in the field of Evolutionary-Institutional Economics, and related heterodox schools of thought such as Social and Solidarity Economics, Post-Colonial Studies, and other pluralist methodologies. As a professional association, AFIT is devoted to encouraging and fostering the development of institutional thought. Extensions and modifications of the foundational contributions of Thorstein Veblen, John Dewey, Clarence Ayers, John Commons, and Wesley Mitchell; of Karl Polanyi, Gunnar Myrdal, Hyman Minsky, and John Kenneth Galbraith; and of new Evolutionary-Institutional approaches that advance the fields of social sciences and humanities are welcome. Students doing research in this vein are encouraged to submit papers that carry on and further advance Evolutionary-Institutional Economics.

Current Contest

The Association for Institutional Thought (AFIT) with support from the Association for Evolutionary Economics (AFEE) is proud to announce the 21st Annual AFIT-AFEE Student Scholars Award Competition.

This competition seeks to encourage undergraduate and graduate students to pursue research topics in the field of Evolutionary-Institutional Economics, and related heterodox schools of thought such as Social and Solidarity Economics, Post-Colonial Studies, and other pluralist methodologies. As a professional association, AFIT is devoted to encouraging and fostering the development of institutional thought. Extensions and modifications of the foundational contributions of Thorstein Veblen, John Dewey, Clarence Ayers, John Commons, and Wesley Mitchell; of Karl Polanyi, Gunnar Myrdal, Hyman Minsky, and John Kenneth Galbraith; and of new Evolutionary-Institutional approaches that advance the fields of social sciences and humanities are welcome. Students doing research in this vein are encouraged to submit papers that carry on and further advance Evolutionary-Institutional Economics. Winners of previous competitions can be viewed further below.

Awards will be given to the top three student papers drawn from the pool of submissions. To be awarded the prize, winners must present their research findings during a special session at the 47th Annual Meeting of AFIT as part of the 68th annual conference of the World Social Science Association (WSSA), March 25 through 28, 2026, at the Clyde Hotel in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA. Winners are also expected to attend the AFIT Banquet held during the same conference.

The winners will receive:

$500.00 prize
One-year student membership in AFIT
One-year student membership in AFEE, including subscription to the Journal of Economic Issues
Paid WSSA Conference Registration
Paid Admission to the AFIT Banquet and Presidential Address

To be awarded that prize, you must:

Be identifiable as having student status
Prepare a paper of 3,000 to 6,000 words in length, including references, appendices, and a title page with a title (20 words max), abstract (250 words max), and author information (name, educational affiliation, and email address)
Submit the full text of the paper as a .pdf file to Jenica Kramer at jenicamariekramer@gmail.com with the subject “AFIT-AFEE Student Scholars Award Competition” by December 20, 2025
Submit your abstract through the conference website at https://wssaconference.com/2025 by the same December 20, 2025, deadline (where you’ll select "Submit Abstract" among the options after creating an account and logging in, then select "Economics (Association for Institutional Thought) (Associate)" as the "Section," select “Individual Presentation as the “Type of Submission,” and select “Yes” to “Is This A Student Submission?”)
If selected as one of the winning papers, attend the AFIT Banquet and also present your paper at the special AFIT session

Students who submit their paper to this competition are also strongly encouraged to apply for a travel-grant award at the same time. Students are eligible for travel grants, regardless of whether their papers are or are not selected as the winning ones for this competition. We hope that students whose papers are not selected as one of the winners for this competition will still present at another session with support from travel-grant funding.

Contact Jenica Kramer at jenicamariekramer@gmail.com with any inquiries related to the student scholars award competition.