Co-chairs:
David F. Weiman, dfw5@columbia.edu
John Coatsworth, jhc2125@columbia.edu
Archives: Previous years' schedules
Fall 2007
| October 4 | James G. Wen, Trinity College |
"Why was China trapped in an agrarian society?--an economic geographical approach to the Needham Puzzle " |
| November 1 | Kim Oosterlinck, Université Libre de Bruxelles |
"Victory or Repudiation? The Probability of the Southern Confederacy Winning the Civil War" (co-authored with Marc D. Weidenmier) |
| December 6 |
|
"The Triffin Missions: unconventional American money doctors in the Age of the Good Neighbor Policy " |
Spring 2008
| February 7 | Alan Dye, |
"Cleansing Under the Quota: The Defense and Survival of Sugar Mills in 1930s Cuba" |
| March 6 | Maria Alejandra Irigoin, College of New Jersey |
"The end of a silver era: the global consequences of the breakdown of the Spanish Silver Peso Standard " [Appendix] |
| April 3 | Christopher Beauchamp, New York University |
"Technology's trials: patent litigation in the United States, 1865-1910" |
| May 1 |
|
"Comparing the UK and US Financial Systems, 1790-1830" |
The concerns of this seminar are wide ranging in time, place, and method. Emphasis is on the logic of European and American economic growth from feudal times forward with regular, but less frequent, contributions on Latin America, Asia, and Africa. Topics range from microeconomic studies of firms undergoing rapid technical change and households changing their interaction between home and market to more macroeconomic topics concerned with national and regional economic growth performance, the economics of imperialism, and the political economy of the Great Depression. Given the breadth of the seminar’s membership and interests, comparative economic history is often a central element in seminar discussions. Pre-circulation of papers permits vigorous discussion.