The Economic History Podcast

In this episode, we sit down with Assoc. Prof. Kirsten Wandschneider to talk about the monetary disintegration that plagued the interwar period. How did countries choose to go back on the Interwar Gold Standard? How did this constrain policy choices? Why did countries eventually leave and why was the interwar standard so shortlived? We also review the performance of countries who remained on gold compared with those who imposed various types of capital controls based on Kirsten's work. We finish by considering her recent efforts to quantify the effects of the 1930s currency wars on international trade.

Prof. Peter Lindert discusses the evidence on social spending and the economy since the nineteenth century summarized in his new book- 'Making Social Spending Work'. Why did it take so long? What are the effects of social spending on growth? What are the threats to the welfare state?  We finish by covering the reformers and non-reformers in tackling the looming pension crisis, as population ageing  appears in many of the world's economies.

In this episode, we chat with Prof. Tamás Vonyó about the long run variation in the impact of World War II across a range of European economies. We begin with discussing the comparative wartime destruction across regions (using Tamás' "5 D's") and then move on to contrast the growth experiences of Western Europe and Eastern Europe with these initial starting points in mind. We also revisit the 1980s collapse of the Eastern Bloc and reconsider the role of factor inputs as a cause of socialism's failure, as an alternative to the traditional narrative, which places the blame on productivity/innovation deficiencies.

Prof. Deirdre McCloskey has written prolifically on a wide range of topics. In this episode, she discusses her trilogy of books which attempt to explain what she coined 'The Great Enrichment' since the nineteenth century. We discuss the use of language in economics, the potentially overstated role of physical capital, how liberalism spawned innovation and fostered ideas, as well as comparing some historical living standard examples throughout.

Today, we meet Professor Hans-Joachim Voth to discuss some of his work on the economic forces around religious and political epochs characterised by extremism. We begin by reviewing the long term economic effects of the Spanish Inquisition and consider the historical  roots of anti-semitism  in explaining Nazi support centuries later. Finally, we look at how "social capital" may have negative effects in garnering support for extremist movements and look at the effects of road building on political votes for the Nazi party.

Professor Peter Temin's 'Lessons from the Great Depression' remains a standard classic three decades since its publication. In today's episode, Peter talks about the Great Depression's lessons for today's policy makers and the use of fiscal policy with and without a gold standard. We also consider how the existing theories available to each generation influence their policy makers in their choices.

This week, we hear from Prof. Naomi Lamoreaux on her work on the evolution of the corporation through time. We start with trying to define what a firm is, cover the motivations behind and the consequences of mergers. We look to a past example of a giant corporation and put it in the context of the present. Is "bigness" of some firms a problem and if so, how might we attempt to deal with it?

This week, Prof. Karol Jan Borowiecki discusses his research on composers' creativity and consider some of the factors that influence the process: emotions, geography and instruction. We review some of the most innovative ways that Karol's work in economic history measures emotions, creative output and the transmission of ideas and consider the relevance of these to our understanding of long term economic growth. 

Today, we meet Prof. Eric Monnet of the Paris School of Economics and discuss the monetary system that emerged after World War II- Bretton Woods. After covering how it theoretically operated, Eric takes us through the details of how it functioned in reality. We look at the nostalgia for gold amongst some central bankers, the co-operation that distinguished the BW system from the Gold exchange standard and consider new interpretations on the underlying causes of the system's ultimate demise. 

In this episode, we meet Prof. Jutta Bolt to discuss the collaborative effort of the Maddison project, which standardizes  international income statistics to compare living standards over time and space. We look at some of Jutta’s research on the relationship between slavery and economic growth, as well as discussing how pre-colonial institutions influenced colonial institutions in Sub-Saharan Africa. We finish with a review of some of her new work on historical income inequality in sub-Saharan Africa.