WMQ Publishes Forum on Mercantilism

Early modernist readers may be interested in a Forum called "Rethinking Mercantilism," published in the January 2012 issue of the William & Mary Quarterly. Contents include:

Steve Pincus, “Rethinking Mercantilism: Political Economy, the British Empire, and the Atlantic World in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries”

Cathy Matson, “Imperial Political Economy: An Ideological Debate and Shifting Practices
Christian J. Koot, “Balancing Center and Periphery”
Susan D. Amussen, “Political Economy and Imperial Practice”
Trevor Burnard, “Making a Whig Empire Work: Transatlantic Politics and the Imperial Economy in Britain and British America”
Margaret Ellen Newell, “Putting the “Political” Back in Political Economy (This Is Not Your Parents’ Mercantilism)”
Steve Pincus, “Reconfiguring the British Empire”

Full access to articles requires a subscription, but those interested can read an abstract of the introduction.
   The same issue also contains Farley Grubb's article on “State Redemption of the Continental Dollar, 1779-90” (abstract here).

CFP: CHORD 2012 Conference

For its next annual conference, to be held September 5-6, 2012, at the University of Wolverhampton, the Centre for the History of Retailing and Distribution (CHORD) invites proposals that explore retailing and/or distribution from a historical perspective. Papers focusing on all historical periods or geographical areas and based on any methodological and disciplinary perspective are welcome. Themes of interest include—but are not limited to:

Commercial cultures;
Retailing and distribution in popular culture and the media;
Innovation and change / stagnation and failure;
Credit, finance and the economics of retailing and distribution;
Large-scale retailing—super, hyper, monster;
Crime and illegal practices;
Politics, the state and individual enterprise;
Ethics and fairness;
Markets, informal exchanges, penny capitalism;
Retailing and distribution in hard times;
Advertising, marketing and sales strategies;
Retailing and distribution work, from 'management' to the shop floor;
Distribution networks, business links

Proposals are invited both for individual papers and for themed sessions (normally three papers). To submit a proposal, those interested should send a title, a one-page abstract, a list of 3 to 5 key words, and, if proposing a session, a cover letter with title and one-paragraph session description, to: Laura Ugolini at l.ugolini@wlv.ac.uk by May 4, 2012. Questions may also be addressed to Dr. Ugolini.

New Banking and Monetary History Project Websites Available

Two new websites of interest have recently launched, one focusing on monetary history and one on banking regulation. The first is DAMIN: Silver Monetary Depreciation and International Relations (Dépréciation de l’Argent Monétaire et relations Internationales)  The site explains:

The axis of the work is the study of the depreciation of silver in the second half of the XIXth century and its consequences in developed countries. We will study more specifically the differences between developed countries and Japan. . . . the history of Japan is a condensed history of European history: monetary unification, adoption of a silver coin, a change to the gold standard. As trade and finance were globalized, DAMIN will include all countries concerned by the silver question: USA, Latin America, Europe, India, China, Japan and all the connected questions (prices, transportation, import/export, etc.).

A first round table was held at Paris (January 2012) and a second is scheduled for May 16-17, 2013, in Madrid in association with the Casa de Velazquez. DAMIN is the project of a multinational consortium of scholars from Austria, Denmark, Greece, France, Italy, Japan, Portugal, Russia, Spain, and the United Kingdom, with Georges Depeyrot serving as program coordinator.

   The second is "Banking Regulation—The Long View: Developing a Long-Term Perspective on Current Challenges." This is the website of a project sponsored by the Economic and Social  Research Council at the University of Glasgow, under the direction of Catherine Schenk. Titled "The Development of International Financial Regulation and Supervision, 1961-1982," the project will

assess the development of international financial regulation by contrasting studies of institutional decision-making in three international financial centres in the late 20th century (from 1961-1982) as the market and regulators responded to a series of challenges and at the same time embarked on a process of liberalisation. New York, London and Hong Kong offer a range of institutional and political economy contexts in which to examine how regulation was developed, coordinated and applied at both national and multinational levels. In addition to using the archives of central banks, multilateral organisations such as the IMF and Bank for International Settlements, this project will draw on the internal correspondence of international banks and their relations with regulating bodies.

   Both websites include details of previous and upcoming meetings of interest, publications of participants, and other current and scholarly information related to their topics.

JSTOR Further Broadens Access

Some time ago, we reported that JSTOR had opened up early journal material (pre-1923 for U.S. publications) to users without charge ("Early Journal Content"). In an effort to further broaden access for those not able to use JSTOR materials through institutional subscriptions, JSTOR has implemented the "Register & Read" program. This allows users who do not have access to JSTOR to register and gain read-only access to limited archival content. The program does not apply to material behind the "moving wall," which provides a time lag of 3-5 years for most journal content. There are limitations on the number of articles a user can view in a given time period.
   In the beta release of Register & Read, 75 journals will have some content available. It is hoped that more will be added. Among the included journals of possible interest to Exchange readers are

Academy of Management Journal (and 3 other Academy publications)
American Historical Review
Journal of Finance
Journal of Marketing
Journal of Marketing Research
William and Mary Quarterly

Please see the JSTOR "Register and Read" web page for more information about how to use this new tool and the restrictions that apply.

“Capitalism in America: A New History” Program Available

In February, the History of Capitalism Program at the University of Georgia held a conference titled "Capitalism in America: A New History." Although the meeting is past, the program and paper abstracts are still available on the conference website. Among the participants were Tracey Deutsch, Colleen Dunlavy, Richard John, Allan Kulikoff, and Naomi Lamoreaux. As the organizers see it,

Business historians, economic historians, labor historians, social historians, cultural historians, and political historians all continued to engage with the history of capitalism, but did so with distinct methodological and historiographical concerns that prevented the cross-pollination of ideas and the development of a coherent body of knowledge. In recent years, however, both young and established scholars have been producing cutting-edge work that seeks to unite these disparate fields under the rubric of the history of capitalism.

The Georgia History of Capitalism Program also runs an occasional workshop series and a graduate reading group.
   Readers might also be interested in the activities of the "Program on the Study of Capitalism" at Harvard University, which held a similar conference last November, partnering with the UK-based "Culture of the Market" Network.

The Money Series at the Heyman Center

In an upcoming event in its "Money Series," the Heyman Center for the Humanities at Columbia University will feature "Debt: The Long View." The symposium will take place on Thursday, March 8, 2012, in the Davis Auditorium.
   Participants include David Graeber, Goldsmiths College; Louis Hyman, Cornell University; and Greta Krippner, University of Michigan; the moderators will be Peter Goodman of the Huffington Post and Daniel Immerwahr, post-doctoral research scholar at the Committee on Global Thought, Columbia University.
   The discussion will explore how debt has changed over time and its significance in our culture and society. Speakers will address the role of the state and banks in shaping our debt regime and the significance of Occupy Wall Street and other social movements that seek to resist or constrain the control of debtors by their creditors.
   The event is free and open to the public without tickets or registration, but seating is on a first come, first served basis.
   Other programs in the "Money Series" this term include

March 7: "Capitalism Today: Lessons from Europe"
March 28: "An Anthropologist on Wall Street"
April 20 (full-day conference): "The Culture of Credit"

For more information, please visit the Heyman Center website.

CFP: Association pour l’histoire des chemins de fer

Organized to celebrate the 175th anniversary of the railroad in France and on the Île-de-France, the conference will meet on November 22-24, 2012, in Paris. The meeting is being organized by the Association pour l’histoire des chemins de fer (AHICF), the Fédération des sociétés historiques et archéologiques de Paris et de l’Île-de-France, and the Région Île-de-France /Service Patrimoines et Inventaire.
   Those proposing papers should send the following information, no later than June 1, 2012:
     complete contact information;
     the proposed paper title and a one-page abstract ;
     the title and affiliation of the author(s) as they should appear
     on the program if the proposal were accepted
Materials may be sent via email to contact@ahicf.com. Please consult the full call for papers for additional information.

Business History in the Blogosphere

Some links to recent items of interest to business historians from the blogosphere:

Two recent posts at The Historical Society blog:
  Heather Cox Richardson on a famous and a not-so-famous board game and capitalism: "Board Games, Capitalism, and Piracy," and Dan Alosso on "Capitalism and Colonialism";

The Echoes blog— most recently, Philip Scranton ("This Week in the Great Depression"), Maury Klein, Elizabeth Tandy Shermer, and Wendy Woloson;

The Smithsonian's blog for its new "American Enterprise" project;

James Livingston on "corporate personhood" at HNN, parts I and II;

Library of Congress Digital Preservation Blog: "Preserving Business History" (featuring the Hagley Library and Museum and David Kirsch's DotCom Era);

Caitlin Rosenthal's blog for news pertinent to Harvard's "Study of Capitalism Program";

Daniele Pozzi of the Università Carlo Cattaneo, posting on "Business History and Critical Management Studies"

Website: Business Organization and Economic Development in Spain and Latin America

The BOLDE Project (Business Organization in Late Developing Economies), directed by Professor Nuria Puig, has created a website to disseminate its current research. Created by Professor Puig and her colleagues, the project "examines the relationship between business organization and economic development from an economic and business history perspective. It does so by systematically and comparatively analyzing the emergence and development of economic groups in Spain and Latin America, the starting hypothesis being that in late industrializing countries business groups constitute an efficient alternative to the large managerial firm." As the researchers state:

The available research on Spanish and Latin American business history suggests that the large, multidivisional managerial enterprise is not an appropriate paradigm for studying the business organizational structure of late developing countries. Alternative organizational structures such as business groups, networks, industrial districts, and family firms seem far more adequate than the Chandlerian model for understanding the dynamics of markets and firms in Spanish-speaking countries. . . . The group created around the Urquijo Bank, the most important in 20th-century Spain as well as an influential partner in various Latin American groups, provides an excellent case study upon which to build a conceptual, dynamic, and comparative analysis of business groups, particularly with regard to their growth strategies and responses to major economic shocks.

So far, the site provides information on the group's personnel and objectives, as well as a bibliography of publications on the overall topic made by the project's members.

Bretton Woods Transcript Apparently Found

J. M. Keynes addresses Bretton
Woods delegates, 1944

The Telegraph (UK) reported yesterday on its blog that a previously unknown transcript of the 1944 monetary conference at Bretton Woods has been discovered. According to the post,

"this extraordinary manuscript has never before come to light. Professor Steve Hanke of John Hopkins University, whose former student it was who discovered the document, is now dashing to publish it in full in conjunction with his friend, Jacques de Larosiere. The first stage of the process, transcribing the type-written document into digital form is now complete, though it is not yet available. It's hoped eventually to produce a hard-copy, book version."

    The transcript, which runs to 800 pages, would provide the only complete first-hand account of the meetings that set up the basis for a postwar international monetary system. (One can find a partial list of currently available materials at the International Monetary Fund Archives website.) No word yet on when, or in what form, the transcript will be made available. Hanke is co-director, with Louis Galambos, of the Institute for Applied Economics, Global Health, and Study of Business Enterprise at Johns Hopkins.