European economies beyond indicators: Systems, structures, and institutions since 1945.
University of Glasgow, 30-31 May 2019.

A call for papers has been issued for a conference next year in Glasgow. The deadline for abstracts is 31 January 2019. For more information, please see the full call for papers and event webpage.

The conference proposes to connect comparative economic history with European integration history: to what extent have European economies converged or diverged since 1945? What are some of the criteria to make such an assessment? How did these trends interact with or influence the European integration process? To what extent could they represent a challenge to European integration today? We are particularly interested in contributions looking at the following aspects, preferably from a comparative historical perspective:

 

• Labour: The structure and evolution of labour markets: unemployment, labour law, role of trade unions in shaping the labour market and trade unions bargaining power, professional training and education system;
• Finance: The comparison of European financial systems: The structure of banking systems (savings banks, cooperative banks, commercial banks, investment banks); the evolution of insurance and non-bank financial institutions; stock markets;
• Businesses and economic profile: The European business structures: models, networks, organisation, competition and governance; private debt; evolution of main industries and services, impact of crises (for instance, the 1970s), evolution of economic geography; company law, insolvency law; and
• The state: The government revenues and role of the state in European national economies (tax systems, public debt…); the welfare state and its economic impact (social protection…); legal systems.

 

Conference organisers