In September 2022, the Department of Economic History is launching a new MSc programme in Financial History designed to provide students with an historical and interdisciplinary perspective on the main challenges facing global monetary and financial systems.
This interdisciplinary programme, which begins recruitment shortly, will allow students from a variety of backgrounds to acquire a deep understanding of the functioning of capital markets and of the conduct of monetary affairs through a historical approach. The new programme will be directed by Professor Olivier Accominotti and draw on our expanding group of outstanding scholars in this field, including Natacha Postel-Vinay and Albrecht Ritschl.
The field of financial history has experienced a growth in interest over the past ten years. Researchers, political stakeholders and financial market practitioners have realised that a deep historical perspective is essential to understanding today’s main financial developments. In 2016, Lord Mervyn King, the former Governor of the Bank of England, reflected that when designing the policy response to the 2008 global financial crisis, “it was the study of financial history that gave me the perspective to think deeply about the crisis that we were facing”.
To launch this new programme, the Department will host an online panel event on 2 November at 6pm, ‘Pandemic Public Finance: How historic is it? Lessons from Financial History’ with speakers Professor Graciela Kaminsky (George Washington University), Professor Carmen Reinhart, VP and Chief Economist of the World Bank Group, and Nobel Laureate, Professor Thomas Sargent (NYU Stern).
Full information, including how to book can be found here.