Join Andrew Dorman and Lloyd Maphosa as they interview some of the world’s best economic historians and talk about everything economic history. Each episode showcases new and exciting research, as Andrew and Lloyd chat with different experts about their latest publications. We explore a diverse array of subjects that show how the lessons from the past are extremely important for the present, and even more so for the future! All episodes are available here.
This podcast is part of the Centre for Economics, Policy and History (CEPH), the All-Ireland Centre of Excellence in economics, history and policy which combines Trinity College Dublin and Queen’s University Belfast. CEPH is funded by the Higher Education Authority’s North South Research Programme.
Season 2, Episode 6: How do you found a brand new nation? With Leigh Gardner
Liberia stands as a fascinating case study of what happens if a new nation is established, seemingly out of the blue. Andrew and Lloyd are joined by Leigh Gardner (LSE) to talk about what led to the foundation of this west-Africa country and its economic fortunes in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Link to Book: https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/sovereignty-without-power/1AE1550713B8F8FC4AA55143F475AE00
Listen to the episode: HERE.
Season 2, New Year’s Special: Will Everything Be Alright? With Ronan Lyons, Barra Roantree, John Turner and Gaia Narciso
2024 was a year of some highs and many lows across the globe. But how has Ireland faired? What can economic history tell us about Ireland’s performance during troubled or tumultuous times? And what should policymakers bear in mind over the next 12 months? To answer this, Andrew is joined by a panel of expert economic historians to discuss what happened last year, and what to expect in 2025.
Listen to the episode: HERE.
Season 2, Episode 5: How do you raise a Celtic Tiger? With Seán Kenny
Ireland’s economic growth in the twentieth century is nothing short of miraculous. But how did this happen, and why wasn’t it even across the island? Joining Andrew and Lloyd is Seán Kenny (UCC, Lund) who explains Ireland’s wealth, its divide, and what might happen in the future. We also discuss the trials and tribulations of hosting an economic history podcast! Seán hosts the Economic History podcast, which you should absolutely listen to (once you have finished with this episode).
Link to podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-economic-history-podcast/id1513552663https://open.spotify.com/show/7xzAHy5zOSFztWy0R0cmCx
Listen to the episode: HERE.
Season 2, Episode 4: How does a world get rich? With Mark Koyama
In this episode, Andrew and Lloyd don the hats of podcast grifters and talk about wealth. However, we are not selling bitcoin or panning for gold, but instead talking about how countries become wealthy and why some areas are richer than others. To do this, we sit down with Mark Koyama (George Mason University) and put the interest in compound interest.
Disclaimer: There is no guarantee you will get rich by listening to this episode.
Link to books:
- https://www.wiley.com/en-us/How+the+World+Became+Rich%3A+The+Historical+Origins+of+Economic+Growth-p-9781509540235
- https://www.amazon.com/How-World-Became-Rich-Historical/dp/1509540237
Listen to the episode: HERE.
Season 2, Episode 3: How do you re-write a history of North America? With Ann Carlos
As the character Ron Swanson once declared in the TV show Parks and Recreation “History began on July 4th 1776. Everything before that was a mistake”. Of course, this is nonsense, but what was the economic history of America before and during European settlement? To find out, Andrew and Lloyd are joined by Ann Carlos (University of Colorado Boulder) and talk about the American history you might have missed!
Link to video of lecture: https://youtu.be/SXsk0xr0hI8
Listen to the episode: HERE.
Season 2, Episode 2: How has Africa’s economy developed? With Ellen Hillbom and Erik Green
In this episode, Andrew and Lloyd sit down with Ellen Hillbom and Erik Green (Lund University) and tackle a millennium of African Economic history in approximately 50 minutes. They take a step back from the doom-and-gloom attitudes towards the continent that were fostered in the 1990s, and instead present a more complete, optimistic picture of the development of this fascinating continent.
Link to book: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-14008-3#
Listen to the episode: HERE.
Season 2, Episode 1: Did Reconstruction save the United States of America? With Richard Grossman
In the first episode of our brand new season, Andrew and Lloyd sit down with Richard Grossman (Wesleyan University) and discuss reconstruction in the United States of America. Was it a policy success story, and if not, why not? What could have been done to smooth the transition from war-riven slave-state to modern America?
Link to paper: /https://economics.harvard.edu/sites/hwpi.harvard.edu/files/econ/files/freedom_road_dead_end.pdf?m=1699280104
Link to book: https://richardsgrossman.com/WRONG/
Listen to the episode: HERE.
Season 1, Episode 7: Why can’t you take a train to Donegal? With Alan Fernihough
Andrew and Lloyd were stuck on Irish trains recently, and wondered why the Irish rail system has such a bad reputation. We sat down with Alan Fernihough (Queen’s University Belfast) to discuss the history of Irish rail transport and answer once and for all why there is no train to Donegal.
Link to paper: https://ceph.ie/article-re/transport-infrastructure-and-the-irish-economy/
Link to map: https://ceph.ie/data-set/data-set-1/
Listen to the episode: HERE.
Season 1, Episode 6: What was South Africa’s Long Walk to Economic Freedom? With Johan Fourie
Africa is the cradle of civilisation, yet only recently have scholars acknowledged its importance in modern research. What can we learn about economic history from the African experience? And have you ever wondered what economics has to do with Settlers of Catan? Join Andrew and Lloyd as they talk to Johan Fourie (Stellenbosch University) as they talk about his book ‘Our Long Walk to Economic Freedom’.
Link to book: https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/our-long-walk-to-economic-freedom/0985F9390A3B26B40DE0AC6BC1111414
Listen to the episode: HERE.
Season 1, Episode 5: Why is Crypto nothing new? With John Turner and William Quinn
Have you ever wondered why so many people get sucked into novel and volatile investments such as cryptocurrency? John Andrew and Lloyd as they sit down with another double-act, John Turner and William Quinn (both Queen’s University Belfast), authors of Boom and Bust. They discuss bubbles, how they come to pass, and the outcomes (positive and negative) once they burst.
Links to book:
Listen to the episode: HERE.
Season 1, Episode 4: Why do rebels rebel? With Gaia Narciso
People take up arms for any number of reasons, but how far back do they go? Is it possible that the Irish Famine prompted participation in the Irish War of Independence? Join Andrew and Lloyd as they sit down with Gaia Narciso (Trinity College Dublin) to discuss long-run impacts and what wind can tell us about your likelihood to join a rebellion.
Link to paper: https://ceph.ie/article-re/the-deep-roots-of-rebellion/
Listen to the episode: HERE.
Season 1, Episode 3: What is Economic Nationalism? With Marvin Suesse
Nationalism is on the rise, but this is nothing new. What are the economic consequences that we can expect from this? Marvin Suesse (Trinity College Dublin) explains ‘the Nationalist Dilemma’ to Andrew and Lloyd, based on his new book which is available now.
Links to book:
- https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/nationalist-dilemma/7C3C68EA9C049E34CCF82526FD3CF7F9
- https://www.amazon.co.uk/Nationalist-Dilemma-Economic-Nationalism-1776-Present/dp/1108831389
Listen to the episode: HERE.
Season 1, Episode 2: Why didn’t wages change in London for one hundred years? With Judy Stephenson
You would think that generations of workers in seventeenth and eighteenth century London might want a payrise, yet many were paid a fixed wage across their entire working career. Why was this the case? And what can we learn about labour economics and movements from the craftsmen who built St. Paul’s Cathedral? Andrew and Lloyd chat with Judy Stephenson (University College London) about all things early-modern in this discussion of labour and wages in eighteenth-century Britain.
Listen to the episode: HERE.
Season 1, Episode 1: Why can’t Lloyd and Andrew buy a house? With Ronan Lyons
The Irish housing market seems, at first glance, completely impenetrable. To try to unpick the past and present, Ronan Lyons (Trinity College Dublin) joins Andrew and Lloyd to talk through his latest paper about social housing, and Irish housing more broadly.
Link to paper: https://ceph.ie/article-re/social-housing-and-the-spread-of-population-evidence-from-twentieth-century-ireland/
Listen to the episode: HERE.
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