| Call for Papers for Accepted Session Proposals |
| Session 10: Diaspora Entrepreneurial networks, C.
1000 to 2000 Organizers: Ioanna Pepelasis Minoglou (Greece),Gelina Harlaftis (Greece);  Frank Broeze (Australia); William Gervase Clarence-Smith (UK).During the last
millennium a succession of regional and long-distance trading networks, at first in Asia
and Europe but later also stretching across the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, lay at the
heart of the gradual integration of the world into one global system. The study of such
networks, which often took the form of ethnic diasporas, is becoming a vibrant field for
economic, maritime and social historians. The purpose of this session is to take stock of
the current state of the art and to lay the foundations for new directions in the study of
diaspora entrepreneurial networks by soliciting a broad range of case studies from varying
regions and periods. Those interested in presenting a paper at the session should submit a
250-400 word abstract by June 15 2000 to Ioanna Minoglou at the following e-mail address: iminoglou@aueb.gr. Session 12: The Formation and Efficiency of Fiscal States in Europe and Asia Circa 1500 to Circa 1914 Organizers of the session, "The Formation and Efficiency of Fiscal States in Europe and Asia Circa 1500 to Circa 1914," at the Buenos Aires Congress are issuing a call for papers. To be accepted by the session organizers, the papers must adhere to the following objectives and approaches. The aim of the session is to make comparisons of states in the international sphere over the very long term and by taking previous established research as a starting point. Papers must cover the 16th to 19th centuries. Studies of local tax or city taxes - papers not located in comparative framework will not be accepted. The papers should deal with the role of fiscal systems, their connections to formation of states and their effect on economic development in different countries. Papers which focus on specific taxes over short periods are unacceptable. Top priority will be given to those papers which deal with the process of institutional change from the ancien rgime to the liberal system and which allowed for the modernization of fiscal systems. The goal of the session is to discuss general issues rather than deal with new research and the details of fiscal history. Professor Francisco Comín Session 13: The State of the Art in the Profession. A Call for Papers has been issued for the Invited Session, "The State of the Art in the Profession," organized by Professor Vera Zamagni. Contributions should focus on: 1. The formal organization of the profession in societies, journals, publications and academic positions. Gender balance and the recruitment of young scholars. The profession and the use of new technologies (Internet etc.). 2. Methodological schools and approaches, main themes researched. The relationships of Economic History with Economics, Business Administration, Statistics, Econometrics, Demography, Sociology, Political Sciences, History of Science and Techonology, General History. 3. The impact of the profession within civil society. Visibility and contribution of Economic History in the national and international cultural and educational milieus. The session will have two time blocks and the aim is to accept around 10 papers, to allow enough time for discussion. Deadline for presentation of proposals: end of January 2001. Prof. Vera Zamagni Session 14: Socio-economic Role of Heiresses in Family Transmission Patterns (16th - 19th c.) The organizers of the session, (socio-economic role of heiresses in family transmission patterns), invite paper submissions addressing the transmission of patrimony and family heirship and headship strategies through heiresses (16th to 19th century.) The topic could be treated according to the following subthemas - always in a way to allow for comparative perspective on various socio-economic models (including Asian and American societies): The heiress confronted to the law - the law: the basic constant, its historical evolution, or possibly revolution Transmission of patrimony 1. According to geographical definitions and distribution B. The weight of non-heiresses 1. The "legitimate" part of inheritance, that is the part they cannot be disinherited of (a legal provision, in some countries) Family strategies. How to elect and educate heiresses. 1. Matrimonial strategies. The choice of the spouseB. The non-heiresses 1. Precarious access to the matrimonial market: the problem of the dowry; the differences between extended and nuclear families; the case of the stem-family.C. Control over family organization 1. The mother-heiress confronted to her husband or son-in-law (be he living in permanently or migrating) and to her children The heiress and her patrimony 1. according to areaB. The patrimonial management 1. the stem-patrimony: the house, the urban investmentsC. The management of the movable patrimony of women : trousseau, jewels, money. The management of domestic labor force. The gender division of work
and the heiress' power The transmission of cultural and symbolic patrimony. Heiresses and
Identity Contact Information: Session 15: Global Monies and Price Histories, 16th - 18th Centuries Session 15 is intended to flow logically from work presented and discussed in Session B6: Monetary History in Global Perspective at the 12th IEHA Madrid Congress in 1998. Organizers of that B6 session consciously excluded discussion of the "price revolution" and other price history topics. Price history was intentionally excluded in order to encourage monetary historians to concentrate first on the production and movements of individual monetary substances - for example, gold, silver, copper, and cowries - around the globe. The idea was to establishment basic facts about global production and transshipment of monetary substances. And indeed, several leading scholars remarked at Madrid in 1998 about the necessity for monetary historians (including themselves) to make a greater effort to place their research in the context of global marketplace trends. Too often, even the best authorities have simply been unaware of the global context within which their specific regions functioned. Having progressed in Madrid in terms of the "globalization of thinking" about monetary history prior to the 19th century, it now seems appropriate to extend the discussion to the connections between specific global monies and particular price histories around the world. One school of thought maintains that the Price Revolution and other price histories were intimately connected to global monies; in other words, each region's price history was determined by global monetary conditions. Others reject such interpretations of global price histories, claiming instead that particular country (or regional) price histories were unrelated to price histories in other countries (or regions) around the globe. Throughout the 16th through the 18th centuries, episodes of price inflation/price deflation either were - or were not - related to global monetary and price forces. This is the central debate proposed for this session. The purpose of Session 15 is to reinvigorate age-old price history debates (a) by couching such debates in global terms, (b) by confronting specialists with recent empirical evidence from all regions of the world, and (c) by reconsidering theoretical constructs that relate specific monies, specific price histories, and global markets. Call for Papers: Session organizers seek paper proposals dealing with price histories of all regions of the world. All 16th- to 18th-century price inflation/deflation episodes are included. Individual papers may focus on any country or region. In other words, authors are not required or expected to write global price histories. Rather, authors are asked to place particular subject matters in a global context: was - or was not - a particular episode of price inflation/deflation caused or influenced by global forces? Evidence and theoretical connections must be specified. Some will argue that global forces determined national/regional price histories. Others will argue that local forces alone determined national/regional price histories. Session 15 welcomes diverse points of view in this debate, of course, but all papers should at least address the central question about the extent to which global forces influenced the specific price histories investigated. Please submit a one- or two-page proposal to the organizers, including an explicit explanation of how your paper addresses the central debate of this session: Did or did not global forces cause the specific price history experience you consider? Contact: Professor Dennis O. Flynn, Department of Economics, University of the Pacific Stockton, CA 95211, United States. Ph/Fax: (209) 946-2913. Email: doflynn@uop.edudoflynn@uop.edu Session 16: Wool: products and markets (13th to 20th century)
In preparation to the Thirteenth International Congress of Economic History, that will be held in Buenos Aires in July 2002, a conference on "Wool: products and markets (13th to 20th century)" has been approved by the Executive Committee of the International Association of Economic History. Professor Giovanni Luigi Fontana (University of Padua - Italy) and Professor Gérard Gayot ("Charles de Gaulle" University - Lille 3 - France) are in charge of the organisation. A first Euro-conference was held in Verviers (5th-7th April 2001) on "The Wool Industry: Places of Production (13th to 20th century)." The second Euro-conference will be held in Italy in Schio, Valdagno, Follina (Veneto Region) and Biella (Piedmont) on the 24th-27th October 2001 on "Wool: Products and Markets (13th to 20th century)." The following list suggests possible themes for discussion and papers. Participants are not required to comply to this list of subjects. It is our intention only to suggest some key themes. Paper proposals will be examined by the Conference Committee. 1. The raw material market 2. Quality and Diversification of the Product
3. Markets and products
4. The heritage of the wool industry
The exhibition "Wool Towns in Europe" will be opened on the 23rd October 2001 at 5.30pm in the Fabbrica Alta in Schio. The conference will start in the same building on the 24th October 2001 at 9am. During the following days the conference will be hosted in four major industrial buildings of four different 'historical wool towns.' Conference session will be accompanied by afternoon visits to industrial heritage sites in Schio, Valdagno, Follina and Biella. Means of transport to all different sites will be provided by the conference organisation. The conference will end in Biella with the presentation of a project on "A European Textile Itinerary." Speakers are expected to arrive in Schio on Tuesday 23rd October and leave on Sunday 28th October. The conference organisation will cover the cost of accommodation, lunches, dinners and coffee breaks and transport to all different places where the conference will be held. Travel costs to/from Schio will be refunded after the conference. Organisation: Prof. Giovanni Luigi FONTANA Session 26: Trade, Merchant Capital and Welfare: Port Cities and Public Health, 16th - 20th Centuries Port Cities have played a critical role in international development and urbanization. Even in the pre-industrial period, marketing and trade were important factors which affected the pattern of urban expansion or decline, and ports, after capital cities, frequently registered the greatest growth. Maritime commerce, therefore, was a powerful factor behind urbanization, and port cities served as the nexus of the growing world market. As a consequence of this function, port cities were invariably prone to an increased risk of exposure, particularly to infectious diseases. Many of the dominant epidemic diseases, such as plague, cholera, typhoid and yellow fever, were imported via port cities which, in turn, accelerated disease diffusion in coastal areas and dependent hinterlands. The individual demographic regimes of large ports were moulded by similar factors and extending trading networks, together with high levels of in-migration, aggravated the latent exposure risks of the indigenous population. At the same time, many ports were characterized by flexible labour markets, a strong reliance on casual work, extensive in-migration and a broad ethnic mix. Moreover, the dominance of merchant capital directly affected the contemporary response to public health issues and had a profound impact on the selection and implementation of specific strategies. On the one hand the need to confront health risks was initially apparent in port cities, on the other hand there was an unusually high dependency on charity and philanthropy, and a general absence of collective commitment to social welfare provision. Considerable work has been undertaken in the last few years to create a meaningful typology for analysing port development from the 16th century onwards. This has involved considerable interdisciplinary research, drawing explicitly on work in economic, demographic, maritime, medical, social and urban history. The aim of the session is to bring together a series of contributions covering the long-run development of port economies in the period from the 16th century onwards. It will analyse the selection and implementation of various public health strategies in different port cities in Europe and Asia, as well as in both North and Latin America, and examine the international relationship between overseas trade, urban development, and public health policy. Proposals should include a 1-2 page abstract and a short curriculum vitae. Proposals should be submitted until 31.12.2001 at the latest. Contact: W.R. Lee Joerg Voegele
The Central Theme: The phenomenon of modern economic growth as described by Kuznets goes together with an increasing complexity in patterns of distribution. Firstly, economic growth is accompanied by important structural changes, as resources move from low to high productivity sectors under the influence of technological change and difference in output and input growth between sectors. Secondly, the share of labour and capital compensation in value added changes under the influence of growth. Thirdly, economic growth changes the expenditure pattern as expenditures on food decline in favour of expenditures on durable goods and investment goods. And fourthly there are important changes in personal income distribution. In this respect the ?inverse U-hypothesis?, which outlines the rise in income inequality in early phases of modern economic growth followed by a subsequent decline, has been widely tested and debated. Background: Most studies on the relationship between growth and distribution have concentrated on a limited number of advanced countries, and the small number of studies which include low income countries either lack a historical dimension, or measure the relation between growth and inequality along only one of the lines outlined above. What is still missing in most developing countries is an integrated historical national accounts framework, which allows comprehensive comparisons of distributional and growth issues simultaneously from the income, expenditure and output perspectives. Fortunately, partly under the influence of recent leaps forward in historical national accounting in Europe, North America and Japan, some progress is now being made in reconstructing historical national accounts in Asia, Latin America and the European periphery. This session is a follow-up on sessions held at the two previous IEHA conferences. During the 11th Congress in Milan (1994), a session was held on ?Economic growth and structural change? (Maddison and van der Wee, 1994). This included few papers on low income countries. The same was true of the follow-up session at the 12th Congress in Madrid (1998) on ?Historical Benchmark Studies of Income and Productivity? (Buyst, van Ark and van Zanden, 1998). In contrast, this session concentrates on papers from countries and regions in Asia, Latin America, the European periphery and other developing regions, even though comparisons with advanced countries are encouraged. Commentators from Europe, North America and Japan are invited as experts. In a pre-conference of this session recently held in Tokyo (March 2001), 14 papers covering the three regions were discussed (8 on Asia, 3 on Latin America and 3 on Europe). These papers showed the significant advances achieved in HNA in medium and low income countries in the recent years, as well as the limits that still exist for such an approach to the discussion of growth and distributional issues (the papers are downloadable from the following website: http://www.eco.rug.nl/GGDC/tokyohna2.html.) Thus, following the criteria defined for this pre-conference, many papers presented advances on limited aspects of the HNA approach and the discussion of the relation between growth, structural change and distributional issues was only preliminary. Towards the Buenos Aires Session: At the end of the pre-conference some criteria were agreed, which were to guide the works and the presentation of proposals towards the Buenos Aires session: 1. Papers are encouraged to be comparative in character. Even if
based on long-run national studies, where institutional aspects
play a decisive role, the session searches for debate and analysis
which may enlighten general development issues. If concentrated
on one country, the papers might include comparative aspects in
the conclusions. Cooperation between researchers working on or coming
from different countries is strongly encouraged in order to write
comparative papers. The Organisers: Prof. Luis Bértola Session 32: Technology and Human Capital in Historical Perspective
At the XIII World Congress we will organize a session on the role of technological change and human capital formation in the process of long-term economic growth. Recent developments, both in economic theory and quantitative historical research, open a promising avenue in that respect. It is our aim to select a number of papers which deal with the subject of technology and/or human capital and in which new empirical evidence is presented. Furthermore, we prefer papers in which the subject is studied in an international comparative framework. Key words may be: Technological change, human capital, education, technology-skills complementarity, productivity, relative prices. Hereby we would like to invite those who are interested to participate in this session to send us a proposal before May 2001. We prefer draft versions which consists of 5-10 pages, with a rough outline including some of the most important tables and/or graphs on which the paper will be based. More or less complete papers are of course also welcome. Comments and proposals for the shaping of the papers will be distributed to the contributors before July 2001. If the prospects of a successful session then seem encouraging, the organizers will take steps for the publication of an anthology volume. If you have any questions or comments, please contact us by e-mail: Jonas Ljungberg, Lund University, Sweden Jan-Pieter Smits, University of Groningen, The Netherlands Please send your proposals as well as questions by e-mail to: Jonas.Ljungberg@ekh.lu.se; J.P.Smits@eco.rug.nl Session 33: The Mountains in Urban Development 2002 is the United Nation's Year of the Mountains in consideration of the fact that mountain regions cover one-fifth of the earth, encompass about a tenth of mankind, and are of general ecological significance. In Europe, historians pay more and more attention to the alpine area and have created during the last decades improved conditions for comparative research across political, cultural and linguistic borders. The XIII World Congress of the International Economic History Association appears to be the right occasion to start an intercontinental dialogue among historians of the Andes, the Himalayas, the Alps and other upland areas. Our session deals with a particularly promising topic for that dialogue: the relation between mountains and urban development in the period from 1000 to 2000 A.D. Two themes are of special interest: (1) urban growth and political power structures, (2) the role of towns in interregional exchange systems. In both cases it is useful to go beyond a selected mountain area, taking into account the wider highland-lowland interactions. The session is planned to include a dozen contributions. Proposals for a paper with title and abstract should be submitted in English to the organizer till July 31, 2001. Notification on the acceptance of the papers will be given a month later. Some participants from Latin America and Asia will be invited right after the congress to give a few follow-up seminars in Europe. Please adress your proposal to: If using the postal service please add the remark "Buenos Aires 2002" on the envelope. For further information you may contact us anytime. Session 35: Explaining Counter-Urbanization: Historical Approaches to Urban-Rural Migration. The main focus of this session will be on explaining where and
whycounter-urban migration has taken place. Papers which adopt a
comparativeperspective (especially those which relate to countries
outside WesternEurope/North America) are particularly welcome. Two
themes which it ishoped the session will explore are (1) the relationship
betweencounter-urbanisation and economic development and (2) the
relevance ofsocial and cultural factors to contrasting national
experiences ofcounter-urbanisation. Please do not hesitate to contact
me if you haveany initial queries. Session 36: Pre-Industrial Living Standards Since the 13th Century. The organizers want the 2002 Buenos Aires IEHA Congress to offer an opportunity for scholars to present comparative long run evidence on pre-industrial standard of living performance the world round, especially from both the European periphery and from what we now call the Third World. We want papers that use evidence that is easy to compare with other times and places, as well as evidence that makes it possible to speak to the determinants of relative factor prices, living standards, and thus to the sources of economic change in pre-industrial times. Although single authorship will certainly not be grounds for exclusion from the session, it is fair to say that collaboration between scholars with knowledge of different times and places will be favored by the organizers, since by doing so we think more good comparative history might bestimulated. Session Time Allocation The IEHA Executive Committee has allocated two time blocks (105 minutes) to our session, equivalent to one and three quarter hours. Your organizers will insist that every participant in our session submit a draft of their paper to Peter Lindert as an email attachment, at least one month beforethe Buenos Aires Congress. Indeed, we will strongly encourage participants to submit early drafts of their papers for placement on the Congress website as much as a year before the Congress meeting, thus encouraging interaction between the participants and the revision of papers to incorporate the work of others. The web site may also have an editorial commentary on the session, the papers, the agenda they suggest, and the lively issues they raise. The potential audience can also read up on the debate prior to the Congress meeting itself. These drafts will be placed on the IEHA 2002 Buenos Aires Congress website so that interested scholars can, as already mentioned, explore the papers prior to the session meeting at the Congress. This will maximize the quality of the discussion at Buenos Aires, eliminate the need for assigned discussants, reduce the time needed for the author(s) presentation, and might even encourage collaboration. In any case, we will squeeze 5 papers into the 105 minutes: each author will have no more than 10 minutes to present, leaving at least 10 minutes for floor debate for each paper. Application Procedure The organizers are making every effort to post this call for papers where all scholars -- young and old, and in every corner of the academic world -- can see it. We will contact leading scholars in the field to learn about possible candidates that we have missed. Where possible, we will post this call for papers in our journals. And, as noted at length above, we will place it on the net. We urge all scholars with interests in the topic to contact by email Peter Lindert with their proposals as soon as possible, or at least with a statement of intent to submit a proposal. We also urge all scholars who learn about this session to pass this information on to others who might have missed the advertisement. Please address all contributions to the organizers (see below).Peter H. Lindert, Professor of Economics University of California Davis United States Session 38: Global Electrification: Financing and Managing Networks of Power from the 1880s to the 1970s.
Professors Mira Wilkins, Peter Hertner, and William
Hausman, organizers of Session 38 of the XIIIth International Economic
History Congress on "Global Electrification: Financing and Managing
Networks of Power from the 1880s to the 1970s" are calling for proposals
to enhance the geographical coverage of the session. We are particularly
interested in submissions of interest for the following areas: China,
Southeast Asia, India, Africa, and the United Kingdom. We are interested
in papers that take a broad look at the timing of electrification
(using as much quantification as possible) and focus sharply on the
role of financing electrification and the role of multinational enterprise.
Some basic questions are of particular interest: Was financing internal
to the country or area, external at first and then internal, completely
external, etc? Was there any outward movement of funds to support
electrification in other areas of the globe? In the end our aim is
not so much comparative history as international history; we strive
to identify the sources and conduits of capital for this important
industry on a global scale.
Please send expressions of interest to: Session 39: Conflict Potentials in Monetary Unions. Lars Jonung and Jürgen Nautz are organizing a session (two time slots) for the 13th World Congress of the International Economic History Association to be held in Buenos Aires, July 22nd – July 26th, 2002, on the subject of: CONFLICT POTENTIALS IN MONETARY UNIONS The creation of the European Monetary Union
(EMU) has awarded a high topicality to issues dealing with monetary
unification. There are many cases of monetary integration and disintegration
in the past. Economic history can offer insights to the analysis
of the conditions for success and failure of monetary integration. Those interested in contributing to this session
should send an abstract, maximum two pages, no later than November
10th, 2001 to: Juergen Nautz Session 42: Evolution of Work Incentives in East Europe, XIXth-XXth centuries. Contact information: Prof. Leonid Borodkin Dr. Jan Lucassen Other organizers: Dr. Marcel van der Linden Prof. Andrey Sokolov Description of the session The session is aimed to contribute to a better understanding of the crisis of employee work motivation in contemporary East European countries, including the former USSR republics. Through a detailed comparative longitudinal study of work incentive systems in different branches of industries in the East Europe countries the session will try to reconstruct the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of specific incentive systems under given and changing conditions. The economic crisis in New Independent States perpetuated in part by social norms governing human cooperation and civic order, such as strong patron-client-relationships and a lack of social trust. Understanding the origins of the social norms is therefore crucial. Are current social norms entirely the product of the years of the bureaucratic planned economy, as many experts believe, or was the planned economy the continuation of other, still older behavioural patterns? Labour norms will be in the center of the session papers. Which incentives appeal to workers? What motivates or discourages them in their performance? These questions seem crucial. Many companies in Eastern Europe today are struggling with incentive- related problems. Such issues already existed during the "Soviet era". Here, like in the broader field of social norms, the question arises as to whether the planned economy may have perpetuated still older behavioural patterns among the subordinate strata. These observations lead to the following main questions in the
session research programme: The session papers are expected to expand existing approaches in two ways: (i) through comparison of incentive systems adopted in different countries of East Europe; and (ii) through developing a longer view, stretching from the early nineteenth to the late twentieth century. This longer period includes periods of serfdom, the introduction of capitalism and industrialisation, communism and the return to capitalism, thus enabling to analyse the continuity and discontinuity of work patterns and other economic institutions through major societal transformations. Provisional list of participants: Dr. Sergey Afontsev (Institute of World Economy, Moscow, Russia) We are still looking for additional proposals. Those interested should send an abstract of their proposed paper no later than by Sept. 30, 2001. Session 43: Russia and Western World: Economic Relations Before World War I and Their Restoration and Development in the 1920s. Contact information Prof. Yuri Petrov Other organizers Prof. Albert Broder Description, structure of the session The structure of the session will include two parts (time blocks). Part 1. Economic relations between western countries and Russia in the19th century and the beginning of 20th century (before 1914): integration process. The discussion of the economic relations between Russia and its
major economic partners during this period (Belgium, France, Germany
and the United Kingdom) will be focused on the following questions:
Part II. The problem of restoration and development of economic
relations between Russia/USSR and western countries (including USA)
in 1920s.
The discussion in this part of the session will be focused on the
following questions:
Provisional list of participants
Prof. Boris Ananich (Russian Academy of Sciences, St.-Petersburg) The organizers are still looking for additional proposals.
Those interested should send an abstract of their proposed paper
no later than by Sept.30, 2001.
Session 45: Fears
of Deflation Then and Now. Much of the economics profession has, in recent decades, focused
on the problems of inflation. One of the products of policy makers'
and researchers' concern over the costs of inflation has been the
formal or informal adoption of inflation control targets. While
interest in the problem of inflation has tended to concentrate on
developments in consumer prices, more recently some central banks
have expressed concern over the consequences of asset price inflation.
Most notably, policy makers worry that some form of "irrational
exuberance" will inevitably lead to significant asset price deflation.
Paralleling this development is the concern that, in several countries
or regions of the world, there are continuing risks of a general
deflation in consumer prices.
Historically, periods of deflation in the United States in the
1930s, and Japan in the 1990s, have been preceded by severe market
declines and - arguably - the bursting of speculative bubbles. There
has, however, been surprisingly little academic research on the
link between market collapses and general price declines. Another
issue is the transmission of deflationary pressures and the role
played by the exchange rate regime. There have recently been fears
that the "competitive devaluations" of the 1930s might re-emerge
in today's world economy.
While the current economic situation differs substantially from
the last widespread experience with deflation in the 1930s, there
are nevertheless sufficient parallels to make analysis of past deflationary
episodes especially timely just now. In addition to the role played
by asset price declines and the international transmission of deflationary
pressures, another area of possible interest is the diversity of
deflationary experiences themselves. While one typically thinks
of prolonged periods of falling prices such as the Great Depression
of the 1930s, we can also find examples of much shorter-lived deflationary
episodes. The latter can emerge in the aftermath of stringent monetary
stabilization measures of the type applied in the Southern Confederacy
of 1864, mainland China in 1950 and, more recently, a number of
countries affected by the Asian crisis. Have similar shifts from
monetary excess to monetary contraction initiated more enduring
boom and bust cycles in the United States and Japan? Can we gain
insights into how to prevent initial deflationary pressures from
turning into an extended period of price decline? Are there institutional
characteristics in the fiscal and monetary spheres that make some
economies more prone to deflation?
The session is intended to be a forum for the presentation and
discussion of case studies, historical and econometric analyses
of deflation. We already have several commitments to present papers.
We will have two 90 minute time slots for this session, and we would
consider other proposals particularly on Central and South America.
Those interested should send an abstract of their proposed paper
by September 10th to both organizers below. We shall inform all
those who submit proposals in due course of the status of their
submission.
Co-organizers:
Pierre Siklos Session 50: Banking
in Latin America, 1870-1940: Structure, Regulation & Crises. We are pleased to invite proposals for papers to be included in
the session at the 13th World Congress of the International Economic
History Association, to be held in Buenos Aires, July 22 - July
26th, 2002,. Proposals should be submitted to either of the organizers
by 1 December 2001.
Organizers: At the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries,
a number of Latin American economies organized their banking systems
to open their markets to the globalizing financial system. The major
international financial centers had committed to the gold standard
and were eager to export capital to attractive markets. Latin American
economies responded to the new opportunities presented to them.
Many redesigned the banking and monetary laws to meet the requirements
of the international financial system, while at the same time various
political interests debated the best models to assure domestic economic
growth. The emerging banking and regulatory structures attempted
to balance and satisfy competing economic demands. Once open to
the international markets, increasingly solid banking systems grew
rapidly, but they also faced new challenges and found themselves
more exposed to international and regional crises. The era ended
with the crisis of 1929 and the subsequent Great Depression, with
the associated profound disruptions to capital movements. In their
subsequent development, banking systems had to adapt to closed capital
markets without the gold standard.
This session offers a new opportunity to compare the experiences
of Latin American banking systems between 1870 and 1940. It brings
to bear theoretical and methodological approaches that take into
account interdisciplinary perspectives from economics, political
economy and history. Papers could include such topics as the experiences
of individual organizations or events ("crises"), perspectives on
the effects of monetary history and policy, formation of regulatory
systems, the role of banking in economic development, among others.
It is the intention of the organizers to publish the collected
papers of this session. In order to facilitate collection and publication
of the papers, we suggest a framework for the panel that extends
a little beyond the session in Buenos Aires. We would like to make
the papers available to session participants shortly prior to the
Buenos Aires meetings and to meet collectively after our session
(but while still in Buenos Aires) in order to discuss the common
themes that we might wish to highlight in revising our papers. The
session organizers will attend to the publication of the final papers
and write an introductory essay.
The proposal and paper can be in Spanish, English or French. (But
please see note below.) In the paper proposal please include:
a. Author/s and contact information We will notify authors of the composition of the panel at the end
of December 2001.
Note: Papers for the Congress may be in Spanish, English or French.
We anticipate that a collected volume of high quality papers could
have a publication audience in both Spanish and English editions.
Please consider that we may require your paper in translation.
Gail D. Triner It is requested that all interested economic historians on Southern
Africa send proposals for papers in this particular session to the
organiser Professor R.W.Vivian, President of the Economic History
Society of Southern Africa, at the following address:
Department of Business Economics, University of the Witwatersrand,
Private Bag X3, WITS, 2050, South Africa Or to:
Prof. Grietjie Verhoef, Department of Historical Studies, RAU,
P.O.Box 524, Auckland Park 2006, South Africa BACKGROUND:
Economic History of Southern Africa : Economic change in the Southern
African Development Community (SADC), 1980-2000.
The Southern African Development Community is the regional organisation
aimed at the strengthening of economic development initiatives in
the region. This organisation was established in 1980 by the nine
majority rule states in Southern Africa to coordinate development
and reduce the dependence of those countries on South Africa. The
aim of this organisation was to develop a balanced economic development
plan for the region through improved cooperation and mutual self
interest. It was established at a time when Africa was severely
affected by the weakening competitiveness of African economies in
the global environment and the growing debt position of African
states. The states that joined SADC were Zambia, Tanzania, Botswana,
Zimbabwe and Mozambique.
The session on the history of SADC would reflect on the following
issues pertaining to SADC and regional development:
Session 56: Economic Behavior of Indigenous Peoples During New World Colonization. The economic histories of the New World have focused primarily on the behavior of the Europeans who migrated and colonized the land, and has ignored almost entirely the economies of the indigenous peoples. The proposed session will be devoted to exploring the economic behavior of the indigenous peoples in an attempt to better document the range of economic tasks in which they engaged, the wide variety of European goods that they obtained, the extent to which they participated in market-oriented behavior, the degree of economic success they may have had in the face of demographic catastrophe, and the impact of their economic behavior on the colonists. Although much of the research will include descriptive narrative, efforts will be made to address formally the questions of how extensive was indigenous market activity and how large was its effect on the life of the colonists. Scholarship about the colonial economies in the New World has focused on the behavior of the colonists if for no other reason than that they were the agents who came to dominate the New World economies. In the process of establishing economic hegemony the colonists are seen as having driven out, or exterminated, or subjugated the indigenous peoples. The indigenous people are seen almost entirely as victims; and justifiably so. There is also no question that indigenous peoples throughout the New World suffered demographic catastrophes as a result of European contact, and scholars have provided abundant evidence for why this took place. But the tragedies need not mean that indigenous peoples should be regarded simply as victims in all regards. True they lost much of their land, and the demographic collapse may make it appear that their economies were not functioning and sustainable; but these are hardly reasons for ignoring their economies and excluding indigenous peoples from depictions of colonial economic development. It is important that, as historians, we place indigenous peoples in their proper role as shapers, and not only victims, of the colonial experience. The unstated , but apparently, consensus view that indigenous peoples somehow do not fit into prevailing conceptions of economic development has not emerged from much formal analysis of their economies. To date, the limited attention to their economic behavior most likely reflects the fact that they left few documentary records, especially about economic activities; but historians and economists have long demonstrated that it is possible to draw meaningful inferences from even fleeting references and barely intelligible documents. Moreover, recent work indicates that some data are available, perhaps more than previously believed, that can enable scholars to measure, with some reliability, many aspects of the economies of indigenous peoples and how those economies changed over time. The session is intended to be a forum for the presentation and critical discussion of case studies about the economic behavior of indigenous peoples and their economic interaction with the colonists, as well as of comparative investigations, based on a broad range of experiences across the globe. We have a small number of commitments to present papers, mostly about case studies in North America. We will have two 90 minute time slots for this session, so we are looking for additional proposals particularly on South and Central America and other parts of the world. Those interested should send an abstract of their proposed paper by Sept.1st, 2001 to one of the co-organizers listed below. The complete paper should be sent to us, as an e-mail (Word) attachment and also on a floppy disk, preferably before February 1, 2002 but in any case not later than June 1, 2002. Any paper that will be ready in its final form before February 1, 2002, would be included in the official Congress CD. We shall inform you in due time about the submission details for inclusion in this CD. Co-organizers: Thomas Weiss Frank Lewis Session 58: Ethno-Nationality, Property Rights in Land and Territorial Sovereignty in Historical Perspective. Land, a primary factor of production, has not only been a major component of economic, political, and social aspects of human life across time and space, but it has also played an important cultural and religious role. The different mechanisms that have been utilized to distribute land among people (by custom, authoritative discretion, sheer force, laws and regulations, and/or market forces) have been instrumental in shaping human territoriality, and have been important in the formation of collective identities and the nature of ethno-national entities. The close relations between ethno-nationality and territory in history involve, quite naturally, the nexus between property rights in land and the exclusiveness of ownership imposed by the state - the notion of territorial sovereignty. A number of issues are of interest, among them: the structure and functioning of land markets in which the participation of "others" (ethno-nationally, religiously, or otherwise identified) has been effectively restricted (or barred altogether); the political and economic underpinning of such constraints and their variety and change over time; and the implications of ethno-nationally restricted land markets for the allocation of resources, income distribution, and growth, in the societies concerned. The history of colonialism and of many of the ethno-nationally (and/or religiously) divided "old" and "new" states provides a rich "laboratory" for illuminating these and related issues concerning the formation, modi operandi, and consequences of ethno-natinally affected land regimes in history and their relationship to the concept of territorial sovereignty. These issues will be explored in our session which is intended to be a forum for the presentation and critical discussion of case studies, as well as of comparative investigations, based on a broad range of experiences. We have already secured a number of commitments to present papers on Aborigines' landed property rights and sovereignty in North America; land ownership issues in South Africa, Russia, Fiji and Hawaii; the land question in Palestine-Israel; and the attempts to change the ethno-national mix of land ownership and settlement in late 19th century Prussian Poland. We are still looking for additional proposals, particularly on Europe (Yugoslavia for instance), the Dutch empire, Latin America, Australia, and the Middle East. Those interested should send an abstract of their proposed paper no later than by Sept.1st, 2001. to: Stanley Engerman or to: Jacob Metzer Session 62: Savings Banks as Financial Intermediaries: Role, Performance and Impact. Savings banks have performed a wide variety of functions and roles since they spread across Europe and North America from the late eighteenth century. Primarily serving as savings vehicles for the less well off, they complemented the activities of commercial banking systems by focussing on deposit gathering rather than lending. The extent to which they could develop this latter aspect of their business was generally constrained by domestic regulation: in the UK for example, savings banks made very few personal or business loans until well into the twentieth century. In other countries, they acted primarily as mortgage or municipal financing vehicles, or, as in Germany for example, by bringing together aspects of commercial banking with savings gathering in a new and innovative manner. In the process of financial deregulation in the late twentieth century, these differences within and between countries have been eroded;savings banks have become in some places fully fledged financial intermediaries, but in others they have retained some of their special characteristics. This session seeks to explore these issues: it will take an explicitly inclusive and comparative approach to the role, performance and impact of savings banks in the process of economic and financial development. There are three main principles. First, we will take a long-term perspective, so that papers on recent (e.g. post deregulation and merger performance) activities will be as welcome as those dealing with earlier savings gathering activities in Europe, North America or elsewhere. It is hoped that this will encourage a range of approaches, including involvement from scholars in cognate disciplines who are interested in these institutions. Secondly, the organisers seek to encourage analysis not only of the institutions, but also of their customers; that is, we wish to explore savings activity and the contribution of savings banks to savings behaviour in those countries in which they developed. Third, we seek to place savings banks in the context of their host financial system and in this way be able to say something about the changing nature and identity of the savings bank as a form of organisation separate and distinct from commercial banks. The relationship between savings and commercial banks, the points at which they meet and the arenas in which they compete, will be explored. Contributions on all these topics will be welcomed. Proposals should be sent to: Dr Duncan M Ross Session 64: Commodities: Understanding the Global Economy through the History of Things,1000-2000. The production, trade, and consumption of commodities such as silk, salt, oil and cotton have woven together different parts of the world throughout the centuries. This panel will explore the character of these international links and show how they have changed during the past 1000 years. Papers will investigate the connections between agriculture, trade, industry and consumption created by particular commodities, examine the impact of an increasing global integration of markets on the way things were produced and ask how we can understand the particular ways specific places were integrated into the world economy. Taken together, the papers will inquire into the impact of states, diverse resource endowments, non-state actors, and the distribution of social power in particular places on the spatial structure of the production and consumption of a number of core commodities. We will pay particular attention to the people who facilitated these global networks--merchants, diaspora communities, and migrant workers, among others. During the past years, historians have increasingly become interested in understanding processes, identities and networks that transcend the nation-state. For this panel, we invite paper proposals that explore more global approaches to understanding the development of past economies by interrogating the changing relationships between the economies of different towns, cities, regions and nation-states to one another through the history of particular commodities. Case studies are welcome, as are more theoretical explorations of the themes raised. We are interested in historical, economic, anthropological and sociological approaches that will allow us to focus on diverse and seemingly contradictory developments, such as the spread of free labor and slavery, industrialization and deindustrialization, markets and states--in short, to think about the unity of the diverse. If you are interested in participating in the panel, please submit (by October 15, 2001) a short proposal along with a copy of your c.v. to: Sven Beckert This is an international conference and we are actively trying to recruit participants from outside the United States. The economic crisis of the 1840’s (1845-1848) symbolises the
transition between two worlds. First of all a supply crisis lies
at the base of what has come to be considered as (Western) Europe’s
last major hunger crisis. Secondly, it is a crisis of industrial
production (overproduction) and of the financial world. Consequently,
studying this 'crise mixte' offers an interesting point of Papers on the following subjects are welcomed: a) the impact of this crisis on various ‘national’ economies
all over Europe and b) the ‘global’ economic effects.
Following a) A comparative analysis of the impact of the agrarian crisis
starting from a series of b) The long-term effects of the crisis on the economic relations
between Europe and the non-European world. Those interested in participating in this session should contact: Eric Vanhaute, Department of Modern History, Ghent University, Blandijnberg 2, B-9000, Gent, Belgium. Ph: 32 9 264 40 08. Fax: 32 9 264 41 89. Email: eric.vanhaute@rug.ac.be Session 70: Height, Health and Nutrition in Peripheral Regions of the World. Recent studies on globalization and convergence have indicated the important integrating effects that flows in labor, trade, and finances had in the global economy. Waves of globalization were accompanied by a convergence in prices, wages, and rents while the de-globalization backlash moved these variables into the opposite direction. Thus, in periods of globalization, peripheries tended to grow faster than the center, generating a process of convergence. Did a similar process occur in relation to biological welfare? Did the world diffusion of medical knowledge, public health services, and the improvement in nutrition help to narrow the gap in biological welfare between center and periphery? How did the world periphery respond to industrialization and development in core areas? Did their biological living standards improve or deteriorate? Are the existing measurements of health and nutrition comparable across countries in peripheral regions? Health and nutrition are important elements of the human utility function. Economic historians have found important examples of countries and time periods during which health development has not been closely related to income development. Some regions of the world periphery enjoyed better nutrition and longer and healthier lives than the inhabitants of the center, even ceteris paribus. We need to take these examples into account and examine them in a comparative perspective. Other regions, in turn, have shown deterioration in their biological welfare at the moment of their integration into the world economy. The comparison of these cases may re-open the discussion about standards of living, industrialization, and convergence shifting the problematique to the terrain of public health technologies, food regimes, poor relief, and work intensity. How was the health and nutrition of peripheral regions before and after they integrated into the world economy? Bringing together studies which may begin to answer this question is the goal of this session. This session aims at broadening the existing database of indicators of health and nutrition (height, life expectancy, BMI, and related indicators) by considering countries and regions that were peripheral to the centers of economic development. It focuses on the analysis of the development of biological welfare in countries of Africa, Asia, Latin America, Australia, island nations, the American West and North before 1900, and periphery regions in South, Central, and Eastern Europe. Authors are encouraged to problematize the notion of the "integration" of peripheral countries into the world economy -in relation to the question of biological welfare-and to present, whenever possible, valid comparisons across countries and regions. Those interested in participating in the ession should send an abstract of their proposed paper by January 15, 2002, to: Joerg Baten Session 72: The Economic Exploitation of Children: Fact or Fiction?. This session will examine the use of child labor in the 19th and early 20th century United States and Western Europe. In particular, the nature and extent of exploitation of children and their labor will be a common theme of the papers in this session. The concept of exploitation will also be examined in detail: is the presence of child labor sufficient evidence to confirm the existence of exploitation, or does the relationship between earnings and expropriation need to be examined more closely? In response to current political concern over the exploitation of children in sweatshops in developing countries, economists have raised the question does child labor hurt children in the long run, or does their labor raise the family's standard of living sufficiently to benefit the child as well as his parents? This session will provide perspective on this current issue by examining how extensive exploitation was in the past. It will look at the economic conditions under which child labor was useful, and it will identify factors that resulted in its disappearance. This session will examine the exploitation of child labor from several geographical and cultural viewpoints; therefore, while the session is currently focused on the experience of the U.S. and Western Europe, we will consider paper proposals covering non-European areas as well. We currently have four papers and a discussant scheduled and are seeking about 2-3 more papers for the session. Those interested in participating in the session should send an abstract (hardcopy or Word attachment) of their proposed paper by December 15, 2001 to: Jon Moen Session 78: Intellectual Property Institutions and Inventive Activity in Historical Perspective. The generation of new technological knowledge is one of the fundamental processes of economic growth. Despite its importance, however, scholars have only a very incomplete understanding of how and why the rates and organization of invention have varied over time, space, and levels of economic and technological development. Among the important issues that have been highlighted by recent work are: a) the significance of economic incentives (and market forces) to inventors in accounting for the rates and direction of invention; b) the role of intellectual property institutions, such as patent or copyright systems, and of government policy generally in stimulating the generation and diffusion of new knowledge; c) whether and how the organization of production influences the rate and direction of technological change; and d) what are the factors that influence the rate and timing of when new technologies are actually implemented. The session will focus on these and related issues, with critical discussion of case studies and explicit comparative analyses. At present, we have commitments from various scholars to present papers on the experiences of a number of European countries and the United States over the 19th and early 20th centuries. We are especially looking for proposals that deal with other parts of the world and follower countries. Those interested should send an abstract of their proposed paper no later than September 10th, 2001 to: Kenneth Sokoloff Session 84: Information Transmission and Market Integration - Past and Present. The emphasis in traditional market integration research has been on the impact of transport cost reductions and trade policy changes. This session will focus on the role of information transmission on market performance. It is meant to be a forum for research into the evolution of particular modes of information transmission technology, say the postal system, the telegraph, the specialized commercial press, the internet etc. Relevant studies might look into the speed, reliability and cost of diffusion of information. The session organizers also wish to invite papers which look at the impact of changes in information technologies, say the introduction of the telegraph, on market integration and market efficiency. Those interested in participating in the session should send an abstract of their proposed paper by January 15, 2002. We shall inform all those who submit proposals of the status of their submission in due course. Please send your proposal to the organizers: Yrjö Kaukiainen and Karl Gunnar Persson |
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