The Fondazione Istituto Internazionale di Storia Economica “F. Datini” and the European School for Training in Economic and Social Historical Research (ESTER) announce
their sixth jointly-organized Datini-ESTER Advanced Seminar for economic and social historians on 8-13 May 2022, in Prato (Italy) on:

“Economic Innovations”

The topic of the seminar is closely related to the theme of the congress organized yearly by the "F. Datini" International Institute of Economic History and devoted in 2022 to The Knowledge Economy. Innovation, Productivity and Economic Growth. The 2022 Datini-Ester seminar will deal with Economic Innovations. We particularly welcome papers on technical and institutional innovations and their impact on the economic output. The seminar will not deal directly with the production factors, but with the effects on the productivity and efficiency of the economic system deriving from changes in the mix of the inputs. Our purpose is to clarify the role of technical and institutional changes in different economies and discuss the possibility of measuring their effects on gross product. 

The Fifth International Conference on Strikes and Social Conflicts will take place in Rotterdam at the headquarter of the Dutch Trade Union Confederation (FNV) from 22-24 June 2022. Its objective is to discuss and assess the changing character of strikes and social conflict over the course of capitalist history. The focus is on the lessons learned from the approaches and strategies of trade unions and social movements in terms of responses to the social and economic changes that accompanied globalisation. Among the specific questions to be addressed are the following:

·      What have been the responses of the working class to change under globalisation? 
·      What has the impact been on the capacity of social movements to conduct struggles and what are the key observations and lessons learnt? 
·      How have trade unions responded to the changing environment? Have they made suitable adaptations to labour organisation and strike methods to assist in representing the interests of workers? 
·      What are the trends of global and national struggles over the short and long term and what are the prospects for future struggles? 
·      What have been the convergences and divergences of social struggles during the 20th and 21st centuries?