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The Economic History Association owns and operates the EH.net website and mailing lists to provide resources and promote communication among scholars in economic history and related fields. The Economic History Society (U.K.), the Business History Conference, and the Cliometric Society also support the site.

Asia-Pacific Economic and Business History conference, Seoul (South Korea) 14-16 February 2013

Name: 
Pierre van der Eng

(apologies for any cross-postings)

Asia-Pacific Economic and Business History Conference 2013
Theme: Markets, institutions and people in economic crisis and recovery
Dates and place: 14-16 February 2013, Seoul (South Korea)
Venue: Seoul National University

Organisation: Korean Economic History Society, in cooperation with the Institute of Economic Research (Seoul National University) and the Economic History Society of Australia and New Zealand

Conference website: http://apebh2013.wordpress.com/

CALL FOR PAPERS

Papers and proposals for sessions are invited for the APEBH 2013 conference. The main theme is 'Markets, institutions and people in economic crisis and recovery', but the organisers are open to proposals for contributions on other topics in economic, social, and business history, as well as proposals for sessions on particular themes. Researchers across a broad range of disciplines are warmly welcomed. Early career researchers are encouraged to participate. The conference organisers are particularly interested in attracting papers that examine developments in countries and areas in the Asia-Pacific region and papers that provide an international comparative perspective.

During the recent Global Financial Crisis, various commentators heralded the end of globalisation. A few noted that the world economy as a whole, and also different economic regions had overcome major economic crises before. The global crisis of the 1930s and the Asian financial crisis of the 1990s were given as examples. Rogoff and Reinhart in This Time Is Different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly (2009) explained that throughout history rich and poor countries alike have been lending, borrowing, crashing and recovering their way through an extraordinary range of financial crises throughout history.

Call for papers: The Financial Crises in comparative regional perspective: Can Europe Learn from other Regions?

Name: 
Arie Krampf

Call for Papers for International Conference:
The Financial Crises in comparative regional perspective:
Can Europe Learn from other Regions?

Research College (Kolleg-Forschergruppe, KFG) “The Transformative Power of Europe”,
Freie Universität Berlin
Berlin, 23-24 November 2012

The European financial crisis, the Asian crisis in 1997 and the Latin American crisis in 1982 are all regional phenomena. Due to political, economic and financial regional interdependencies of private and sovereign financial institutions, the crises spread within the regions. The responses to the crises required a regional and transnational coordinated response. The workshop seeks to explore the factors that shaped the different regional responses to the crises with an emphasis on regional architectural designs, historical paths, regional ideational legacies, inter-regional social learning and diffusion of ideas.

The workshop will address three sets of questions:
First, on the descriptive level, how did actors—local, regional and international—frame each of the three crises? What types of bodies of knowledge were used to frame them? What kinds of “solutions” were considered, and how were they legitimized?

Second, on the causal level, how can we explain the differences between the responses to the three crises? Can liberal, realist and functional theories provide sufficient explanations? What was the role of regional path dependencies? Can we identify regional policy legacies that shaped the responses?

Finally, what are the likely effects of a crisis on the region’s future institutional path and architecture?

The workshop seeks to contribute to the literature of comparative regionalism, EU studies, social learning literature, epistemic communities and IPE.

'Credit Where Due', University of Cambridge, 4-5 Sept. 2012 - CfP.

Name: 
Adrian Leonard
Email: 

Credit Where Due

4th September – 5th September 2012

Credit Where Due will bring together graduates, academics, and others from a variety of disciplines to explore the development of credit assessment and lending decision-making (both commercial and sovereign). It will consider why, with so much experience, people still manage so frequently, and sometimes catastrophically, to get credit assessment badly wrong. Credit Where Due will cover five hundred years, from the Commercial Revolution of the 16th century, through to the Financial Revolution of the 17th century, the so-called ‘Golden Age’ of the 19th century, the turbulent 20th century, and ending in the renewed economic crisis of the 21st century. In this modern era, credit assessment remains fundamentally important, and even more challenging.

Keynote speakers include:
Philip Auguer (author of ‘Reckless: The Rise and Fall of the City’);
Craig Muldrew (University of Cambridge, author of ‘The Economy of Obligation: The Culture of Credit and Social Relations in Early Modern England’);
Carl Winnerlind (University of Columbia, author of 'Casualties of Credit'),

The conference organisers invite proposals for papers of 20 minutes in length. Submissions are welcome on subjects related to the general theme of credit, but may benefit from connecting with one or more of the following sub-themes.

Credit and commerce.
Cultural presentations of credit.
Credit and the state.
Credit in a globalising world.
Credit in crisis.
We also invite applications for panels of three to five persons on subjects related to the general theme of credit.

This conference has been graciously funded by the Economic and Social Research Council.

Organisers: Sophie McGeevor, Simon T Abernethy, and Adrian Leonard (University of Cambridge).
Event location:
Newnham College,
Sidgwick Avenue,
Cambridge,
CB3 9DF.

Third Latin American Economic History Congress. National University of Comahue. Bariloche on 23-27 September, 2012. Call for papers. Session 16 “Liberal reforms and liberal thought in Latin America and the Caribbean in mid-nineteenth century”

Name: 
Edwin López

The Third Latin American Economic History Congress is to be held in Bariloche on 23-27 September, 2012. One of the sessions of the Congress is called “Liberal reforms and liberal thought in Latin America and the Caribbean in mid-nineteenth century”.

The purpose of this session is to present and discuss the economic and political effects of the implementation of liberal reforms of the mid-nineteenth century in Latin America, and intellectual sources that originated them. It seeks to establish the similarities and differences in the types of policies implemented and their long-term results in all countries of the region as well as economic and political ideas of those who made or carried out these reforms.

It is hoped that the papers presented in this session cover topics such as:

Influences and history of Latin American liberalism in the nineteenth century
The impact of European liberalism.
The impact of reforms on taxation, and monetary and banking institutions.
The relationship between liberal reform and civil wars
The relationship between reforms and economic growth in the long run
Comparative studies on the effects of liberal reforms.
Land reforms and seizure of mortmain property (“Desamortizacion de bienes de manos muertas”).
Labour reforms.
Foreign trade.

Scientific committee: Edwin López (Universidad Jorge Tadeo Lozano) Pablo Martin Aceña (Universidad Alcalá)

Please send abstracts to email edwin.lopez@utadeo.edu.co before May 21th.

Call for Papers: Iberometrics VI – Sixth Iberian Cliometrics Workshop, University of Zaragoza, May 17-18, 2013

Name: 
Vicente Pinilla

Subject: Iberometrics VI – Sixth Iberian Cliometrics Workshop, University of Zaragoza, May 17-18, 2013
Call for Papers
Iberometrics VI – Sixth Iberian Cliometrics Workshop
University of Zaragoza, May 17-18, 2013

The Sixth Iberian Cliometrics Workshop is to be held in Zaragoza on 17-18 May, 2013. It will be organized by the University of Zaragoza, with the assistance of colleagues from the Instituto de Ciências Sociais (Universidade de Lisboa), the University of Oxford and the University of Barcelona.
Papers are invited from economic historians wishing to attend. They should be on any subject or period of Spanish, Portuguese or Iberian economic history, including comparative papers that consider the Portuguese and/or Spanish cases within their sample. Papers dealing with relations with the colonies will also be considered, but not if they are exclusively on the economic history of a particular colony or group of colonies. Papers by young scholars are specially welcome. Priority will also be given to those who have never attended before.
Anyone wishing to present a paper should send a 500 word abstract by no later than October 15th, 2012 to iberomet@unizar.es. Decisions regarding acceptance will be sent out no later than November 15th, 2012. Final versions of the accepted papers are expected by no later than April 1st, 2013. They will be circulated to all participants prior to the meeting and published on the workshop webpage.
The organizers will cover accommodation and meals costs for all those who are invited to present a paper.

Scientific committee: Alfonso Herranz (U. de Barcelona), Rui Pedro Esteves (University of Oxford) and Marcela Sabaté (U. de Zaragoza).

The organizing committee: Vicente Pinilla (U. de Zaragoza), Isabel Sanz (U. de Zaragoza) and Javier Silvestre (U. de Zaragoza).

All correspondence should be addressed to iberomet@unizar.es.
http://estructuraehistoria.unizar.es/personal/vpinilla/Iberometrics.htm

reminder June 1 deadline: CNEH-RCHE, Banff Alberta, October 26-28

Name: 
Kris Inwood

The Canadian Network for Economic History invites proposals for its October 26-28, 2012 conference at the Banff Centre in Banff Alberta. June 1 is the deadline for submissions.

Papers will be considered on all topics, with some preference given to those relating to the theme, "Getting the Institutions Right: Property Rights and Long Run Growth". The CNEH is very pleased to announce that Lee Alston (University of Colorado at Boulder) has agreed to give the keynote address at the conference, and Latika Chaudhary (Scripps College) will be giving the inaugural Mary MacKinnon Memorial Lecture.

To be considered for inclusion on the programme please email a 1-2 page abstract to Chris Minns (c.minns@lse.ac.uk) and Ian Keay (ikeay@econ.queensu.ca). The programme will be set and authors notified by late June. Proposals from graduate students and junior scholars are strongly encouraged. Funds may become available to partially reimburse the travel and accommodation costs of such participants. Information on the venue, registration, and programme has been posted at www.economichistory.ca.

EHA Annual Meeting 2012, Vancouver, September 21-23, 2012: Hotel and travel information

Name: 
Jari Eloranta

HOTEL:
http://www.eh.net/eha/meetings/2012-meeting/hotel

The conference hotel for the 2012 EHA conference is Sheraton Wall Centre in downtown Vancouver:

http://www.sheratonvancouver.com/. The hotel has 733 guestrooms, and is located in a central location in the city. It has a multitude of features and facilities (see here for details: http://www.sheratonvancouver.com/features). It features free WiFi in all guestrooms and has the typical amenities of a high-quality urban hotel.

The conference rates are: Single/double room 175 CAD. (The conversion rate between the USD and CAD is more or less 1)

You can get the conference rate via this link:
https://www.starwoodmeeting.com/StarGroupsWeb/booking/reservation?id=1203260842&key=B3D5

You can also contact the hotel by phone:
(604) 331-1000 (Toll-Free: 1-800-325-3535) (Please add the country code if calling internationally)

Please remember that typically the conference hotel fills up fast, so make your reservations early to make sure you get accommodations at the conference hotel!

TRAVEL:
http://www.eh.net/eha/meetings/2012-meeting/travel

The best option to fly to is the Vancouver International Airport (YVR):
http://www.yvr.ca/en/Default.aspx

You could also fly to Seattle, for example, and rent a car and drive over. Some of the travel options are listed here: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/travel/2008116402_trthreecities17.html.

There are numerous options for getting to and from the airport, including the Sky Train, shuttles and/or buses, and taxis. The options are listed here: http://www.yvr.ca/en/getting-to-from-yvr.aspx.

*The Sky Train information can be found here: http://www.translink.ca/en/About-Us/Corporate-Overview/Operating-Companies/SkyTrain.aspx.. You can find more info on the public transportation options here: http://www.yvr.ca/en/getting-to-from-yvr/public-transportation.aspx.

EHA Annual Meeting 2012, Vancouver, September 21-23, 2012: Reminder about poster and dissertation submission deadlines!

Name: 
Jari Eloranta

Reminder:

The deadline for poster submissions is MAY 18.

The deadline for dissertation competition submissions (having them postmarked) is MAY 15.

Further information can be found at:
http://www.eh.net/eha/meetings/2012-meeting/graduate-students

WEHC 2012

Name: 
Joerg Baten

In spite of the Global Economic Crisis: High number of registered participants at of the IEHA World Congress in Stellenbosch

After the early registration phase is now finished, the IEHA Bureau and the Local Organizing Committee in South Africa is happy about a high number of registered participants. 700 scholars from around the world have already registered, and the number increases every day. Stellenbosch will be the largest World Congress which the IEHA has ever celebrated outside of Western Europe, since its foundation in the 1960s. This is even more astonishing given the Global Economic Crisis, which reduced university budgets in many countries, and the large distance of South Africa from many other countries. Based on the experience of previous congresses, the early registration number will grow to the final number by 21-26%.
It is particularly noteworthy that more than a 100 participants will come from Africa.
In short, to all economic historians who are interested in internationally comparative work and who might not have registered: please register ASAP and participate in one of the most exciting events of the century! To do so, please visit
http://www.wehc2012.org/
I would not like to finish this short note without thanking the local organizing committee for this excellent work, under the leadership of Sophia du Plessis.

Jörg Baten

Birth of a Market: The U.S. Treasury Securities Market from the Great War to the Great Depression

Author: 
Garbade, Kenneth D.
Reviewer: 
Noll, Franklin

Published by EH.Net (May 2012)

Kenneth D. Garbade, Birth of a Market: The U.S. Treasury Securities Market from the Great War to the Great Depression.  Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2012.  xii + 393 pp. $50 (hardcover), ISBN: 978-0-262-01637-7.

Reviewed for EH.Net by Franklin Noll, Noll Historical Consulting.

Kenneth Garbade has been doing path-breaking work for years in what I like to call the mechanics of Treasury finance.  In various case studies and articles, Garbade, Senior Vice President at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, has charted the origins of the sometimes revolutionary developments in Treasury financing that we now take for granted, including book-entry securities and Treasury auctions.  In Birth of a Market, he applies his special insight to the changes in Treasury financing methods during the interwar period. Attention to this topic is long overdue as sixty years have passed since the last detailed examination of Treasury debt management in the mid-twentieth century.

In his book, Garbade argues that between 1917 and 1939 the Treasury undertook four initiatives that made possible the familiar post-World War II primary securities market: the revival of auction sales, the linkage of Treasury cash and debt management, the loosening of Congressional constraints on Treasury management of the debt, and the start of offering securities on a regular, consistent schedule.  These developments, in turn, were caused by the Treasury’s reaction to the new reality of a large, permanent public debt created during the period.

Geographic Area: 
North America
Subject: 
Government, Law and Regulation, Public Finance
Time period: 
20th Century: Pre WWII

Parasites, Pathogens, and Progress: Diseases and Economic Development

Author: 
McGuire, Robert A.
Coelho, Philip R. P.
Reviewer: 
Murray, John E.

Published by EH.Net (May 2012)

Robert A. McGuire and Philip R. P. Coelho, Parasites, Pathogens, and Progress: Diseases and Economic Development.  Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2011. viii + 343 pp. $30 (hardcover), ISBN: 978-0-262-01566-0.

Reviewed for EH.Net by John E. Murray, Department of Economics, Rhodes College.

An old saw proposes that holding a hammer makes everything look like a nail.  When Robert McGuire and Philip Coelho suggest (p. 5) that Jared Diamond’s bestseller (1997) should have been titled Germs, Germs, and Germs, the reader may think that the authors carry not a hammer but a microscope.  Everywhere in this history, germs appear as the critical and virtually only influence on economic development.  By the end the reader better understands microbes in American history, but may still wonder if natural resource endowments, property rights and contract law, accumulating human capital, and flexible markets played a role as well.

Geographic Area: 
North America
Subject: 
Economic Development, Growth, and Aggregate Productivity
Servitude and Slavery
Living Standards, Anthropometric History, Economic Anthropology
Time period: 
17th Century
18th Century
19th Century

CALL FOR PRIZE PAPERS in Economic, Social, and Business History - Deadline: 25 May 2012

Name: 
Jacob WeisdorfAlfred Reckendrees
Email: 

CALL FOR PRIZE PAPERS in Economic, Social, and Business History
Deadline: 25 May 2012

The Scandinavian Economic History Review is celebrating its 60-year anniversary this year in May. In order to mark the event the journal offers a prize of 500 EUR to each of the papers selected for the special anniversary issue published later this year.

The journal editors thus invite you to submit a paper for the anniversary issue. The deadline for submissions is 25 May 2012. The papers will be made subject to a fast refereeing process, with final decisions made before 15 July 2012.

The Scandinavian Economic History Review has been published since 1952 by the Scandinavian Society of Economic and Social History. The journal publishes articles and reviews in the fields of economic, business and social history with a specific, but not exclusive interest in Scandinavia. The journal also publishes contributions from closely related fields and articles dealing with theoretical and methodological issues.

We encourage papers on any topic related to economic history, social history or business history from any geographic region of the world.

We are looking for high-quality articles up to around 12,000 words long (graphs and tables count for 800 words per page). Because of the fast refereeing process we expect the articles to be finalized and prepared according to the journal’s house style (Instructions for submission). If your article has previously been sent to a journal and declined we welcome you to send the referee reports along with your submission.
On submission please mention ‘anniversary issue’ in the cover letter. To go to the submission website please click manuscriptcentral.

Recent articles include:

Stephen Broadberry & Alexander Klein:

The Poverty of Clio: Resurrecting Economic History

Author: 
Boldizzoni, Francesco
Reviewer: 
Petracca, Enrico

Published by EH.Net (May 2012)

Francesco Boldizzoni, The Poverty of Clio: Resurrecting Economic History. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2011. xi + 216 pp. $39.50 (cloth), ISBN: 978-0-691-14400-9.

Reviewed for EH.Net by Enrico Petracca, Departments of Philosophy and Economics, University of Bologna.

In a well-known passage quoted by Carlo M. Cipolla (1991), the ancient historian Arnaldo Momigliano wrote: “The historian works on the assumption that he is capable of reconstructing and understanding the events of the past. If an epistemologist manages to convince him that this is not so, the historian should change profession.” More difficult – but to a certain extent more interesting – would be the possibility that a historian be convinced to give up his own way of doing history by another historian.

Francesco Boldizzoni (University of Turin) belongs to a younger generation of Italian scholars and his training in both history and economics makes him “familiar with the tricks of the trade” (p. x). The Poverty of Clio is meant to give voice to an increasing sense of dissatisfaction within the economic history profession. The subject, the author says, is undergoing a “deep identity crisis” (p. 4) brought about by the spread of the U.S.-born “New Economic History” – or, as it is also labeled, “cliometrics” – worldwide, and across Europe in particular.

Geographic Area: 
General, International, or Comparative
Subject: 
Development of the Economic History Discipline: Historiography; Sources and Methods
Time period: 
General or Comparative

Final call for EHA papers at 2013 ASSA meetings

Name: 
Mike Haupert

Final Call for Papers: ASSA 2013
2013 ASSA Meetings
January 4-6, 2013

The Economic History Association will sponsor two sessions at the ASSA meetings in San Diego, January 4-6, 2013. The program committee includes Dan Bogart and Martha Bailey. Authors interested in presenting a paper should send a one-page proposal, including an abstract or description of the paper and all contact information to Mike Haupert at mhaupert@uwlax.edu by May 8, 2012. Please note on the subject line that you are sending a proposal for the ASSA meetings, and either include the proposal in your message or send the documents as attachments in Word format.

Hard copies may be faxed to:

Michael Haupert
AEA-ASSA Proposals
Department of Economics
University of Wisconsin – La Crosse
(608) 785-8549

We would like to make summaries of the papers available in advance of the ASSA meetings, and the Cliometric Society has agreed to publish them on the Society’s website. Thus, authors submitting proposals should be prepared to provide a copy of their paper for posting on the Cliometric Society website by November 30, 2012. Send a copy of the paper to Mike Haupert at mhaupert@uwlax.edu.

At least one author must be a member of the Economic History Association.

Proposals due: May 8, 2012
Authors notified of acceptance of paper: June 15, 2012
Paper due at the Society office: November 30, 2012
ASSA Meetings in San Diego: January 4-6, 2013

Please email any questions to: mhaupert@uwlax.edu

Michael J. Haupert
Department of Economics
University of Wisconsin – La Crosse
La Crosse, WI 54601

Phone: (608) 785-6863
Fax: (608) 785-8549

CfP: Groningen Frontier Research in Economic and Social History (FRESH) Meeting

Name: 
Paul Sharp
Email: 

Call for papers:
Groningen Frontier Research in Economic and Social History (FRESH) Meeting

Date: November 8-9, 2012
Hosting Institution: Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Groningen
Local Organizers: Rick Hölsgens, Nikita Bos
FRESH Organizers: Paul Sharp, Jacob Weisdorf and Rowena Gray.
FRESH meetings are aimed at researchers in any field of economic and social history. The meetings build on the concept that scholars present their ongoing research at an early stage, i.e. normally before it becomes published as a working paper or the like, and certainly before it is published in books or journals. The main aim of the meetings is to gather researchers in a friendly and collegial environment where they can present their research and receive constructive criticism from their peers.

The FRESH meeting organizers strive to accommodate as many speakers as possible. Accepted papers will receive 45 minutes each (25 minutes for presentation and 20 minutes for discussion). However, in the interest of avoiding parallel sessions, the presentation time may be shortened.

The organizers can offer lunch, dinner and other refreshments on the day of the meeting, but hotels and travel must be covered by the participants themselves. Also, there will be a registration fee for this meeting of 70 EUR payable on acceptance of your submission.

For this meeting we particularly encourage papers on economic growth and long run development, but submissions from scholars working in other areas are welcome.

Prospective speakers should submit a one‐page abstract and a short CV to Nikita Bos (n.e.s.bos@rug.nl) no later than June 31, 2012.

Notification of acceptance will be given by the end of July 2012.

For more information about FRESH meetings, please visit the FRESH
website at www.keynes.dk/FRESH.

CFA: SAGE Encyclopedia of White-collar and Corporate Crime (2nd Edition)

Name: 
Susan Moskowitz

CALL FOR AUTHORS: SAGE Encyclopedia of White-Collar and Corporate Crime
2nd Edition
REPLY TO: white-collar@golsonmedia.com

We are inviting academic editorial contributors to the SAGE Encyclopedia of White-Collar and Corporate Crime (2nd Edition) a 2-volume reference.

Since the first edition of the SAGE Encyclopedia of White-Collar & Corporate Crime was produced in 2003, the number and severity of these crimes have risen to the level of calamity: Many experts attribute the near- Depression of 2008 to white-collar malfeasance, namely crimes of greed and excess by bankers and financial institutions. In the 8 years since the first edition was produced we have also seen the largest Ponzi scheme in history (Maddoff), an ecological disaster caused by British Petroleum and its subcontractors (Gulf Oil Spill), and U.S. Defense Department contractors operating like vigilantes in Iraq (Blackwater). Indeed, white-collar criminals have been busy and the second edition of this encyclopedia captures what has been going on in the news and behind the scenes with approximately 100 new articles and updates to the previous edition. In a thorough reappraisal of the white-collar and corporate crime scene, the second edition builds on the first edition to complete the criminal narrative in an outstanding reference ready for publication late 2013.

This comprehensive project will be published by SAGE Reference and will be marketed to academic and public libraries as a print and digital product available to students via the library’s electronic services. The General Editor, who will be reviewing each submission to the project, is Dr. Lawrence M.

Book Launch Invitiation: Tearing Down Walls: The International Monetary Fund, 1990-1999

Name: 
P.Loo
Email: 

BOOK LAUNCH:
Tearing Down Walls: The International Monetary Fund, 1990 –1999
by James Boughton

Please join the author and panelists for a discussion to launch the recently published Tearing Down Walls: The International Monetary Fund, 1990–1999.

Date: May 3, 2012
Time: 2:30 pm – 4:00 pm
Venue: HQ2, Conference Hall 1 (HQ2-01A-820), 1919 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC

RSVP: Acceptances only. Those wishing to attend are asked to RSVP by sending an email by May 2nd to Publications@imf.org with the following details: full name, affiliation, and daytime phone number with “Book Event” in the subject line. (Guests will need to present a photo ID to enter the building. IMF, IFC, and World Bank personnel need only their ID cards to enter.)

Moderator:
David Lipton, First Deputy Managing Director (International Monetary Fund)

Panelists:
Harold James (Princeton University)
Simon Johnson (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
Moisés Naím (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace)
James Boughton (IMF Historian)

Jointly sponsored by the Strategy, Policy, and Review Department (SPR) and the External Relations Department (EXR) of the IMF.

Call Conference (Utrecht, 29/11/2012-1/12/2012) on design and dynamics of institutions for collective action, in honour of Elinor Ostrom

Name: 
Tine De Moor

Call conference 2012
Conference 'Design and Dynamics of Institutions for Collective Action'
in honour of Prof. Dr. Elinor Ostrom
November 29 - December 1, 2012, Utrecht University
Organizers: dr. Tine De Moor & Miguel Laborda Pemán.
Practical issues: René van Weeren
Opening key-note lecturer: Prof. Elinor Ostrom (2009 Nobel Prize Winner For Economics)
Conference website: www.collective-action.info/conference-design-dynamics-icas

From the 29th of November until the 1st of December 2012 a three-day conference will be held at Utrecht University on the theme of the Design and Dynamics of Institutions for Collective Action. The conference will be held in honour of Prof. Dr. Elinor Ostrom. Elinor Ostrom’s work has formed a major inspiration for all researchers of institutions for collective action. Both the 8 design principles, published in her book Governing the commons. The evolution of institutions for collective action (1990), as well as the Institutional Analysis and Development Framework developed by Ostrom and her colleagues at Indiana University have been applied in a wide range of studies on resource management and self-organized governance systems. For her analysis of economic governance, and in particular her work on commons, she received in 2009 the Nobel Prize Winner for Economics. Prof. Ostrom will also be an honorary visiting professor at Utrecht University at the time of the conference, and will be giving a public lecture in the afternoon of the 29th of November, to which all conference participants will also be invited.

The theme of the conference

World Congress of Cliometrics 2013

Name: 
Mike Haupert

7th World Congress of Cliometrics
Honolulu, Hawai‘i, USA
June 18-21, 2013

The 7th World Congress of Cliometrics will be held in Honolulu, Hawai‘i, USA from June 18-21, 2013. The Congress will be hosted by the University of Hawai‘i-Mānoa. All sessions will be held at the Imin Conference Center on the campus of the East-West Center (adjacent to the University of Hawai‘i-Mānoa campus). Funding to help support the conference is provided by the National Science Foundation and the University of Hawai‘i-Mānoa.

The World Congress is designed to provide extensive discussion of new and innovative research in economic history. We expect 80 to 90 papers to be selected for presentation and discussion. These are sent out to all conference participants 6 weeks in advance. Each paper is devoted a session, in which authors have 5 minutes to make an opening statement and the rest of the session is devoted to discussion among all conference participants. Conference participants are expected to read the papers for the sessions that they attend.

We will be opening the World Congress website for paper submissions, hotel reservations, and conference registration on Thursday, November 15, 2012. We will accept paper submissions through January 23, 2013. Those wishing to present a paper should provide an abstract and a 3-5 page summary of the proposed paper.

We particularly encourage paper proposals from graduate students conducting research in economic history. A grant from the National Science Foundation provides support for travel and accommodations for graduate students who present a paper at the World Congress.

Conference Registration, Hotel Reservations, and Paper Submission
Available on the Cliometric Society website (http://www.cliometrics.org)
On November 15, 2012

World Congress Headquarters Hotel
The New Otani Kaimana Beach Hotel (Waikiki in Kapiolani Park)

EHS annual conference 2013: cfp

Name: 
Maureen Galbraith

Economic History Society Annual Conference
5 – 7 April 2013
University of York
Call for Academic Papers

The 2013 annual conference of the Economic History Society will be hosted by the University of York from 5 – 7 April.

The conference programme committee welcomes proposals in all aspects of economic and social history covering a wide range of periods and countries, and particularly welcomes papers of an interdisciplinary nature. Preference may be given to scholars who did not present a paper at the previous year’s conference. Those currently studying for, or who have recently completed, a PhD should submit a proposal to the New Researcher session; please see the Call for New Researcher papers at: http://www.ehs.org.uk/ehs/AnnualConferences/cfpNR.asp

The committee invites proposals for individual papers, as well as for entire sessions (3 speakers [optimum], 1.5 hours duration; no more than 4 papers will be accepted for any one session). Please note that the committee reserves the right to determine which papers will be presented in the session if it is accepted. If a session is not accepted, the committee may incorporate one or more of the proposed papers into other panels.

Proposals should please be submitted online via the Economic History Society website (www.ehs.org.uk). You will be asked to submit:

For single paper submissions:
• The title of the paper proposed.
• A short abstract of the paper proposed (400-500 words).*
• Up to five keywords, which can be used to help the conference coordinating committee allocate papers between sessions.
• Contact details (name, affiliation and e-mail address; including those of co-authors).
• A brief C.V.

For sessions:
• The title of the proposed session.
• The rationale for the session (up to 100 words).
• The titles of each paper proposed.
• A short abstract for each paper proposed (400-500 words).*

CfP: Lisbon Frontier Research in Economic and Social History (FRESH) Meeting

Name: 
Paul Sharp
Email: 

CALL FOR PAPERS
Lisbon Frontier Research in Economic and Social History (FRESH) Meeting

Date: October 12‐13, 2012
Venue: Faculty of Social and Human Sciences, New University of Lisbon, Lisbon.
Hosting Institution: Institute of Contemporary History (IHC), Faculty of Social and Human Sciences, New University of Lisbon.
Co-host: Institute of Social Sciences (ICS), University of Lisbon.
Scientific Committee: Professor Maria Fernanda Rollo (IHC), Professor Pedro Lains (ICS) and Paul Sharp.
Local Organizers: Professor Maria Fernanda Rollo (IHC), Professor Pedro Lains (ICS) and Ana Prata (IHC).
FRESH Organizers: Paul Sharp, Jacob Weisdorf and Rowena Gray.

FRESH meetings are aimed at researchers in any field of economic and social history. The meetings build on the concept that scholars present their ongoing research at an early stage, i.e. normally before it becomes published as a working paper or the like, and certainly before it is published in books or journals. The main aim of the meetings is to gather researchers in a friendly and collegial environment where they can present their research and receive constructive criticism from their peers.

The FRESH meeting organizers strive to accommodate as many speakers as possible. Accepted papers will normally receive 30 minutes each (20 minutes for presentation and 10 minutes for discussion). However, in the interest of avoiding parallel sessions, the presentation time may be shortened.
The organizers can offer lunch, dinner and other refreshments on the day of the meeting, but hotels and travel must be covered by the participants themselves. Also, there will be a registration fee for this meeting of 70 EUR payable on acceptance of your submission.

Prospective speakers should submit a one‐page abstract and a short CV to freshlisbon@gmail.com no later than May 31, 2012.
Notification of acceptance will be given by mid June 2012.

A History of Entrepreneurship

Author: 
Hébert, Robert F.
Link, Albert N.
Reviewer: 
Diamond, Arthur M.

Published by EH.Net (April 2012)

Robert F. Hébert and Albert N. Link, A History of Entrepreneurship.  London: Routledge, 2009.  xix + 121 pp. $115 (hardcover), ISBN: 978-0-415-77738-4.

Reviewed for EH.Net by Arthur M. Diamond, Jr., Department of Economics, University of Nebraska at Omaha.

A History of Entrepreneurship is a brief survey of what several well-known, and several less-well-known, economists have had to say about the role of the entrepreneur in the economy. Hébert and Link have collaborated on the history of entrepreneurship before.  Besides some papers, their 1988 monograph is substantially the same as the current monograph and their 2006 monograph appears identical except for new versions of the very brief Preface, Introduction and Conclusion.  (If you decide the monograph is useful to you, you may want to buy the 2006 version available for download through SSRN for a mere $19.) Since this is a very slight revision of their 1988 monograph, it is not surprising that almost all of the literature cited is from the mid-1980s or earlier.  Much recent literature is ignored (e.g., Mark Blaug’s insightful 1998 paper).

Economic writings on entrepreneurship are organized, mainly by time and geography, into ten brief chapters – Schumpeter is given his own chapter.  Chapters are devoted to French economists, English economists, the neo-classicals, and American economists.  Among twentieth-century economists, besides Schumpeter, significant attention is devoted to Frank Knight, Israel Kirzner, and Ronald Coase.

The monograph does not aim to make a contribution to economic history, and none is made.  Economic historian Arthur Cole's Harvard workshop on entrepreneurship receives a couple of pages (pp. 78-79) of discussion, but almost entirely in terms of the theoretical stance of the workshop participants.

Geographic Area: 
General, International, or Comparative
Subject: 
Business History
History of Economic Thought; Methodology
Time period: 
18th Century
19th Century
20th Century: Pre WWII
20th Century: WWII and post-WWII

Call for Papers: EHA sessions at 2013 ASSA meetings

Name: 
Mike Haupert

Call for Papers
2013 ASSA Meetings
January 4-6, 2013

The Economic History Association will sponsor two sessions at the ASSA meetings in San Diego, January 4-6, 2013. The program committee includes Dan Bogart and Martha Bailey. Authors interested in presenting a paper should send a one-page proposal, including an abstract or description of the paper and all contact information to Mike Haupert at mhaupert@uwlax.edu by May 8, 2012. Please note on the subject line that you are sending a proposal for the ASSA meetings, and either include the proposal in your message or send the documents as attachments in Word format.

Hard copies may be faxed to:

Michael Haupert
AEA-ASSA Proposals
Department of Economics
University of Wisconsin – La Crosse
(608) 785-8549

We would like to make summaries of the papers available in advance of the ASSA meetings, and the Cliometric Society has agreed to publish them on the Society’s website. Thus, authors submitting proposals should be prepared to provide a copy of their paper for posting on the Cliometric Society website by November 30, 2012. Send a copy of the paper to Mike Haupert at mhaupert@uwlax.edu.

At least one author must be a member of the Economic History Association.

Proposals due: May 8, 2012
Authors notified of acceptance of paper: June 15, 2012
Paper due at the Society office: November 30, 2012
ASSA Meetings in San Diego: January 4-6, 2013

Please email any questions to: mhaupert@uwlax.edu

Michael J. Haupert
Department of Economics
University of Wisconsin – La Crosse
La Crosse, WI 54601

Phone: (608) 785-6863
Fax: (608) 785-8549

Financing Failure: A Century of Bailouts

Author: 
McKinley, Vern
Reviewer: 
Smith, Roy C.

Published by EH.Net (April 2012)

Vern McKinley, Financing Failure: A Century of Bailouts. Oakland, CA: Independent Institute, 2011. xvi + 381 pp. $17 (paperback), ISBN: 978-1-59813-053-9.

Reviewed for EH.Net by Roy C. Smith, Stern School of Business, New York University.

This book looks deeply into the extensive history of financial bailouts in the United States, mainly focusing on the 1930s, the 1980s and the 2000s, and concludes that although there is little evidence to justify them, they continue to be repeated when financial crises appear.  The author, a Research Fellow at the Independent Institute and a consultant to central banks and financial institutions, has brought to light many details from the 2007-2008 crisis from previously undisclosed documents obtained from the Freedom of Information Act (including some suits initiated by himself), and from scouring the abundant crisis literature that has since appeared.

A “bailout” is defined as any sort of intervention by a government entity, which is done preemptively to prevent a failure of a financial institution, and consequently benefits depositors, creditors or investors. Government officials have always justified bailouts, however distasteful, as being necessary to prevent “disorderly failures” that could collapse the larger financial system and impose far greater cost to the economy than the cost of the assistance. Bailouts not only create moral hazard, they also interfere with free market allocation of financial resources to achieve optimal results.

Geographic Area: 
North America
Subject: 
Financial Markets, Financial Institutions, and Monetary History
Government, Law and Regulation, Public Finance
Time period: 
20th Century: Pre WWII
20th Century: WWII and post-WWII

Vacancy: Polish Speaking Research Officer

Name: 
Jan

For an ERC-funded research project led by Prof. Hans-Joachim Voth on political uncertainty and asset returns in Europe, 1900-1950, the Department of Economics at Pompeu Fabra University seeks to appoint one full-time Research Officer to work with Polish archival sources. The successful candidate will form part of a small team of economists and historians in Barcelona and engage in collecting, transcribing, translating and analysing financial information from Polish archives. The post holder will have an experienced local Research Assistant in Poland to help with data collection. This position is initially offered as a one-year contract with a possibility of a one-year extension, commencing in September 2012 but the exact start date is flexible.

Requirements:

• University degree in a relevant discipline (history, economics, regional studies, etc.)
• Postgraduate qualifications (MA/MSc/MPhil) preferred
• Fluent English and native-level Polish speaker
• Excellent qualitative and quantitative research skills
• Interest in European economic history
• Good working knowledge of MS Office and STATA
• Reliability, initiative, flexibility, attention to detail and strong organisation skills
• Experience of archival research on 20th century sources will be a distinct advantage

Benefits:

• Competitive salary
• Generous annual leave
• Interesting and intellectually stimulating work
• Young multicultural team
• Archival research experience
• Opportunity to attend lectures and seminars at Pompeu Fabra University
• Assistance with finding accommodation
• Subsidised Spanish/Catalan language courses
• Chance to spend a year in the exciting and vibrant city of Barcelona

Applications in English including a CV, a Cover Letter and contact details of two referees should be sent by April 15, 2012 to: jana.pakstaitis@upf.edu. Please note that we will review applications on a rolling basis and reserve the right to make an appointment before the deadline.

Vacancy: Russian Speaking Research Officer

Name: 
Jana Pakstaitis

For an ERC-funded research project led by Prof. Hans-Joachim Voth on political uncertainty and asset returns in Europe, 1900-1950, the Department of Economics at Pompeu Fabra University seeks to appoint one full-time Research Officer to work with Russian archival sources. The successful candidate will form part of a small team of economists and historians in Barcelona and engage in collecting, transcribing, translating, and analysing financial information from Russian archives. The post holder will benefit from a network of experienced local Research Assistants in Moscow and St Petersburg to help with data collection. This position is initially offered as a one-year contract with a possibility of a one-year extension, commencing in September 2012.

Requirements:

• University degree in a relevant discipline (economics, history, regional studies, etc.)
• Postgraduate qualifications (MA/MSc/MPhil) preferred
• Fluent English and native-level Russian speaker
• Excellent qualitative and quantitative research skills
• Interest in European economic history
• Good working knowledge of MS Office and STATA
• Reliability, initiative, flexibility, attention to detail and strong organisation skills
• Experience of archival research on 20th century sources will be a distinct advantage

Benefits:

• Competitive salary
• Generous annual leave
• Interesting and intellectually stimulating work
• Young multicultural team
• Archival research experience
• Opportunity to attend lectures and seminars at Pompeu Fabra University
• Assistance with finding accommodation
• Subsidised Spanish/Catalan language courses
• Chance to spend a year in the exciting and vibrant city of Barcelona

Applications in English including a CV, a Cover Letter and contact details of two referees should be sent by April 15, 2012 to: jana.pakstaitis@upf.edu

The Age of Equality: The Twentieth Century in Economic Perspective

Author: 
Pomfret, Richard
Reviewer: 
Huberman, Michael

Published by EH.Net (April 2012)

Richard Pomfret, The Age of Equality: The Twentieth Century in Economic Perspective. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2011. xi + 283 pp. $29 (hardcover), ISBN: 978-0-674-06217-7.

Reviewed for EH.Net by Michael Huberman, Department of History, Université de Montréal.

Remember the 1970s? As an undergraduate I recall taking a course in Comparative Economic Systems which dealt with different manners of organizing production and economies more broadly. We studied the interdependence of politics and economics, using as examples workers’ self-management in Yugoslavia, countervailing forces in the U.S., import-substitution policies in India, and the social market economy of the German Federal Republic. Richard Pomfret must have taken a similar course – and done extremely well at it.

In this brief but immensely rich, provocative, and rewarding book, Pomfret organizes world economic history in the last century around the battle of competing systems. There are obvious pitfalls with this conceptual framework, but Pomfret, who is a consummate author, is extremely agile in avoiding them. The story begins with the Age of Liberalism attached to the industrial revolution. While the application of new technologies generated a lot of wealth during the long-nineteenth century, not all the gains trickled down and were distributed fairly. Liberal reform in theory was predicated on the idea of equality in opportunities and not outcomes.

Geographic Area: 
General, International, or Comparative
Subject: 
Economic Planning and Policy
Economywide Country Studies and Comparative History
Time period: 
20th Century: Pre WWII
20th Century: WWII and post-WWII

Job announcement: Research Fellow in Economic History

Name: 
Guido Alfani

For the ERC-funded research project EINITE –Economic Inequality across Italy and Europe, 1300-1800 led by Prof. Guido Alfani on economic inequality during the preindustrial period, the Dondena Centre of Bocconi University seeks to appoint a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Economic History. The successful candidate will form part of a team of economic historians and will be based in a fully equipped office at Bocconi University (Milan, Italy), although extensive periods of fieldwork in other countries are expected.
The successful candidate will fulfil the specific task of collecting data about economic inequality in north-western Europe and will be fully integrated in the research project. The successful candidate will analyse new documentary evidence, and is then expected to possess an adequate degree of archival training. Perfect knowledge of the English language is also preferred.
The position is initially offered as a two-years contract with a possibility of a two-years extension, commencing in June 2012 (within reason, the exact start date is flexible). Salary will be in the range of 25,000 Euros per annum; according to the Italian law regulating post-doc grants, this amount is to be intended as exempt from income tax / regional tax.
Further details, including the evaluation material required from candidates, are described in the official Call published in the website of Bocconi University:
http://www.unibocconi.eu/wps/allegatiCTP/Bando-ADR-Dondena-13C1-eng.pdf
The deadline for the call is 15 May 2012. Applications should be addressed to the Faculty and Research Division of Bocconi University (recruiting-adr@unibocconi.it), following the instructions specified in the official Call.

About Bocconi

EHA Annual Meeting in Vancouver, Canada (September 21-23), 2012: Book Exhibit

Name: 
Jari Eloranta

The Economic History Association will hold its 72nd Annual Meeting at the Sheraton Wall Centre in Vancouver, Canada, on September 21-23, 2012. We hope to welcome around 250 participants, including top scholars in the fields of history, economics, and political science, from around the world. We invite you to contact your publishers to participate in our tabletop book exhibit, or advertise in our printed program or provide an insert for our registration packets. The Meetings Coordinator and his staff will set up the book display so it is not necessary (but can be arranged) for publishers to send representatives with special posters and banners, although some will choose to do so to provide a more comprehensive service to our members. The book exhibit is open during the entire conference to all those in attendance. In the past it has been often visited and a source of excitement when the books are auctioned off at half (or less than) the list price. The book contributions are tax-deductible for the publishers, and the proceeds help us maintain a high level of support for graduate student participation at the annual meetings.

Please contact your book and publisher representatives to make our book exhibit the success it has been in past years. The EHA would like to thank you for your help on this matter.

Details on the book exhibit, including all the relevant information about pricing etc., can be found here:
http://www.eh.net/eha/meetings/2012-meeting/book-exhibit

If you or your publisher has any further questions, please contact the Meetings Coordinator Jari Eloranta (elorantaj@appstate.edu).

Cordially,
Jari Eloranta

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