The European Development in a Historical Perspective Conference is a one-day event bringing together Ph.D. candidates and postdoctoral researchers from the Boston area to discuss their work on the historical dimensions of European development.

This conference is hosted by the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies at Harvard University and organized by the Seminar on European Development in a Historical Perspective.

Please see the call for papers for this conference, and submit your application.

Program

9:00 a.m. — 10:00 a.m.

Session 1 | France

Lina Skoglund – The Revolution Will Not Be Telegraphed
Noah Dasanaike – Ethnic-Occupational Sorting and the Structure of Party Competition

10:10 a.m. — 11:40 a.m.

Session 2 | Britain

Netanel Ben-Porath – Democratizing Education? Schooling as an Elite Strategy in Times of Reform
Sima Biondi – Where to Build the State: How Ruler-Elite Relations Shape State Presence and Enforcement Authority
Junxi Liu – Battles and Spoils: Evidence from the British Museum

11:50 a.m. — 12:50 p.m.

Session 3 | Russia

Mariya Sakharova – Collusion, Connection and Capture: The Political Economy of Late Tsarist Industrialization
Otto Kienitz – Landowners into Bureaucrats: Decentralization and Local Administration in the Russian Empire

12:50 p.m. — 1:50 p.m.

Lunch Break

1:50 p.m. — 3:00 p.m.

Session 4 | Germany

Matthias Weigand – Cartels and Industrialization
Israel Eruchimovitch – Family Connections and Promotion in the Prussian State
Luis Bosshart – The Rise of Fascism: Micro-level Evidence from Nazi Party Records

3:00 p.m. — 3:15 p.m.

Coffee Break

3:15 p.m. — 3:45 p.m.

Session 5 | Migration

Joseph Melkonian – Emigration by Exodus: Minority Emigration and Economic Development in North African Decolonization
Edoardo Bollati – Chasing the American Dream: Hollywood Narratives, Migration from Interwar Britain and Occupational Choices

4:00 p.m. — 5:00 p.m.

Session 6 | The East

Kexin Feng – Rise of the Red: International Trade and Ideological Exchange
Rafael Torres-Gaviria – Horsemen of the Apocalypse: The Mongol Empire and the Great Divergence

Friday, May 8, 2026

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