Queen's University Centre for Economic History
  • About
    • History
    • Prizes and Awards
    • QUCEH Bookshop
    • Queen's Business School
    • Contact Us
  • Members
    • Research Associates
    • Research Affiliates
    • Research Students
    • Advisory Board
  • Study
    • PhD Economic History
    • PhD Funding
    • Placement History
  • Projects
    • The Great Elevator
    • Centre for Economics, Policy and History
    • Business Performance
    • Corporate Titans
    • Productivity Forum
    • An Economist's Guide
  • Working Papers
    • Working Papers: 2025
    • Working Papers: 2024
    • Working Papers: 2023
    • Working Papers: 2022
    • Working Papers: 2021
    • Working Papers: 2020
  • Seminars
    • Seminars: 2025-2026
    • Seminars: 2024-2025
    • Seminars: 2023-2024
    • Seminars: 2022-2023
    • Seminars: 2021-2022
    • Seminars: 2020-2021
  • Workshops
    • PhD Workshop 2025
    • Health Crises 2022
    • Bubblemania 2019
    • Boston 2018
    • FRESH 2017
    • Colloquium 2017
  • Impact
    • CEPH Outreach
    • Long Run Institute
    • Podcasts
    • COVID-19
    • History Now
  • About
    • History
    • Prizes and Awards
    • QUCEH Bookshop
    • Queen's Business School
    • Contact Us
  • Members
    • Research Associates
    • Research Affiliates
    • Research Students
    • Advisory Board
  • Study
    • PhD Economic History
    • PhD Funding
    • Placement History
  • Projects
    • The Great Elevator
    • Centre for Economics, Policy and History
    • Business Performance
    • Corporate Titans
    • Productivity Forum
    • An Economist's Guide
  • Working Papers
    • Working Papers: 2025
    • Working Papers: 2024
    • Working Papers: 2023
    • Working Papers: 2022
    • Working Papers: 2021
    • Working Papers: 2020
  • Seminars
    • Seminars: 2025-2026
    • Seminars: 2024-2025
    • Seminars: 2023-2024
    • Seminars: 2022-2023
    • Seminars: 2021-2022
    • Seminars: 2020-2021
  • Workshops
    • PhD Workshop 2025
    • Health Crises 2022
    • Bubblemania 2019
    • Boston 2018
    • FRESH 2017
    • Colloquium 2017
  • Impact
    • CEPH Outreach
    • Long Run Institute
    • Podcasts
    • COVID-19
    • History Now

"Healthy Respect for the Past"

The late Paul Samuelson, the father of modern economics, was asked in 2009 what he would say to someone starting their graduate studies in economics today. He replied: "Have a very healthy respect for the study of economic history, because that's the raw material out of which any of your conjectures or testings will come. And I think the recent period has illustrated that. The governor of the Bank of England seems to have forgotten or not known that there was no bank insurance in England, so when Northern Rock got a run, he was surprised. Well, he shouldn't have been." He continued: "But history doesn't tell its own story. You've got to bring to it all the statistical testings that are possible. And we have a lot more information now than we used to." (The Atlantic, 18 June 2009).

Queen's University Centre for Economic History (QUCEH), an interdisciplinary research centre co-directed by Chris Colvin and John Turner and based at Queen's University Belfast, was founded in 2012 to address the growing concern that there is a lack of respect for the past in economics teaching and research today. At Queen's, we think that it is only by regaining this healthy respect that economists can fully understand the present. 

Hosted by Queen's Business School, the centre brings together faculty and graduate students working on the economic study of the past from across the university and elsewhere. QUCEH members include business, economic, financial and social science historians who are specialists on the history of Ireland, Britain, Europe and North America. QUCEH's mission is to support its members by coordinating research projects, providing a forum for interdisciplinary discussion, hosting regular research seminars and workshops with invited speakers, and providing graduate training to the next generation of economic historians and historical economists.
Our Mission: To support research and education initiatives that explain the past in order to understand the present.

Our Vision: To be a top centre for economic history research and pedagogy in the UK, Ireland and globally.


Our Objectives:
  1. To build an international scholarly network to facilitate research and knowledge transfer in economic history, including topics in business history, demographic history, financial history and social science history.
  2. To establish and maintain closer ties between economic history researchers within Queen’s Business School, between the different schools and departments of Queen’s, and with others across national and international institutions.
  3. To promote undergraduate and postgraduate study in economic history at Queen’s.
  4. To support graduate students and Early Career Researchers in their research activities.
  5. To communicate research conducted through QUCEH, and economic history research in general, to relevant stakeholders, including academics, policymakers, industry leaders, and the general public.
  6. To serve as the Northern Ireland pole of the Centre for Economics, Policy and History (CEPH), a North-South Research Programme Centre of Excellence.

QUCEH Annual Reports:

  • QUCEH Annual Report 2023-24
  • QUCEH Annual Report 2022-23
  • QUCEH Annual Report 2021-22
  • QUCEH Annual Report 2020-21
  • QUCEH Annual Report 2019-20
  • QUCEH Annual Report 2018-19
  • QUCEH Annual Report 2017-18
  • QUCEH Annual Report 2016-17
  • ​QUCEH Annual Report 2015-16
​

History of Economic History at Queen's:

The discipline of economic history has a very long tradition at Queen's University Belfast, dating back to 1853.

​Prizes and Awards won by QUCEH Members:

Collected together in one page, click here to see all the awards won by QUCEH members in recent years.

QUCEH Bookshop

Visit this page for details on how to purchase recent monographs and edited volumes by QUCEH members.
​

​Recent Scholarship from QUCEH Members:

For the full record of publications authored by scholars based at QUCEH, see our page on the Queen's University Belfast Research Portal (PURE).

Queen's Business School:

QUCEH is a Research Centre of Queen's Business School (QBS), Queen's University Belfast (QUB).

Contact Us:

Click here for details on how to get in touch with the centre.
© 2012-2025 Queen's University Belfast
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  • About
    • History
    • Prizes and Awards
    • QUCEH Bookshop
    • Queen's Business School
    • Contact Us
  • Members
    • Research Associates
    • Research Affiliates
    • Research Students
    • Advisory Board
  • Study
    • PhD Economic History
    • PhD Funding
    • Placement History
  • Projects
    • The Great Elevator
    • Centre for Economics, Policy and History
    • Business Performance
    • Corporate Titans
    • Productivity Forum
    • An Economist's Guide
  • Working Papers
    • Working Papers: 2025
    • Working Papers: 2024
    • Working Papers: 2023
    • Working Papers: 2022
    • Working Papers: 2021
    • Working Papers: 2020
  • Seminars
    • Seminars: 2025-2026
    • Seminars: 2024-2025
    • Seminars: 2023-2024
    • Seminars: 2022-2023
    • Seminars: 2021-2022
    • Seminars: 2020-2021
  • Workshops
    • PhD Workshop 2025
    • Health Crises 2022
    • Bubblemania 2019
    • Boston 2018
    • FRESH 2017
    • Colloquium 2017
  • Impact
    • CEPH Outreach
    • Long Run Institute
    • Podcasts
    • COVID-19
    • History Now