A very warm welcome from Houghton Street! This has been an extraordinary few months for economic history, as the rapidly changing global policy environment – driven by President Trump’s use of tariffs – has turned commentators’ attention to the past. We have to go back a century to find similar levels of trade barrier. I don’t think anyone has heard so much about Smoot Hawley since the 1930s (at least outside our lecture theatres at LSE).
Fortunately, there have been some excellent interventions by economic historians that make clear the likely impact of high tariffs. I would particularly recommend some of the essays by Doug Irwin, the past president of the US Economic History Association, in the Economist. Doug knows more about US trade history than anyone else, including most people in Washington.
Teachers! Forgive the shout, but I am keen to hear from alumni who are involved in school teaching anywhere in the world. We are working with the Historical Association and the Economic History Society to develop resources for students and teachers so that economic history is better represented in the school curriculum. Please email me directly (p.h.wallis@lse.ac.uk) if you’d like to be part of a conversation about what would be helpful or would like to use some of the resources we have developed already.
What's happening this term? I will be taking the stage to launch my new book The Market for Skill: apprenticeship and economic growth in early modern Englandon 14th May at 6.30pm (Old Theatre, Old Building). This will be a public lecture and then a reception – register here. It would be lovely to see some of you there if you can make it. If you can’t join us in-person, do sign-up to watch live.
Do please also join us for Mohamed Saleh’s lecture Elite conflict, colonialism and democracy in the Middle Easton 29th May at 6pm (Old Theatre, Old Building). Mohamed’s British Academy-funded project has allowed him to develop a new economic history of the Middle East that explains the economic roots of authoritarianism in the region.
There is much to celebrate, so do take a look at our Congratulations page where we detail recently graduated PhD students, awards from the EHS conference, and details of the prestigious Alice Murray Award which was won by Jane Humphries.
It was great to see so many familiar faces at the Epstein Lecture, if you were unable to make it, you can watch the recording here.
Our Department Research Groups are thriving: the Historical Economic Demography Group is gearing up for it’s seventh annual workshop, on the theme Health Transitions in the Global South, will be held at LSE in June.
Also in June, the Financial History Group are co-hosting a conference at the Bank of England, looking at the UKs return to the Gold Standard one hundred years ago.
Finally, this is my last newsletter as Head of Department. It has been a tremendous four years, and I have been enormously privileged to help steer the department. At the end of this term, I will hand over the reins to Professor Sara Horrell. Sara is a fabulous colleague and will be a brilliant Head of Department. I will not be going anywhere, however, so I hope to see many of you at future alumni events.
Patrick Wallis