Precious objects, and jewelry in particular, have generated repeated and echoed reactions over the centuries and across the globe, despite variations in context and location. Indeed, while the disapproval of an often ostentatious dissipation has been recurrent since Antiquity (Pliny the Elder), the benefits of a precious object has been claimed for aesthetic, symbolic, religious and economic reasons alike, whether it may be an agalma worthy of devotion ; an offering to the gods or the dead ; a symbol of status, power, alliance; a social or family heirloom, both a vehicle and a pledge of transmission or tradition ; an inspiration for artistic creation and the development of techniques ; as majors elements of exchange in the gift economy, and even a driving force behind the capitalist economy as emphasized by Bernard de Mandeville, Jean-Baptiste Say, Werner Sombart, and many others.  

Thus, the precious object and jewelry especially, whether carried on oneself, socially exchanged or integrated into spaces, create distinction at all levels, material and symbolic: they “radiate”, according to the worlds of Georg Simmel, attracting attention, reconfiguring the space of appearances, and establishing cultural and social divides and a “partition of the sensible”. Because of their distinctive value, they influence social taste, originate fashion, encourage imitation and counterfeiting, and fake and kitsch reproductions.

The 20th World Economic History Congress will convene from 28 July to 1 August 2025 in Lund, Sweden. The theme for the Congress is Equality and Sustainability Challenges, which highlights some of the central issues facing humanity today and also connects to a broad and diverse range of historical problems. To address both the challenges and to find insights from the historical record for that endeavor, a range of perspectives will be necessary.

The Department of Economic History, Lund University, is advertising a fully funded four-year position as a PhD student, starting 15 January 2024. The project conserns sustainable rural communities with a specific focus on water resources in arid parts of Colombia.

The project aims to enhance the sustainable, resilient, and fair development of rural and dispersed communities living in dry areas of Colombia, where the climate-water-biodiversity interactions have become a challenge for human well-being and nature. Climate change threatens natural processes for water systems and accelerates biodiversity loss. Similarly, biodiversity loss and water scarcity has exacerbated the negative impacts of climate change on nature. Should future consequences of climate change mirror these effects, the negative impact on human and natural life may be irreversible (IPCC, 2023).

Fondazione Istituto Internazionale di Storia Economica “F. Datini” and the European School for Training in Economic and Social Historical Research (ESTER) will organise their seventh jointly-organized Datini-ESTER Advanced Seminar for economic and social historians on 12-18 May 2024, in Prato (Italy) on the theme of ‘Social and Geographical Mobility’.

The economic history of pre-modern risk and its management is undergoing a scholarly resurgence stimulated by active interdisciplinary engagement with legal, social, and cultural histories. The three concepts of 'risk', 'insolvency', and 'bankruptcy' are central to this topic, providing ample scope for contributions across medieval and early modern Europe and multiple opportunities for comparative links that encompass the Islamic world and the European colonial experiences.
The focus of this Datini Study Week is the interface between the normative aspect of risk, insolvency, and bankruptcy, and their practical implementation as investigated through analyses of daily practices and the tools and strategies of risk management. Particular attention will be paid to the regulation of financial transactions within states, across political borders, and at the intersection of different legal systems. The conceptual framework we propose is one that acknowledges the connection of insolvency and bankruptcy to both 'financial' and 'economic' risks, taking into consideration the analytical separation that exists between the two and how practical solutions for their management overlap.

The results of this call for research papers will be presented at Prato during the 56th Study Week (11-15 May, 2025)

Το συνέδριο "Νησιωτικές και θαλάσσιες κοινωνίες στη Μεσόγειο, τη Μαύρη και την Ερυθρά Θάλασσα" είναι το τρίτο διεθνές συνέδριο ναυτιλιακής ιστορίας που διοργανώνεται από το Κέντρο Ναυτιλιακής Ιστορίας, στο Ινστιτούτο Μεσογειακών Σπουδών (ΙΜΣ/ΙΤΕ), στο Ρέθυμνο.

The Geneva Graduate Institute offers fully-funded PhD scholarships to students who wish to write their dissertations in economic history, with particular emphasis in financial history. Depending on interest and background, students can apply through the International Economics or the International History PhDs.

The purpose of this fellowship is to facilitate library and archival research in business or economic history. Individual grants range from $1,000 to $3,000. Three categories of applicants will be eligible for grants: 1) Harvard University graduate students in history, economics, or business administration, whose research requires travel to distant archives or repositories; 2) graduate students or nontenured faculty in those fields from other universities, in the U.S. and abroad, whose research requires travel to Baker Library and other local archives; and 3) Harvard College undergraduates writing senior theses in these fields whose research requires travel away from Cambridge.

The Business History Conference is pleased to announce – and invite applications for – its inaugural Henry Kaufman Financial History Fellowship Program.  Funded through a generous donation from Henry & Elaine Kaufman Foundation, Inc., the Program is intended to support the work of outstanding emerging scholars whose work engages meaningfully with financial history in any time period or any region of the world.  The Kaufman Program offers Research Fellowships, Dissertation Fellowships, and Post-Doctoral Fellowships.

The Alfred D. Chandler Jr. International Visiting Scholar in Business History Program invites established scholars in business history based outside the United States to spend a period of time in residence at Harvard Business School. The Chandler International Visiting Scholar is expected to interact with faculty and researchers, present work at research seminars, and conduct business history research. 

This award honors the work and contributions of Thomas K. McCraw (1940-2012), who was Isidor Straus Professor of Business History at Harvard Business School. The fellowship enables established scholars from around the world whose primary interest is the business and economic history of the United States to spend time in residence at Harvard Business School. The main activities of the Thomas K. McCraw Fellow will be to conduct research in the archives of Baker Library or in other Boston-area libraries, present their work at a seminar, and interact with HBS faculty.