This research seminar introduces into economic and social history as an interdisciplinary research field between history, economics and the social sciences. This term the focus will be on the topics of social cohesion in market economies and the role of minorities in economy and society. We will explore theoretical arguments and historical experiences in the formation and role of civil society, associations and social capital for socioeconomic development and address the literature on "diversity" vs "polarization" in societies, and related topics like international migration and the inclusiveness of political systems. We will read, present and discuss representative examples of these strands of research; international researchers will attend some of the sessions and present their ongoing work for discussion and feedback.

Students will learn what economic and social history actually is, how historical insights can inform 'present-biased' research in economic and social sciences and how the use of frameworks from economic and social sciences does inform and shape historical research. Especially in the context of economics and socioeconomics we will explore and understand, first, how events that happened in the past may harbor important lessons for the design of economic policy and thus the organization/allocation of resources in a firm, a country, a region or even on a global level. Second, we work on how to use the huge arsenal of events and policies that researchers in economics, socioeconomics and other fields can draw upon to test modern theories with regard their empirical validity, and under which conditions historical experiences can be treated as 'natural experiments' in macroeconomics and international economics.

This is a PI, so in principle attending all sessions is mandatory. To reconcile this theoretical stipulation with the realities of student life, one session on Tuesday or one on Thursday can be missed. The Tuesday dates are currently preliminary and depend on the availability of international scholars for presentation.

All sessions will be held online via zoom during the times stated below.

Active participation in class and discussions (20%), presentation of current research papers as assigned by the instructor (35%) and written ('referee report' style) assignment contrasting a research paper to the wider literature and the theories and methods of economic and social sciences (45%)  

First on the list, first in class, based on attendence in the first session.