The aim of the BETA-Workshop in Historical Economics is to outline some of the new devices being employed, at an international level, in cliometrics – the use of economic theory in general and model building in particular, the reliance upon quantification to buttress those models with historical data, the use of the historical discourse, and the use of statistical theory and econometrics to combine models with data in a single consistent explanation.
The cliometric models are powerful in part because of their internal consistency, in part because, combined with statistical and econometric techniques, they can assure consistency between available data (quantification) and the causal assertions embedded in the model, in part because they may facilitate the derivation of conclusions not intuitively obvious from the outset (counterfactual speculation).

BETA-WORKSHOP IN HISTORICAL ECONOMICS

20-21 May 2005

BETA, UMR 7522 CNRS-Université Louis Pasteur de Strasbourg

Faculté des Sciences Economiques et de Gestion
Pôle Européen de Gestion et d’Economie

61, Avenue de la Forêt Noire, 67085 Strasbourg Cedex, France

Friday, 20 May

9.00-9.10 LLERENA Patrick (BETA): Welcome Address.

9.10-9.30 DIEBOLT Claude (BETA): Cliometrics Shows its Teeth!

Session 1 – Chair: DOS SANTOS FERREIRA Rodolphe (BETA).

9.30-10.15 DAVID Paul (Université de Stanford): Economic History and Historical EconomicsTwenty Years after QWERTY.

10.15-11.00 HAU Michel (Université Marc Bloch de Strasbourg): What Economics Could Learn From History: Some Examples.

11.00-11.15 Coffee Break.

Session 2 – Chair: DAVID Paul (Université de Stanford).

11.15-12.00 BATEN Jörg & LABUSKE Kirsten (Université de Tübingen): Patenting Abroad and Human Capital Formation.

12.00-12.45 BRULAND Kristine (Université d’Oslo): Conceptualising Industrialization in Small Open Economies: The Case of Scandinavia.

12.45-14.00 Lunch.

Session 3 – Chair: HAU Michel (Université Marc Bloch de Strasbourg).

14.00-14.45 FOREMAN-PECK James (Université de Cardiff): Marriage and Economic Development.

14.45-15.30 WOLF Nikolaus (Université Libre de Berlin), REDDING Stephen (Université de Londres, LSE) & STURM Daniel (Université de Munich): Multiple Equilibria in Industrial Location: Evidence from Airports in Inter-War and Re-Unified Germany.

15.30-15.45 Coffee Break.

Session 4 – Chair: EGE Ragip (BETA).

15.45-16.30 SPOERER Mark (Université de Hohenheim): The Laspeyres Paradox: Tax Overshifting in 19th Century Prussia.

16.30-17.15 DEMEULEMEESTER Jean-Luc (Université Libre de Bruxelles) & DEBANDE Olivier (Banque Européenne d’Investissement): Quality and Variety Competition in Higher Education: What Can we Learn from an Institutional Historical Approach by an Industrial Organisation Modelling Exercise?

19.30 Dinner.

Saturday, 21 May

Session 5 – Chair: LLERENA Patrick (BETA).

9.30-10.15 PARENT Antoine (Université Paris 8): Credibility and Regulation of Bimetallism: A VAR Approach.

10.15-11.00 OOSTERLINCK Kim (Université Libre de Bruxelles) & LANDON-LANE John (Université de Rutgers): Hope Springs Eternal… French Bondholders and the Soviet Repudiation (1915-1919).

11.00-11.15 Coffee Break.

Session 6 – Chair: DEMEULEMEESTER Jean-Luc (Université Libre de Bruxelles).

11.15-12.00 SCHULZE Max (Université de Londres, LSE): The Pros and Cons of Non-Parametric Estimation in Historical Research.

12.00-12.45 DIEBOLT Claude (BETA): Economic Cycles Revisited.

12.45-13.15 Conclusion.