​Welcome to Queen's University Centre for Economic History

Queen's University Centre for Economic History (QUCEH) is an interdisciplinary research centre based at Queen's University Belfast. It brings together faculty and graduate students working on the economic study of the past from across the university and elsewhere.
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News

The Long Run Initiative
The Long Run Initiative (LRI) is a new not-for-profit forum founded to: (1) demonstrate the practical value of historical expertise to contemporary decision makers; (2) create dialogue between academics, businesses and government; and (3) provide an independent and international perspective on the challenges facing business and society. To find out more about the LRI, and to participate in the network's activities, visit the LRI's stand-alone website.
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History Counts
Part of the ESRC Festival of Social Sciences, History Counts aims to introduce A-level history students to economics-based approaches to studying history, and show them how quantitative historical data can be used to shine a light on historical debates. More information about the event, which will take place on 7 November, is available here.
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An Economist's Guide
Matthias Blum and Chris Colvin's new edited volume is now available for sale in advance of release in November 2018. The book aims to introduce the field of economic history to economists. With 49 contributors and 50 chapters, it will showcase cutting-edge research and pedagogy from our field. Our book launch event will take place on 18 January 2019. More details about the book are available here.
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QUCEH Director John Turner at recent QUCEH Economic History Impact Initiative event at Riddel Hall

QUCEH Seminar Schedule
Our seminar schedule for the first semester of 2018-2019 is now available here. As in previous years, we meet on Fridays at 1.30PM. Note, however, a change in venue: seminars now take place in the Lecture Theatre of Riddel Hall's Teaching Block.
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QUCEH Research News

• QUCEH Research Student Stephen Billington's new working paper on patents and the Industrial Revolution uses the entire population of patents granted in the UK prior to 1852 to look at inventors' incentives.
• Graeme G. Acheson,Gareth Campbell, Áine Gallagher and John D. Turner's new working paper exploits a new dataset of 500,000 shareholders in the largest nineteenth-century British railways, and makes a surprising finding: women were not heavily influenced by male associates.
• Alan de Bromhead, Alan Fernihough and Enda Hargaden examine the relationship between the franchise extension and the results of the 1918 election in Ireland in a new QUCEH working paper.
• Using a new banking biography for Ireland, Seán Kenny and John D. Turner investigate the political roots of banking instability between 1797 and 1826 in a new QUCEH working paper.
• In a joint project with Alan Hanna, QUCEH PhD Researcher Stephen Billington has a new QUCEH working paper on the impact of the way patents are being classified in empirical research. They apply their new machine learning classification to historical patenting data for the Industrial Revolution.
• In a new QUCEH working paper, Graeme G. Acheson, Christopher Coyle and John D. Turner provide support for the classical microstructure theories of informed trading using a novel dataset of pre-1920s trading activity of a major LSE-listed corporation.​

More research by QUCEH members
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