"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 Management 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.
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 Management 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:
Our Vision: To be a top centre for economic history research and pedagogy in the UK, Ireland and globally.
Our Objectives:
- Build international scholarly networks to facilitate research and knowledge transfers in economic history, including business history, financial history and social science history.
- Maintain closer ties between economic history researchers within Queen’s Management School, between the different schools of Queen’s, and with others across national and international institutions.
- Promote undergraduate and postgraduate study in economic history at Queen’s.
- Support graduate students and Early Career Researchers in their research activities.
- Communicate research conducted through QUCEH, and economic history research in general, to relevant stakeholders, including academics, policymakers, industry leaders, and the general public.
QUCEH Annual Reports: