The Seminar on European Development in a Historical Perspective convenes scholars whose research follows the historical political economy (HPE) tradition and focuses on Europe’s development from a comparative perspective. Parallel to organizing lectures, this seminar will host a research lab for graduate students and faculty.
Events in this series will be open to the public and feature speakers whose research centers around a diverse range of topics including the process of state and nation-building, the development of property rights and democratic institutions, and the causes and consequences of the divergence between economic and political development in Europe and other parts of the world.
The seminar’s research lab is entitled “Europe & the World in Economic History” and will serve as a working group for graduate students and faculty from across Harvard, MIT, and Boston University whose research is centered around European economic and political history. Members of the research lab will meet regularly during the semester to hold interdisciplinary discussions on topics such as the formation of the state, the effects of colonization and decolonization, the creation of knowledge and science, the political economy of religion and the welfare state, the consequences of conflict for the state and civil society, and democratization processes.
