Members of the Economic History Department pursue research in all areas of the discipline. The department has particular strengths in the following areas:
Historical Economic Demography Group (HED)
Jordan Claridge, Neil Cummins, Leigh Gardner, Sara Horrell, Jane Humphries, Chris Minns, Joan Roses, Mohamed Saleh, Eric Schneider, Patrick Wallis, Melanie Xue
The LSE Historical Economic Demography (HED) Group is an interdisciplinary network of researchers at LSE that explores changes in population, health, migration, living standards, human capital and social mobility over time.
You can find out more here.
Demography, labour, and living standards
Neil Cummins, Sara Horrell, Jane Humphries, Chris Minns, Joan Rosés, Mohamed Saleh, Eric Schneider, Patrick Wallis, Melanie Xue
Our research engages with questions surrounding work, migration, childhood development, gender, fertility and mortality, and the economics of the family in historical context.
Suggested reading
- Sara Horrell, Jane Humphries, and Jacob Weisdorf (2021), “Family standards of living over the long run, England 1280-1850.” Past & Present 250(1) 87-134.
- David De La Croix, Eric Schneider, Jacob Weisdorf (2019), “Childlessness, celibacy and net fertility in pre-industrial England: the middle-class evolutionary advantage”. Journal of Economic Growth, 24(3), 223-256.
Historical economic geography and long run economic change
Leigh Gardner, Albrecht Ritschl, Joan Rosés, Mohamed Saleh, Sabine Schneider, Max Schulze Oliver Volckart, Melanie Xue
Our research is focused on development patterns over space and time – what accounts for the rise and fall of nations and regions, patterns of economic convergence and divergence, and how core-periphery dynamics have changed over time.
Suggested reading
Pre-industrial economic history
Jordan Claridge, Neil Cummins, Sara Horrell, Jane Humphries, Chris Minns, Mohamed Saleh, Eric Schneider, Max Schulze, Oliver Volckart, Patrick Wallis
Our research on pre-industrial economies aims to understand how medieval and early modern societies approached economic challenges related to gender, education, conflict, finance, and agricultural management.
Suggested reading
- Meredith M. Paker, Judy Z. Stephenson, Patrick Wallis (2023), "Job Tenure and Unskilled Workers before the Industrial Revolution: St Paul's Cathedral, 1672-1748", The Journal of Economic History 83(4), 1101-1137.
- Neil Cummins, Morgan Kelly, Cormac Ó Gráda, C. (2016), “Living standards and plague in London, 1560–1665”. The Economic History Review, 69(1), 3-34.
- Maarten Prak, Clare Crowston, Christopher Kissane, Bert De Munck, Chris Minns, Ruben Schalk, Patrick Wallis (2020), “Access to the trade: monopoly and mobility in European craft guilds in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries”. Journal of Social History 54(2) 421-452.
- Jordan Claridge and Spike Gibbs "Waifs and strays: property rights in Late Medieval England" Journal of British Studies 61, 50-82.
Firms and finance
Olivier Accominotti, Gerben Bakker, Leigh Gardner, Alejandra Irigoin, Natacha Postel-Vinay, Albrecht Ritschl, Tirthankar Roy, Anne Ruderman, Sabine Schneider, Oliver Volckart
Our research studies the changing fortunes of industries and firms, the contribution of financial markets to economic integration, and understanding the causes and consequences of past financial crises.
Suggested Reading
Global economic history
Kent Deng, Leigh Gardner, Alejandra Irigoin, Anne Ruderman, Tirthankar Roy Sabine Schneider
Our research focuses on long-run international comparisons, emphasizing the development of global trades (silver bullion, slavery), and the economic history of colonialism.
Suggested Reading
Narrative science
Mary Morgan
Our research on narrative science connects historical modes of argument (i.e. narratives) with scientific modes or argument based on laws, theories, and models. Research in this area stresses links to economics and economic history, history and philosophy of science, and the study of technology.
Suggested Reading
Historical Political Economy
Kent Deng, Leigh Gardner, Andres Guiot Isaac, Safya Morshed, Mohamed Saleh, Sabine Schneider, Melanie Xue
Our research focusses on patterns of political change and their economic consequences through a historical lens. We study economic and political conflicts to determine how they have shaped institutions across time, and we map and build data on the historical formation of property rights, institutions, states and culture over time.
Suggested reading
- Andres Alvarez, Andres M. Guiot-Isaac and Jimena Hurtado (2020) "The Quarrel of Policy Advisers That Became Development Experts: Currie and Hirschman in Colombia" History of Political Economy 52(2), 275-306
- Mohamed Saleh, Jean Tirole (2021) "Taxing Identity: Theory and Evidence from Early Islam" Econometrica 89(4), 1881-1919
- Safya Morshed (2023) "State of Forgiveness: Cooperation, Conciliation, and State Formation in Mughal South Asia (1556-1707)" The Economic History Review [early access]
- Xiaojie Liu, Jim Huangnan Shen, Kent Deng (2022) "Endowment Structure, Property Rights and Reforms of Large State-owned Enterprises (SOEs) in China: Past, Present and Future" Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, 62, 675-692
- Yu Hao, Melanie Xue (2017) "Friends from afar: The Taipeng Rebellion, Cultural Proximity and Primary Schooling in the Lower Yangzi, 1850-1949" Explorations in Economic History 63, 44-69.