Economic History Association Annual Meeting
September 10-13, 2020
The Lessons of Economic History”
Call for Papers, Posters, and Dissertations
EHA President Hugh Rockoff chose this year’s theme, “The Lessons of Economic History,” recalling the Spanish-American philosopher George Santayana who famously told us: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” This aphorism crystallizes one of the principal missions of economic history. We study the past so that we can determine which policies are likely to work in the future, including which monetary and fiscal policies produce macroeconomic stability, which forms of social insurance protect human welfare, and which patent laws spur innovation.
Not all economic historians study past policy interventions directly. Some create data sets or examine chains of causation that contribute indirectly to the mission of discovering which policies work. The program committee would like to honor Professor Rockoff by encouraging papers that offer lessons from the subjects that have inspired his research, notably money, banking and finance, war and its aftermath, the growth of government, the Great Depression and the history of thought. But, of course, proposals on all topics are welcome.
Graduate students are encouraged to attend, and the association offers subsidies for travel, hotel, registration, and meals, including a special graduate student dinner.
The Program Committee, (Eugene White [chair], Richard Grossman, Sarah Quincy, Sumner La Croix and Kim Oosterlinck) welcomes submissions for papers and sessions, posters and dissertations on all subjects in economic history, though some preference will be given to papers that fit the theme of the conference.
The Papers for eighteen regular sessions may be submitted individually, but authors are encouraged to collaborate and suggest to the Committee two or three papers that would form one of the three-paper panels. Papers 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. Individuals who presented or co-authored a paper given at the 2019 meeting are not eligible for inclusion in the 2020 program. Please note that at least one of the authors must be a member of the EHA.
The Poster Session features research from Ph.D. dissertations in progress. Graduate students who have presented a poster are eligible for the dissertation session in a subsequent year, but may present a poster session only once during their graduate career. If a student applies to both the dissertation session and the poster session, and the student is accepted to be part of the dissertation session, a prior invitation to present a poster that year will be withdrawn. Participating in the poster session does not preclude submitting a paper and having it accepted for the regular program the following year. Applicants must be members of the Association.
The Dissertation Session will be convened by Zorina Khan and Michael Edelstein. Six dissertations completed during the 2019-2020 academic year will be selected for presentation at the meetings. The Allan Nevins and Alexander Gerschenkron prizes will be awarded to the best dissertations on North American and non-North American topics respectively.
Papers and Session Proposals should be submitted online at http://eh.net/eha/2020-eha-meeting-proposal/ which is now open. Paper proposals should include a 3-5 page proposal and a 150 –word abstract suitable for publication in the Journal of Economic History. The deadline for submitting papers is January 31, 2020. Please note that at least one of the authors must be a member of EHA. Authors of accepted proposals will be informed by the Program Committee by March 15, 2020.
Proposals for the Poster Session should be submitted online after March 20, 2020 at http://eh.net/eha/poster-submission/. The deadline for submission is May 20, 2020 and acceptance awards will be announced by July 1, 2020. Applicants must provide a 250 word abstract, a current CV, and request a letter of support from their dissertation advisor. Questions about the poster session should be directed to Professor Eugene White, chair of the program committee (enw@economics.rutgers.edu).
Graduate students whose proposals are accepted will receive the following support: Travel subsidies up to $500 for domestic flights or train fares, up to $800 for international flights, complimentary hotel rooms (double occupancy, shared with another graduate student) for up to 3 nights, a 60 percent discount on the registration fee, which includes the Saturday Presidential Banquet, and a free dinner with other graduate students Friday night.
Dissertation Proposals Nevins prize submissions should be sent to: bkhan@bowdoin.edu and Gerschenkron prize submissions to: michael.edelstein@qc.cuny.edu. The deadline for submissions is May 15, 2020 and acceptance awards will be announced by July 15, 2020. Dissertations must be submitted as a single PDF file. Files of less than 5 MB in size may be sent directly to the conveners as an email attachment. To submit a file over 5 MB, please supply a download link in an email message. All submissions will be acknowledged by return email. Ph.D. recipients selected for the dissertation session will receive a travel subsidy. For details about applying for the Nevins and Gerschenkron prizes, please see http://eh.net/eha/prizes/the-allan-nevins-prize-in-american-economic-history/ and http://eh.net/eha/prizes/alexander-gerschenkron-prize/
Graduate Students interested in attending the annual meeting but not participating in the poster session are eligible, depending on funding availability, for up to three nights’ complimentary hotel room (double occupancy, shared with another graduate student). Send requests to the Jari Eloranta (jari.eloranta@helsinki.fi)