The Centre for Ethics of the University of Antwerp and the Business Ethics Center of the Corvinus University of Budapest co-organized the Annual Conference of the European SPES entitled “Responsibility in Economics—The Legacy of E.F. Schumacher” in September 22–23, 2011 in Antwerp, Belgium.
A Charter of Human Responsibilities was launched by the international Charles Leopold Mayer Foundation as a tool for dialogue.
The 100th anniversary of E.F. Schumacher’s birth was an ideal opportunity for launching this particular discussion on responsibility in economics. It invited the participants to rediscover the author of Small is Beautiful (1973) and his philosophy of responsibility as elaborated in his Guide for the Perplexed (1977). In his last publication, Good Work (1979), Schumacher was one of the first economists to integrate the principles of Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability (CSRS).
Over 100 scholars and practitioners participated in the conference from Europe, North America,and Asia.
The book which resulted from the conference “Responsibility in Economics —The Legacy of E.F. Schumacher” was published by Peter Lang Academic Publishers in Oxford in 2013.