HEHC 2024
The Economic History of Colonialism
13, 14 December 2024, Vera Anstey Suite, Old Building, LSE
Contributors to the Handbook of the Economic History of Colonialism (Routledge 2025) will join this workshop. The Handbook focuses on two major waves of European overseas colonialism: Americas (1490s-1820s) and Asia/Africa (1850s-1970s). These waves were global, modernising and world-shaping. Research on economic changes that followed has evolved from broad generalisations to nuanced studies emphasising local factors and diversity. Key themes include institutional change, integration, environmental impact, extraction/development dynamics, regional specificities, inequality, and living standards.
The workshop will reflect this shift and showcase new scholarship in the field.
Organisers: Ewout Frankema, Wageningen and Tirthankar Roy, LSE
Friday 13 December
9.00-9.30am: Coffee, registration and welcome
9.30-11.00am Session 1: Chris Minns (Chair)
Ewout Frankema (Wageningen University and Tirthankar Roy (LSE) The Economic History of Colonialism: Introduction
Luis Bértola (Universidad de la República Uruguay) Spanish America
Leonardo Weller(São Paulo School of Economics) and Thales Pereira (Fundação Getulio Vargas) Portuguese America
Hoyt Bleakley (University of Michigan) and Paul Rhode (University of Michigan) United States of America
11.00-11.30am: Coffee break
11.30am-1.00pm Session 2: Luis Bertola (Chair)
Chris Minns (LSE) Canada
Martin Shanahan (University of South Australia/Gothenburg University) Australia and New Zealand
Amanda Gregg (Middlebury College) and Steven Nafziger (Williams College) Russian Empire
Duol Kim (Myongji University) Japanese Colonialism
1.00-2.00pm: Lunch
2.00-3.30pm Session 3: Jutta Bolt (Chair)
Anand V. Swamy (Williams College) British India
Laura Maravall (Universidad de Alcalá) and Laura Panza (University of Melbourne) The Middle East and North Africa
Kate Frederick (Utrecht University) and Karin Pallaver (University of Bologna) East Africa
Erik Green (Lund University) and Rory Pilossof (University of the Free State) Southern Africa
3.30-4.00pm: Coffee break
4.00-5.30pm Session 4: Anand Swamy (Chair)
Denis Cogneau (Paris School of Economics) French Sub-Saharan Africa
Felix Meier zu Selhausen (Utrecht University) German Africa
Mattia Bertazini (University of Nottingham) Italian Africa
Frans Buelens (University of Antwerp) Belgian Africa
5.30-6.30pm Drinks, Shaw Library, Old Building, LSE
7.00-9.00pm Dinner, Shaw Library, Old Building, LSE
Saturday 14 December
9.00-10.30am Session 5: Laura Panza (Chair)
Anne Booth (SOAS) British Southeast Asia and Ceylon
Jean-Pascal Bassino (École Normale Supérieure de Lyon) French Indochina
Bambang Purwanto (Universitas Gadjah Mada) and Abdul Wahid (Universitas Gadjah Mada) Dutch East Indies
Leticia Arroyo-Abad (City University of New York), José Antonio Espin-Sanchez (Yale University) and Noel Maurer (George Washington University) Spanish and American Philippines
10.30-11.00am: Coffee break
11.00am-12.30pm Session 6: Hoyt Bleakley (Chair)
Jutta Bolt (University of Groningen) and Jan Luiten van Zanden (Utrecht University) Economic Growth
Kevin O'Rourke (NYU Abu Dhabi) Globalization
Leigh Gardner (LSE) States and Fiscal Systems
Oskar Broberg (Gothenburg University) and Klass Ronnback (Gothenburg University) Business and Investment
12.30-1.30pm: Lunch
1.30-3.00pm Session 7: Mattia Bertazzini (Chair)
Ewout Frankema (Wageningen University) and Marlous van Waijenburg (Harvard Business School) Labour, Migration and Slavery
Dacil Juif (Carlos III de Madrid) and Pim de Zwart (Wageningen University) Living Standards
Gabriele Capelli (University of Siena) Missions
Michiel de Haas (Wageningen University) and Emiliana Travieso (Carlos III de Madrid) Inequality
3.00-3.30pm: Coffee break
3.30-5.00pm Session 8: Leigh Gardner (Chair)
Henrice Altink (University of York) and David Clayton (University of York) The Economic Roots of Decolonization
David Henley (Leiden University) Post-Colonial Development Policy
James Fenske (Warwick University), Bishnu Gupta (Warwick University) and Anwesh Mukhopadhyay (Warwick University) Persistence Studies
Stephanie Decker (Birmingham Business School) and Stefanie Kreibich (Aston University) Business After Colonialism
The handbook will contain chapters on the Caribbean (Trevor Burnard), British West Africa (Gareth Austin), colonialism and the environment (Corey Ross), colonialism and law (Tirthankar Roy), technology and science (Ewout Frankema & Tirthankar Roy) and colonialism and the Industrial Revolution (Giorgio Riello) which are not presented at the conference.
The conference organizers are grateful for financial support from the Dutch Research Council (NWO) to the project "South-South Divergence: Comparative Histories of Regional Integration in Southeast Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa since 1850" (NWO VICI grant no. VI.C.201.062), and from the LSE Economic History Department.