OZ.S: Symposium on Australian Economic History—ANU 26th -27th March 2009

[Simon Ville]

Symposium on Australian Economic History—ANU 26^th  -27^th March 2009

The conference will take place over two days on the 26^th and 27^th 
March 2009 with eight to ten full length presentations and a session for 
new researchers. There will be about 40 participants including eminent 
economic historians from overseas. The conference will take place at 
University House, Australian National University.

The conference will focus on long run trends in Australian development, 
particularly on the growth and evolving structure of the economy.  It 
goes without saying that understanding the past is important for 
understanding the present.  Among the topics that have a contemporary 
resonance are issues such as the environment and water conservation, 
indigenous people, demographic trends and household structure, human 
capital accumulation, employment and the wage structure, immigration and 
trade policy, financial markets and financial turbulence.

Where possible these developments will be assessed and evaluated in a 
comparative context. Comparative economic history, looking at trends 
across countries at similar stages of development, has been a major 
theme in recent years. It provides a useful benchmark for assessing 
Australian development and it also brings Australian development to the 
attention of a wider international audience.

The workshop will also commemorate the academic life and work of David 
Pope who was a Professorial Fellow, first in Economic History and then 
in Economics at RSSS from the early 1980s to the mid-1990s. He took 
early retirement for health reasons and died in late 2007. His work 
spanned a variety of themes in Australian Economic History, from 
immigration to banking and finance, with a focus on long run trends from 
the mid- nineteenth century onwards.

With the support of the Economic History Society of Australia and New 
Zealand, the organizers would specifically like to strongly encourage 
‘new researchers’ to offer short presentations of their work. New 
researchers  includes  PhD students writing dissertations related to 
Australian economic history or more established researchers in different 
branches of economics who are working on topics that have a historical 
dimension.

Full support is available for travel and accommodation for new 
researchers. Financial support is also available for other participants, 
with preference given to presenters.   

If you would like to participate in this event, please contact Tim 
Hatton (Economics Program, RSSS, ANU): Email: tim.hatton at anu.edu.au; 
Phone (2) 6125 3230; Fax: (2) 6125 0182.

-- 
Professor Simon Ville
Head, School of Economics
Faculty of Commerce, University of Wollongong, 
NSW 2522, AUSTRALIA. Ph. 02-4221-3098
President, Economic History Society of Australia and New Zealand
http://www.uow.edu.au/commerce/econ/ehsanz/