We had a particularly busy Autumn Term with a wide range of events. If you missed any of them, you can find out more here and watch the recordings of our public lectures. We are also looking forward to welcoming Cormac Ó Gráda and Michela Giorcelli in Winter Term - event details are below.
On 23 October 6.30-8.00pm (Old Theatre, LSE) Oliver Volckart spoke about the political and economic conditions leading to the creation of Germany's first common currency. For this panel event, he was joined by Dr Federica Carugati (KCL) to discuss what monetary policy can tell us about premodern multilaterism. The event was chaired by Professor Olivier Accominotti (LSE).
Full details, including a link to the recording can be found here: The Holy Roman Empire
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
The Financial History Group, which brings together researchers exploring key questions in money and finance, held its inaugural workshop on 29 November at LSE.
You can see the full programme here: Workshop Programme
On 13-14 December the department welcomed contributors to The Handbook of the Economic History of Colonialism (Routledge 2025) . 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 was by invitation only but you can see the full programme here: Event programme
On 20 February, 6.30 - 8.00pm (Sheik Zayed Theatre, CKK Building) Cormac Ó Gráda will join us to discuss his new book, The Hidden Victims: Civilian Casualties of the Two World Wars, in which he 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.
For more information, including how you can attend see the event page here
Epstein Lecture 2025: The diffusion of soft technologies during and after World War II
20 March, 6.30-8pm (Auditorium, Centre Building, and online),
We are pleased to announce that Professor Michaela Giorcelli will deliver our annual Epstein Lecture, in which she 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.
Michaela Giorcelli is Associate Professor at the Department of Economics of UCLA. She is also a faculty associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, and a research affiliate at CEPR, CESifo, IZA, J-PAL and CCPR. She serves as Associate Editor at the Journal of Economic History.
More information, including how to attend, can be found here.
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