AWARDS AT THE 2007 ECONOMIC HISTORY ASSOCIATION MEETINGS
The following prizes were awarded at the sixty-seventh annual meeting of the Economic History Association, held in Austin, Texas, 7–9 September 2007.
The Arthur H. Cole Prize for the outstanding article published in this Journal in the September 2006 through June 2007 issues to Timothy Leunig of London School of Economics for “Time is Money: A Re-Assessment of the Passenger Social Savings from Victorian British Railways,” which appeared in the September 2006 issue. The winner is selected by the editorial board.
The Columbia University Prize in American Economic History in honor of Allan Nevins for the outstanding dissertation in U.S. or Canadian economic history during 2006/07 to Mark Geiger of University of Minnesota for “Missouri's Hidden Civil War: Financial Conspiracy and the End of the Planter Elite, 1861–1865,” completed under the supervision of LeeAnn Whites, at the University of Missouri.
The Alexander Gerschenkron Prize for the outstanding dissertation in non–U.S. or Canadian economic history during 2005/06 to Steven Nafziger of Williams College for “Communal Institutions, Resource Allocation, and Russian Economic Development: 1861–1905,” completed under the supervision of Tim Guinnane, at Yale University.
The Gyorgy Ranki Prize for the outstanding book in the economic history of Europe (including the British Isles and Russia) published in 2005–2006 to Avner Greif of Stanford University for Institutions and the Path to the Modern Economy: Lessons from Medieval Trade, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006).
The Jonathan R. T. Hughes Prize for excellence in teaching economic history to Peter Lindert of University of California, Davis. The winner is selected by the EHA Committee on Education and Teaching.
Also announced at the meeting was the prize for the best article appearing in Explorations in Economic History in the past year, which was awarded to David S. Jacks of Simon Fraser University for “What Drove 19th Century Commodity Market Integration?” [43 (July 2006): 383–412].
THE 2008 ECONOMIC HISTORY ASSOCIATION MEETINGS HOSTED BY YALE UNIVERSITY OMNI NEW HAVEN HOTEL AT YALE NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT, 12–14 SEPTEMBER 2008, ALAN L. OLMSTEAD, PRESIDENT
“The Engines of Growth: Innovation, Creative Destruction, and Human Capital Accumulation”
The Program Committee—Paul Rhode, University of Arizona (Chair); Werner Troesken, George Mason University; Tracy Dennison, California Institute of Technology; and Ken Pomeranz, University of California, Irvine—welcomes proposals for individual papers, as well as for entire sessions. As is the rule, papers on all subjects in economic history are welcome, but a number of sessions will be devoted to the theme “The Engines of Growth: Innovation, Creative Destruction, and Human Capital Accumulation.”
The analysis of the causes and consequences of economic growth is central to the study of economic history. Growth takes place in a legal, political, and social context and the innovations that drive growth are often opposed by vested interests that expect to lose from the changes. Creative Destruction, whereby revolutionary innovations both spawn entirely new ventures and undermine the value of existing investments, appears to be an inevitable part of the long-run growth process. Understanding the political economy of institutional change and innovation is of special interest. This is particularly true for human capital and information, given their public good characteristics. The Program Committee invites papers and sessions on this theme dealing with experiences from a broad range of geographical regions, time periods, and institutional settings.
Papers and session proposals should be submitted on line at: http://eh.net/eha/meetings/prop_08.html. The following rules and procedures apply. The due date is 31 January 2008. Paper proposals should include a 3–5 page précis and a 150-word abstract suitable for publication in the Journal of Economic History. By vote of the Board of Trustees, the corresponding author must be a current member of the Association (to join the Association, please go to http://eh.net/eha/). Papers should in all cases be work in progress rather than accepted or published work; submitters have a responsibility to let the program committee know if the proposed paper has been submitted for publication. Submissions for entire sessions should include no more than three papers and each proposal should be submitted separately. The committee reserves the right to determine which papers will be included in those sessions that are accepted. Finally, those who had a paper accepted by the regular program committee for the 2007 meeting (Austin) must wait two years before submitting again.
The dissertation session convened by Kevin O'Rourke (Trinity College, Dublin) and Zorina Khan (Bowdoin College) will honor six dissertations completed during the 2007–2008 academic year. The submission deadline is 1 June 2008. The Alexander Gerschenkron and Allan Nevins prizes will be awarded to the best dissertations on non-North American and North American topics. Note that students may not submit both to the dissertation session and the regular program, but there is a two year window within which a dissertation may be submitted for consideration.
Graduate students are encouraged to attend and the Association offers subsidies for travel, hotel, registration, and meals, including a special graduate student dinner. A poster session welcomes work from dissertations in progress.
For further information, including detailed travel options to New Haven, check the EHA meetings page (www.ehameeting.com), or contact Meetings Coordinator Jari Eloranta at elorantaj@appstate.edu.
EHA GRANT AND FELLOWSHIP AWARDS
The Committee on Research in Economic History (CREH) of the Economic History Association is charged with administering the association's project of assisting young scholars as a way of strengthening the discipline of economic history. The CREH made three types of awards for 2007: fellowships to graduate students writing their dissertations; travel/data grants to graduate students in the early stages of research; and Cole Grants to recent Ph.D.s.
Dissertation Fellowship Recipients
Dan Li of Boston University for “Three Essays on the Economic History of Railroads in Pre-Communist China.” Advisor, Robert Margo.
Melinda Miller of University of Michigan for “The Role of Race and Gender in Inequality and Intergenerational Mobility: New Evidence from the 1880 Cherokee Census.” Advisor, Ben Chabot.
John Parman of Northwestern University for “American Mobility and the Expansion of Public Education.” Advisor, Joseph Ferrie.
Exploratory Grant Recipients
Aaron Anderson of University of Southern Mississippi for “Natchez Merchants: Enterprise and Exploitation in the Postbellum South.” Advisor, Louis M. Kyriakoudes.
Jessica Bean of Cornell University for “Married Women's Labor Force Participation in Late Victorian and Edwardian Britain: New Data from Old Censuses.” Advisor, George Boyer.
Davide Cantoni of Harvard University for “Was Max Weber Right After All?” Advisor, James Robinson.
Felipe Tâmega Fernandes of London School of Economics for “Institutions and Commodities: Analyzing the Rise and Decline of Rubber in Brazilian Amazon, 1860s–1910s.” Advisor, Colin M. Lewis
Morten Jerven of London School of Economics and Political Science for “Dynamics of Growth in Post-Colonial Africa.” Advisor, Gareth M. Austin
Ulrike Krotscheck of Stanford University for “Production and Distribution of Archaic Pottery in the Western Mediterranean.” Advisor, Ian Morris
Woong Lee of University of California, Irvine for “Public Employment Offices and the Labor Market in the United States between 1890 and 1940.” Advisor, Daniel Bogart
Andrew Nigrinis of Stanford University for “The Rise of Corporate R&D Laboratories and Firm Strategy.” Advisor, Gavin Wright.
Jessica Vechbanyongratana of University of Colorado, Boulder for “Savings Behaviors among Antebellum Textile Workers.” Advisor, Carol Shiue.
Arthur H. Cole Grants-In-Aid
Mary Beth Combs of Fordham University for “Son of a Baker: The 1870 Married Women's Property Act and Marriage Patterns of Nineteenth-Century British Shopkeepers.”
Kirsten Wandschneider of Middlebury College for “The Birth of Microfinance and Cooperative Credit in Nineteenth-Century Germany and Its Reliance for Microfinance Institutions Today.”
Neil Canady of Vanderbilt University for his studies of wealth levels and literacy in the urban South, 1900, 1910, and 1920.
The association is grateful to the members of the CREH for their work in selecting the award winners. Susan Wolcott of Binghamton University chaired the committee. She was assisted by Joyce Burnette of Wabash College, Joe Ferrie of Northwestern University, Marc Law of University of Vermont, Anne McCants of M.I.T., Carolyn Moehling of Rutgers University, Robert Whaples of Wake Forest University, and (ex officio) Alex Field of Santa Clara University.
