Since the 1980s that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has specialised in interventions in developing countries. But that was not the typical situation in the previous 40 years of existence of the organisation. From 1945 to the 1980s the IMF signed Stand-by arrangements with both developing and developed countries and conducted sometimes quite large adjustment programmes in the latter (such as those in Italy and the UK in 1977). Those interventions were much lighter in terms of conditionality than what became common after the 1980s: their main purpose was to give quick support to countries facing balance of payments crises in order to help them keep the par value of their exchange rates within the context of the Bretton Woods system. 

Due to the exceptional circumstances caused by the COVID-19 epidemic crisis, the Organising Committee of the 40th Conference of APHES has decided to postpone the conference. The chosen new dates are 9 and 10 July 2021, and the venue and theme remain the same. Paper and panel proposals already submitted may be considered for the new dates if the proponents who have made them want to. If not, they can be replaced by new proposals.

This panel focuses on how financial resources were collected and allocated in order to fund and run healthcare institutions. The aim is to examine which ‘business models’ were better able to meet the large and increasing costs, caused by population pressure and secular trends, and which factors determined the emergence of diverse types of financing healthcare in the long run (14th - 21st cc). Over time public, private and mixed forms of supporting unraveled: historical evidence shows for instance the changing role played by governments, shifting from the ‘minimum State’ before 19th century, to the central function played by the State later, when it became the chief provider of public services including also healthcare. When medical care services were provided to large proportions of the population, costs increased. This was also due to the fact that because technology initially hardly affected healthcare, its productivity increased only slightly, keeping unit costs high, as Baumol masterly proved. Attention will therefore also go to how more advanced healthcare institutions managed to finance and adopt scientific and technological innovations.

The Society for Social and Economic History (Gesellschaft für Sozial- und Wirtschaftsgeschichte, GSWG) and the Economic History Committee of the Verein für Socialpolitik (Wirtschaftshistorischer Ausschuss des Vereins für Socialpolitik, VfS) jointly organise a conference on "Territories, States and Nation in Economic and Social History" to be held in Vienna on 7-9 April 2021.

We would like to contribute to the conference with a session on financial history entitled "The territorial state and the creation of an integrated monetary and financial space in the 19th century".

Session organisers: Maria Stella Chiaruttini, Clemens Jobst.

Place: University of Groningen (further details will be communicated in due time)

When: 20-21 January 2021

Deadline for submitting a 500-word abstract: 15 September 2020

The 19th World Congress in Paris will be held in Paris on July 25-30 2021. The Congress will address “resources” as one of the main challenges of the contemporary world. The Congress will consider sessions on all the categories of resources, that is natural, material, immaterial and human (work and skill): water, air, energy, food products, raw materials, labour, capital, patents etc. The panel will address the discovery, management and limitation of these resources, the impact their use has on territorial and social organizations as well as their significances in individuals’ eyes up for the world community at large.
To submit a session proposal you need to login below and will then be able to submit your proposal in a file. You'll have to give the name(s) of the organizer(s) and their institutional affiliation, a title for the session, and the prefered duration (single session of 90' or double session 2X90', successive or not). In addition, it is advised to provide a summary with a list of potential contributors and the title of their talk, if relevant. Only submissions in English will be accepted. You can access and modify your proposal until June 30, 2020.

Call for Papers
Hidden Economies of Slavery
Date: 10-11 December 2020

Venue: German Historical Institute London

Closing date: 30 June 2020

International Workshop co-organized by Melina Teubner (University of Bern) and Felix Brahm (German Historical Institute London)

In many cases, abolition did not bring about an end to slavery. Local economies often continued to rely on slavery, and new forms of unfree labour were invented that involved new places and peoples. Not seldomly private as well as state actors carried on investing in, or operating ventures based on slavery, though less openly.

The Ukrainian Catholic University in cooperation with the European Business History Association invite scholars and Ph.D. students of any relevant discipline to submit paper proposals in a broad range of topics related to the uses of the past by firms in Central-Eastern Europe (CEE). In the context of this workshop, we wish to approach the past as a resource, which is used or can be used by business organizations for their purposes in the present and the future. We understand history as performative interpretation, a tool that helps actors make sense of the past and present and build towards the future. We focus on uses of the past in CEE; however, case studies on other regions are also welcome in case they deepen our understanding of “uses of the past” by CEE enterprises.

Coordinators
Adrien Faudot 
Julien Vercueil

Presentation
Rent has been a major issue in economics for more than two centuries. Whether classical, Marxist, neoclassical, or the most recent institutionalist approaches, rent as a theoretical concept and empirical object has enjoyed remarkable attention. The contested and unpredictable nature of rent and its impact on economic indicators will continue to make it a popular topic for researchers.

In this special issue, we invite new empirical and theoretical contributions in order to understand the status of gender perspectives within ongoing economic historical research in the Nordic region and elsewhere. What is the status of gender research and how is gender and intersectional theory used in the field – and with what results? Which new theoretical understandings have been introduced? Is research with a gender approach challenging or even changing the discipline of economic history? In addition, how do these perspectives contribute to the larger field of gender studies?

Following the recent sanitary events and the particular interest aroused in academia, mass media, and the general public, Investigaciones de Historia Económica/Economic History Research invites submissions for a special issue on the topic Epidemics in History. The editors believe in the relevance of the study on the effects of pandemics in the past in order to show how societies dealt with similar situations and the lessons that we can obtain in the present and the future. The special issue aims to include papers with a wide chronological and geographical coverage and a multidisciplinary approach with a special emphasis on the economic effects of pandemics in the past. 

2020 Online Economic History Workshop Submission: Responding To Crisis (27-31.7.2020)
The 2020 Workshop is soliciting for papers that look at how people, culture, businesses, institutions, or governments respond to a crisis as the crisis is taking place. Crises of interest include pandemics, natural disasters, political disasters , and man made disasters. Financial disasters may be considered if the financial disaster was caused by one of the previously mentioned disasters.

The selection committee asks that each submission designate a principal author to present the paper at the conference. An author can be listed for more than one submission, but they can only be the principal author for a single submission. The conference expects that the principal author will be available to present 11:30am to 1pm Eastern Daylight Time (UTC -04:00) on the date of their panel. The conference also expects the principal author to have a microphone and internet access fast enough to utilize Zoom to present their work. The panel is broadcast live on YouTube.

Papers submitted must be works in progress rather than accepted or published work. Submitters should let the program committee know at the time of application if the paper they are proposing has already been submitted for publication. The last date to submit a paper proposal is May 15th.  Papers can be submited at www.oehw.org.