European Historical Economics Society

European Historical Economics Society
Name	European Historical Economics Society
Formation	1991
Type	Learned society
Headquarters	London
Region served	Europe
Leader title	President

European Historical Economics Society

The European Historical Economics Society promotes research on economic history through conferences, publications, and grants. Founded in 1991, it connects historians and economists across institutions such as London School of Economics, University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, and Universität Heidelberg. The society contributes to debates involving figures and institutions linked to Cliometrics, Robert Fogel, Douglass North, Angus Maddison, Jan de Vries, Joel Mokyr, and Stanley Engerman.

History

The society emerged amid initiatives following meetings at European University Institute, Nuffield College, Oxford, All Souls College, Oxford, and conferences that included participants from Bocconi University, Humboldt University of Berlin, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, University of Amsterdam, and Erasmus University Rotterdam. Early congresses featured panels on themes addressed by scholars influenced by works such as Time on the Cross, The Rise of the Western World, The British Industrial Revolution, and studies by Maddison Project contributors. Founders drew on networks linked to Economic History Review, Journal of Economic History, Explorations in Economic History, and archives like the British Library, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, and Archivo General de Indias.

Objectives and Activities

Core objectives include fostering research connected to topics studied by Adam Smith, Karl Marx, Max Weber, John Maynard Keynes, David Ricardo, and Alfred Marshall; promoting comparative studies involving regions such as Iberian Peninsula, Balkan Peninsula, Scandinavia, Eastern Europe, Mediterranean Basin, and Eastern Mediterranean; and encouraging quantitative approaches pioneered in Cliometrics and associated with Journal of Economic History editors and contributors linked to Harvard University, Yale University, Princeton University, University of Chicago, and Columbia University. Activities include organizing seminars at venues like Institute of Historical Research, Center for Economic Policy Research, Royal Historical Society, and collaborative workshops with institutes such as Max Planck Institute for Legal History and Legal Theory, Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute, and Instituto de Estudios Económicos.

Membership and Governance

Membership comprises academics from departments and centers including Department of Economic History, LSE, Faculty of History, University of Cambridge, School of History, University of St Andrews, Central European University, University of Warsaw, Charles University, KU Leuven, Trinity College Dublin, University of Edinburgh, and University of Glasgow. Governance rests with an elected council with officers whose careers intersect institutions like Bank of England, European Central Bank, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, and editorial boards of journals including Economic History Review and European Review of Economic History. Presidents and council members have affiliations with repositories such as British Museum, Archives nationales (France), and research funding bodies like European Research Council.

Conferences and Publications

Annual conferences rotate among host institutions such as University of St Andrews, Université libre de Bruxelles, University of Bologna, University of Vienna, University of Barcelona, and University of Lisbon. Invited keynote speakers have included scholars connected to Balliol College, Oxford, King's College London, Johns Hopkins University, Northwestern University, and University of California, Berkeley. The society's proceedings and working papers appear alongside outputs in Explorations in Economic History, Journal of Economic History, Economic History Review, and edited volumes published by Cambridge University Press, Oxford University Press, Routledge, Palgrave Macmillan, and Springer. Conference themes have overlapped with research on topics addressed in works such as The Great Divergence, The Long Twentieth Century, and studies by Deirdre McCloskey.

Awards and Grants

The society administers prizes and fellowships recognizing work in fields studied by recipients of Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences such as Robert Fogel and Douglass North. Awards honor early-career scholars with ties to programs at European University Institute, Stichting voor Historische Wetenschappen, Swiss National Science Foundation, and national academies including Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques and Royal Society of Edinburgh. Grants support archival research in collections like Public Record Office Victoria, Archivio di Stato di Venezia, Archivo General de la Nación (Mexico), and fieldwork funded in partnership with agencies such as Leverhulme Trust and British Academy.

Partnerships and Influence

The society partners with organizations including Economic History Society, American Historical Association, Social Science History Association, Centre for Economic Policy Research, Institute for New Economic Thinking, and university centers such as Bocconi's IGIER and Oxford Martin School. Its influence extends to curricula at University of Oxford, London School of Economics, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, University of Copenhagen, and policy-relevant work cited in reports by European Commission, World Bank, and International Monetary Fund. Through networks spanning archives like Vatican Secret Archives and museums such as Nationalmuseum (Stockholm), the society has shaped historiography linked to debates over industrialization exemplified by studies concerning Industrial Revolution, Little Ice Age, Black Death, Age of Discovery, and regional cases such as Ottoman Empire and Habsburg Monarchy.

Category:Learned societies of Europe Category:Economic history