Author: Emrah Gülsunar Twitter: @GulsunarEng For centuries before the Industrial Revolution, ruling elites used their political power to block or constrain technological and economic development in many countries from China to Europe with motivations to protect their power, keep economic rents, or avoid social disturbances. Accordingly, it was possible for the British ruling elite to ban technological improvements or sustain growth-restraining institutions during the 18th century with the very same motivations, just as their predecessors already did in England. However, during the 18th century ..read more

“Financial, Economic and Business History” FEB-HIS Summer School University of Groningen Dates: Monday June 24 – Friday June 28, 2024 classic-editor-remember: classic-editor ..read more

FRESH_Louvain_CFP ..read more

Authors: María José Fuentes-Vásquez and Irina España-Eljaiek Read the full paper here The flip side of the story: agrarian commodity production and educational demand Agrarian commodity production usually affects the supply of schooling since this economic structure facilitates the concentration of power in a minority elite that restricts the educational provision to preserve the status quo (see Galor, Moav, and Vollrath 2009; Wegenast 2010). However, what about the flip side of the educational coin? i.e., what happens when people have more urgent needs than to educate them? Fuentes-Vasquez an ..read more

Authors: Giovanni Federico and Pablo Martinelli Lasheras Read the full paper here What has to do the exposure to Barbary Pirate raids in Early Modern Italy with vine-planting techniques in the early 20th century? You will learn it by reading this short entry. In a recent paper, Giovanni Federico (New York University Abu Dhabi- NYUAD) and Pablo Martinelli (University Carlos III Madrid – UC3M) study the economics of intercropping in Italian traditional agriculture. The economics of vine intercropping: a spatial diversification strategy. Intercropping is the practice of growing several crops simu ..read more

David de la Croix, LIDAM/IRES Université catholique de Louvain, Belgium       Mara Vitale, LIDAM/IRES Université catholique de Louvain, Belgium       Read the full paper here This is an updated version of an article that appeared in VOX-CEPR. Cf. https://cepr.org/voxeu/columns/women-early-modern-academia-catholic-phenomenon.   Despite significant progress in gender equality in academia over the past 50 years, a gender imbalance persists in certain fields, particularly STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) and economics. Research has shown t ..read more

  Lukas Kuld, University of Limerick, lkuld.github.io and Sara Mitchel, University of Southern Denmark, sara-mitchell.com Read the full paper here   Many studies observe two key patterns in the location of creative workers: the attraction of large cities and proximity to other creative workers. In a new paper (Kuld and Mitchell 2023), we trace the origin of urban creative clusters in biographical data on German literary authors. In particular, we look at where clusters are located over time and their dependence on the market structure in literary publishing and the labor market for l ..read more

Author: Guillermo Esteban-Oliver Read the full paper here Spain has a much lower proportion of inhabited territory and a significantly greater spatial concentration of population than the rest of Western Europe: approximately 90% of its population lives in only 30% of the national territory (Gutierrez et al., 2020). Although this pattern dates from the pre-industrial period, it has considerably intensified since the mid-19th century, when industrialization began to notably influence the country’s demographics. This article explores how 19th century railways shaped population dynamics in a key ..read more

Exploring the Economic History of the Arts reveals the profound interplay between economics and the arts throughout history. This burgeoning field offers valuable insights into the economic factors shaping artistic production, fostering interdisciplinary collaborations that enrich our understanding and appreciation of art and culture. A recent Special Issue at the European Review of Economic History delves into the Economic History of the Arts and highlights its interdisciplinary nature. Guest edited by Karol J. Borowiecki from the University of Southern Denmark, the issue emphasizes the impor ..read more

Author: Alba Roldan Full paper available here and more about Dr Roldan’s research here     Public debt – Sustainability – Spain   Public debt in Spain accounts for 117.7% of GDP (data from the first quarter of 2022). Spain has one of the world’s worst records as a serial defaulter (Comín, 2016). Proof of this are the five centuries of irresponsibility: from Phillip II (1557) to the autonomy of the Bank of Spain. Spain has constantly used heterodox tools to solve debt problems: repudiation, restructuring, monetisation, inflation or financial repression. It is for this reason tha ..read more