As we reach the end of the academic year and wave goodbye to another cohort of students, it’s an opportunity to pause for a little reflection on the past year. Recent events – particularly the surge in inflation – have once again reminded the world of the importance of understanding economic history if we are to manage the challenges of the present. Many of our colleagues have been involved in helping provide insights into this through the media and helping to give a little grounding to some of the looser parallels with the 1970s that have appeared in the press.
As for life here, we started last September optimistically hoping for a return to normality, but endured another lockdown and the continuation of hybrid teaching. Some of the transitions this has forced on us have been challenging, but our students have again produced some superlative work, and thanks to the generosity of one of our alumni donors we have been able to run research internships for our students to give them a chance to collaborate on projects with faculty. We end the year with an in-person MSc Dissertation workshop which, this year, will bring together faculty and students from all levels of study to discuss areas of research interests - and which will, no doubt, continue in the pub later.
Sadly, we’ve had to say goodbye to LSE Fellows Stefania Galli and Guillaume Yon as they have moved on to postdoctoral positions at Gothenborg and Duke University respectively, we are incredibly grateful for their contribution to Department life.
We are pleased to announce that Mohamed Saleh of the Toulouse School of Economics, who you may remember gave the Epstein Lecture in 2020, will be joining us as an Associate Professor in September. Mohamed brings us a new area thanks to his expertise on the economic history of the Middle East and North Africa, with a particular interest in the role of religion in shaping the economy of the region, and on understanding the persistence of autocratic regimes.
The PSS team has also undergone a re-structuring – with Loraine Long’s retirement (see last issue), Tracy Keefe has taken on the management of the PhD programme, and we welcome Oli Harrison as the new MSc Programmes Officer.
We are planning to build on the success of our public events and have already got some great ones planned for next term: Nick Crafts will discuss whether, in a post covid world, we can learn lessons from the Attlee Government of the 1940s; Leigh Gardner will deliver her Inaugural Lecture; Natacha Postel-Vinay will host a screening of her television documentary ‘Can’t Pay, Won’t Pay! A Popular History of Taxes’; and Joan Roses will Chair a Panel on Regional Inequality. Keep an eye on our Events Page: https://www.lse.ac.uk/Economic-History/Events as information will be posted there once finalised.
I wish you all a wonderful, relaxing summer!