Department News 2024-25

Milton Friedman: The last conservative

Date and Venue: Tuesday 18 March 2025, 12 pm, CKK 1.17, Cheng Kin Ku Building, LSE 

Speaker: Jennifer Burns, Stanford University

Chair: Olivier Accominotti, LSE 

In her new book Milton Friedman: The Last Conservative, which forms the basis of this event, Jennifer Burns traces Friedman's long-standing collaborations with women, including economist Anna Schwartz; his complex relationship with powerful figures such as Federal Reserve Chairman Arthur Burns and Treasury Secretary George Shultz; and his direct interventions in policymaking at the highest levels. 

For more information, please visit the event webpage: Milton Friedman: The last conservative 

Sunday Times features research on English marriages by Greg Clark and Neil Cummins

In its 2 March edition, The Sunday Times featured recent research by Gregory Clark and Neil Cummins which challenges the popular conception that, historically, women have married for social status - something known as hypergamy - whereas men married for youth and attractiveness. Analysis of data from 33 million marriages and 67 million births in England between 1837 and 2021 indicates that there is no significant hypergamy by women in English marriage during that period, and that the average status of women’s fathers equaled that of their husbands’ fathers. Clark says of the findings, "Of all of the social changes that occurred - the emancipation of women, the spread of education - none of that has changed the way that people match."

Read the CEPR Discussion Paper here: Hypergamy revisited: Marriage in England, 1838-2021

Read The Sunday Times article here: Women do not 'marry upwards'

Elite conflict, colonialism and democracy in the Middle East
Co-hosted with the LSE Middle East Centre

Speaker: Dr Mohamed Saleh
Chair: Professor Eric Schneider

Thursday 29 May 2025 6.00pm to 7.30pm 
Venue: Old Theatre, Old Building and online   

In this British Academy-funded research project, Mohamed Saleh develops a new economic history of the Middle East that explains the economic roots of authoritarianism in the region. He theoretically and empirically investigates how demands for democratisation emerge from intra-elite conflicts in an agrarian economy, despite the lack of an industrial bourgeoisie that was crucial in the Global North, and how elite politics shift with colonialism, the intrusion of industrial capital, and postcolonial nationalist military coups.   

This public lecture is free and open to all. More details, including how to register, are here:  Elite conflict, colonialism and democracy in the Middle East 

Apprenticeship and economic growth in early modern England

Speaker: Professor Patrick Wallis
Chair: Professor Eric Schneider

Wednesday 14 May 2025 6.30pm to 8.00pm
Venue: Old Theatre, Old Building, and online

In his latest book, The Market for Skill: apprenticeship and economic growth in early-modern England, which forms the basis of this event, Patrick Wallis shows how apprenticeship helped reshape the English economy between 1500-1800.

By detailing the activities of apprentices and masters, the strategies of ambitious parents, the interventions of guilds and the decisions of town officials, Wallis shows how the system contributed to the growth of cities, the movement of workers, and the spread of new technologies. He argues that this success was because it was a flexible institution which allowed apprentices to change their minds and exit contracts early, providing a vital training accessible to most young people, whatever their background.

This event is free and open to all. More details, including how to register, are here: Apprenticeship and economic growth in early modern England

Eddie Hunt

The Department was deeply saddened to learn that Eddie Hunt, long-time MSc Programmes Director, passed away recently.

You can read our obit here.

Postdoctoral Fellowship Opportunities at LSE

The Department of Economic History at LSE would be pleased to support suitable applications for the following postdoctoral fellowships beginning in October 2025. Check the eligibility criteria for each of the schemes and, if eligible, please contact Professor Eric Schneider (e.b.schneider@lse.ac.uk) to discuss your application. 

LSE-ESRC Post-doctoral Fellowships 

One-year postdoctoral fellowship starting October 2025. Applicants must be completing their PhD on an ‘ESRC DTP pathway’.

Check you are eligible via this link: Postdoctoral Fellowships

Deadline for applications: 4pm. 25 March 2025

Submit your application via the LSE Jobs e-recruitment system 

British Academy International Fellows Programme 2025

Two-year postdoctoral fellowship starting October 2025. Applicants must be within 7 years of their PhD. They must also be working outside the UK and not be UK citizens at the time of application.

More information is available here.

Deadline for applications: 5pm,18 March 2025

Video: What wills reveal about English social, economic and psychological history

Professor Neil Cummins research on what wills can reveal about our economic, social and psychological history featured in a research case. You can now view the video here and on the LSE Research channel:

LSE Research

'For the past millennium, the ‘‘last Will and Testament’’ has guided the transmission of wealth at death in England. Millions of these handwritten documents exist, typically listing an individual’s assets and inheritors in their own words. These wills represent our best record of individual lives and the economic, family, social and religious influences which mattered most to people as they contemplated their death. Professor Neil Cummins will draw on a new, large sample of wills to quantitatively reconstruct English economic, social and psychological history, documenting the behavioural roots of the modern world.' 

Professor Jane Humphries awarded Alice Murray Distinguished Scholar Award

Congratuations to Professor Jane Humphries, who has received the Alice Murray Distinguished Scholar Award. She will be awarded a medal and give the Alice Murray Distinguished Scholar Lecture, entitled ‘Caring about care: The economic history of caring labour’.on Thursday 27 February 2025, 5pm, Trinity College Dublin.

More details of the lecture and how to attend can be found here: Alice Murray Distinguished Scholar Lecture

The award is given by the Centre for Economics, Policy and History, in honour of  Alice Murray, who was the first woman to receive a DSc Econ (1903) from LSE. Murray wrote her dissertation on the commercial relations between England and Ireland in the Early Modern period, subsequently published as a monograph.  

Research Showcase: How apprenticeship helped transform premodern England

Professor Patrick Wallis 

Tuesday 11 March, 11-11.30am, Shaw Library

For more than a century, apprenticeship in England has been in crisis. Brief moments of optimistic expansion have been punctured by political and economic shocks. Yet it was not always so. Before 1800, apprenticeship was a thriving and vital part of the economy. Drawing on his new book, The Market for Skill, Professor Patrick Wallis describes how apprenticeship helped transform England from a backwards, rural economy and laid the foundations for the first Industrial Revolution.

You can sign up for this event here: How apprenticeship helped transform pre-modern England

New Year's Honours awarded to Professor Mary Morgan and Economic History alum Dr Loyd Grossman

We are delighted to announce that Professor Mary Morgan has been awarded an OBE in the New Years Honours list in recognition of her services “to the Economics Profession and to Social Science”. Professor Morgan commented on her award that  “[m]y research aims have been to illuminate the various ways that social science, particularly economics, has played in shaping the ways our societies are organised and governed; and thence to frame these insights in ways that might help society make good use of our social sciences in the future. My service to the RES especially has provided a stronger sense of that mission and its importance.  I am delighted that my service and contributions to social science and the economics profession have been honoured in this way.”

More details of Professor Morgan's award can be found here: New Year's Honours for LSE 2025 

Honours also went to alum Dr Loyd Grossman, who was awarded a Knight's Bachelor of the Order of the British Empire.  Dr Grossman received an MSc in Economic History from LSE in 1977. Full details of his award can be found here: New Year's Honours 2025 

Historical Economic Demography Group: announcing 2025 workshops

The Historical Economic Demography Group is hosting two workshops in the first half of 2025. Full details below:

• Seventh Annual Historical Economic Demography Workshop
  31 January 2025
• Health Transitions in the Global South
  9, 10 June 2025

Economic HIstory graduate Kirill Kushnarev wins 2024 ESCoE prize 

Recent MSc Economic History graduate, Kirill Kushnarev is the winner of the Economic Statistics Centre of Excellence (ESCoE)'s challenge to write a blog using sources in the UK Historical Data repository. The challenge is part of EXCoE's recently launched master's dissertation programme.

Kirill's winning entry is on labour market concentration since the British Industrial Revolution. He talks about his findings and the use of historic repository sources in this short video : 

Kirill Kushnarev talks about his research and experience on the ESCoE programme

You can read Kirill's blog, plus more information about the prize here: Labour market concentration since the British Industrial Revolution 

Professor Patrick Wallis named President of the Economic History Society

Congratulations to Patrick, who will begin his three-year term in April 2025. 

You can read more details here: https://ehs.org.uk/election-ehs-president-and-honorary-secretary/

2025 Epstein Lecture: The diffusion of soft technologies during and after World War II

Speaker: Michela Giorcelli (UCLA)
Chair: Patrick Wallis (LSE)
Date and time: Thursday 20 March, 6.30pm, Auditorium, Central Building

The 2025 Epstein Lecture will be delivered by Michela Giorcelli, who will discuss how the large-scale diffusion of innovative management practices to US firms involved in war production acted as a technology that put them on a higher growth path for decades, and helped create the ‘American Way’ of business.  More information, including how to attend, can be found here.

The hidden victims: civilian casualties of the two world wars

Speaker: Cormac O’Grada (UCD)
Chair: Eric Schneider (LSE)
Date and time: Thursday 20 February, 6.30pm, Sheik Zayed Theatre, Cheng Kin Ku Building

In his latest book, which forms the basis of this event, O’Grada argues that previous estimates of civilian deaths in the two world wars are almost certainly too low.  By careful evaluation of the available evidence, he estimates that these wars cost nearly twice as many lives as previously estimated.  As he shows, this matters as it enables us to argue with those who try to deny, minimise or exaggerate wartime savagery. 

More information, including how you can attend can be found here: The hidden victims: civilian casualties of the two world wars  

Handbook of the Economic History of Colonialism

The department will welcome contributors to The Handbook of the Economic History of Colonialism (Routledge 2025) on 13-14 December to participate in a workshop. The book focuses on two major waves of European overseas colonialism: Americas (1490s-1820s) and Asia/Africa (1850s-1970s) and showcases new scholarship in the field.

Attendance is by invitation only but you can see the full programme here: Event programme

Financial History Group Inaugural Workshop

The Financial History Group, which brings together researchers exploring key questions in money and finance, will hold its inaugural workshop on 29 November 2024 at LSE. 

This event is by invitation only, but you can see the full programme here:  Workshop Programme

2024 OWL Workshop hosted at LSE

The department hosted the annual Oxford, Warwick and LSE (OWL) workshop on 8 November. This workshop is a great opportunity for economic historians and economists to get insights into the latest research in economic history. This year it included a keynote from Professor John Turner (Queen's University, Belfast), Capital Structures without Government Rules: Evidence from Victorian Britain. 

The full programme is available here: OWL 2024 programme

 Oliver Volckart interview on New Books Network 

Listen to a recent interview with Oliver about his recent book, The Silver Empire: Link to the podcast here

What was the Holy Roman Empire? What monetary policies tell us about premodern multilaterism

Wednesday 23 October 2024, 6.30-8pm, Old Theatre LSE

In his recent book The Silver Empire: how Germany created its first common currency, which forms the basis of this event, Oliver Volckart examines the political and economic conditions leading to the creation of Germany's first common currency. For this panel event, he is joined by Dr Federica Carugati (KCL) to discuss what monetary policy can tell us about premodern multilaterism.  The event will be chaired by Professor Olivier Accominotti (LSE).

More details, including a link to the recording, can be found here: The Holy Roman Empire